W
ith constant advancements in technology comes increased
exposure to social media, and with increased exposure to social
media comes the normalization of certain lifestyles. Whether it
be via Facebook, Twitter, Snapchat, or Instagram, our brains are
constantly being bombarded with images of society’s
representation of the word “perfect”. Beauty is no longer within
the ‘eye of the beholder’, but rather is defined by what the media
makes it out to be. The perfect nose, the perfect hair, the perfect
face, the perfect body… all being conditioned in our minds as
primary goals in life. People are now being characterized
(judged) by appearance and image instead of personality and
virtue.
One particular ‘fad’ that our society is adopting, or has already
adopted, is losing weight.
Of course the benefits of losing
weight are well established in a
physical sense, but the positive
mental aspect is progressively
becoming more and more
blurred.
What once was used to help strengthen a healthier physical and
mental life, is now becoming an indicator of self-worth and
mental fragility. Each day, more people are finding their
identities through popular trends in social media, which
ultimately creates a never-ending cycle between losing one more
pound and gaining one more ‘like’ on their most recent selfie.
Taken from the abundant list of chic weight loss trends,
counting calories
is becoming
an increasingly prevalent technique for losing weight. This term
unintentionally creates a negative stigma with the word, ‘calorie’.
Hence, people tend to associate calories with unhealthiness.
Indirectly, counting calories is responsible for a number of
problems that ultimately prove to be detrimental to the body
and mind. Of which, two major issues of extreme compulsion
and nutritious compromise simply scrape the surface of the
consequential effects flowing of calorie-counting.
Issue 3 | Nutrition of Everything | 13