Tuesday, January 4, 2011

Redefining "HEALTH"

I recently heard through the grapevine that a distant acquaintance of mine had expressed absolute horror over this blog, because she believed that I was promoting, glorifying even, an "unhealthy" lifestyle and "unhealthy" bodies. But what exactly is health? Let's take a look.

If you think that fat people are disgusting, and should be excluded from media in favor of thinner, more "attractive" people, that's unhealthy.

If you think "fat" is an insult, that's unhealthy.


If you live on a diet of cottage cheese and yams to maintain your weight, that's unhealthy.

If you feel jealous and embittered every time you see a skinny girl, that's unhealthy.

If you assume that all fat people eat their feelings, are lazy, smelly, or any other fat-phobic stereotype, that's unhealthy.

If you assume that all skinny people are starving themselves, anorexic, or using drugs, that's unhealthy.

If you fixate on your "flaws," that's unhealthy.

If you hate when people compliment your body, that's unhealthy.

If you hate looking at your body, that's unhealthy.

If you feel anything but love and acceptance for you body, that's unhealthy.

What our culture defines as "health" is unhealthy. It is an empty, evil, insane cycle that keeps people too busy to actually think. How many people do you know that are the "perfect" size but still unhappy? "Perfect" at what cost? Heck, celebrities (you know, the people who are supposed to embody the ideal? the ones on the covers of the magazines that we compare ourselves to?) are infamous for being miserably unhappy and self-destructive. I'm not promoting any particular body shape on this blog. I'm promoting body love. Because trust me: you can fix the outside a lot easier than the inside.

Tell me, dear readers: how do you define health?

1 comment:

  1. health starts in the spirit and moves outward from there, affecting mind, emotion and body. and body size/shape have *absolutely* nothing to do with health.

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