Reflecting on the Modern Obesity Crisis: Rejecting the Psychological Misconceptions of Mechanical Calculation and Celebrity Comparisons

The current situation: If you pay attention to society today, you'll see how prevalent overweight has become. From variety shows to news channels, weight loss is a constant topic. Obesity continues to rise and has become one of the major threats to health. Official data reports that one in four Americans now suffers from obesity. It is estimated that over 93 million Americans have obesity issues, and this number is projected to reach 120 million in the next five years. The medical costs resulting from the obesity epidemic are enormous (hundreds of billions of dollars). But why, with so many weight loss books and programs on the market, does obesity continue to increase? With so much weight loss information, why doesn't it work?

Dieters focus on numbers-weight, calories, carbohydrates, fat, and so on. Despite this, obesity still seems to be a problem. Perhaps it's time to give up dieting, put down the scale, and forget about those numbers. Obsessing over numbers doesn't truly control weight; instead, it makes everything spiral out of control. Our ancestors didn't know about or care about carbohydrates and fats. What they needed were usually proper meals. They didn't analyze food like we do today. Because of extensive research and analysis of food, we know far more about it than our ancestors did. Now, the packaging of the food we buy is required to list the ingredients. With this information, we can tell what's best for us just by looking at the labels, so why is obesity still rising?

Eating disorders. Binge eating is prevalent, with people consuming large amounts of food in a short period, completely losing control. There's also muscle deformity, primarily due to excessive exercise in men who require large amounts of protein to support their growing bodies. They may even resort to steroids. However, these may not be enough to satisfy their relentless pursuit of even greater muscle mass. At the other extreme of eating disorders are people taking appetite suppressants and those suffering from anorexia. These individuals obsessively strive for a below-normal weight. They may not realize that they are slowly starving themselves to the point of non-existence, either eating very little or binge eating followed by purging.

Some women take "weight loss" to extremes. In their efforts to maintain a dangerously low weight, they ultimately exhaust themselves to death. Like women with anorexia, their bodily functions become so severely disrupted that they stop menstruating. This dysfunction is known as "female athlete triple syndrome." A surprising fact about eating disorders is that only in industrialized countries, especially in the United States, do people risk their lives to maintain abnormal weights. In less developed countries, people seem to have no need to starve themselves. So, why does this distorted phenomenon exist in our society? What is going on?

As I mentioned before, people's excessive focus on calorie counts, weight numbers, nutritional conversions, and various calculations is a completely mechanical process. They check their height-to-weight ratio against weight comparison charts, which don't include variables like bone density and muscle mass. In short, everyone's body is different. Don't compare yourself to celebrities. That's a different group altogether, with endless comparisons. Women, in particular, are completely obsessed with pursuing the "perfect" weight and wanting to look like magazine ad models. However, no matter how hard they try, it never seems good enough. In today's society, we are bombarded with the image of the "matchstick figure." How realistic can that be? Or, to put it more directly, how can that be healthy?

Unfortunately, some people become completely lost in the desire to replicate the perfect body, often resulting in health problems. In most cases, people start dieting and then repeatedly retrace their steps. Because relentlessly pursuing weight loss slows down metabolism, once they return to their original eating habits, the weight returns, often even heavier than before. It's crucial to communicate with your higher energies. In fact, most of us today have lost the ability to communicate-with ourselves, with our inner energy, and with others. As long as we consider the body a separate system from the spirit and soul, we cannot permanently change our weight. Typical Western thought holds that the inner self is independent of the body, which is certainly one of the reasons why the obesity problem remains unsolved.

The fast-paced lifestyle has negatively impacted people's weight. It's no longer just about "competing with your neighbors"-today's economic pressures force both spouses to work, separating them from family and friends, gradually eroding their sense of family, and leading to a lack of accomplishment. They feel empty, which leads them to fill that void with food, resulting in dieting-a cycle of weight loss and regain. A better solution is to make time to reconnect with oneself, family, and others. We must choose to reconnect and find love and positive energy that brings fulfillment to both body and soul. By allowing the mind, soul, and body to communicate with each other, we can maintain better health. Perhaps there is hope. I want to explain how to achieve this mind-body-soul communication. In the following article, I will offer some insights and suggestions that have proven effective and provide a new option-to choose a healthier life while enjoying delicious food.