Why can’t we look like Barbie?

Sara Mayhew
March 12, 2010
Filed under Opinion & Editorial

Cover Girl, Glamour, People, and many more top magazines always have the “Hottest” and “Thinnest” new stars on the covers and pages of their magazine. Many young teenage girls, as well as boys, come across these magazines on a daily basis, and look up to them as their role models. While some are the “average” size, those on the “heavy” side begin to have lower self esteem, as well as overall well being. As they look at these covers they begin to feel worse about themselves and would rather choose a more drastic way to become skinny rather than being patient and using diet and exercise to lose weight.

Teen obesity in the United States has rapidly been increasing over the past ten years. Although not many children have weight related health problems, if their weight continues to rise they will have many health problems as they age, like heart disease, diabetes, blood pressure, and many more. Obesity can lower life expectancy, well being, and physical health. Many young people are faced with unhealthy foods at every corner. Although there are many temptations, schools, and many food distributors are trying to turn to a more healthy choice for children.

Unfortunately, teen obesity has continued to grow, and does not seem as though it will be declining immensely any time soon. If we try harder to teach younger children about what healthy foods are and how to control the amount of food they consume at one sitting, maybe we will be able to teach the next generation on how to become healthier adults.  But, it isn’t always about the way we eat; we also need a good amount of physical activity. Get out for an hour, and play. Basketball, Tennis, and many other fun activities can help get you into shape as well as let you meet some new friends.

Maybe it’s just that too many teens think that it is okay to just grab a bag of Doritos and eat the whole bag while watching an episode of American Idol. On television you always hear how some people just can’t help but it, they don’t know how to stop it. Well, I absolutely love eating, but I know what is healthy and when enough is enough. It just perturbs me that people are able to be completely comfortable with themselves while they are unhealthy and slowly becoming ill. To me, when a person decides to not care anymore and decides to just let go, it seems they are knowingly killing themselves.