Fat's the new black

I'm going to go out on a limb here and acknowledge the HUGE white elephant in this country: America has a weight issue. While the thin-is-in mentality has faced harsh criticism for its role in the fashion industry and Hollywood, the rest of the nation is dealing with a different, but equally dangerous mindset--that fat's the new black.

As long as I can remember, flipping through magazines meant looking at young girls with bodies that seemed too good to be true (only to find out that they are--mostly every image placed in women's magazines are retouched and fixed to look "better"). Sure, I probably wished my legs were that skinny, or that long, or my hair was that silky, or my lips that perfectly pouty. Maybe I got a complex from all the images, but it was the same complex I got from my gorgeous best friends and my perfectly beautiful classmates.

Flash forward to today. In an attempt to combat the emaciated starlets and models, the country has launched a plus-size counterattack. What began as a fantastic idea in the beginning, has had some unforeseen side effects. With roughly two-thirds of the population overweight or obese (and no, that's not in skinny model terms, that's in professional doctor terms), there are new concerns that our cultural connotations of healthy have shifted into dangerous waters. Take some time to read MSNBC's "Is fat the new normal?" by Karen Collins, which looks at a study from the July issue of Economic Inquiry. It seems as though as our country packs on the pounds, the cultural ideas of "healthy weight" tip the scales as well.

Now don't get the wrong idea here. I don't think it's okay that we let size 00 models stomp (or should I say, dizzily stumble) down runways. I'm still trying to understand how we have sizes like 00. It's uncomfortable to watch Project Runway and hear designers say that their model is harder to work with because she is a healthy size 4. But I also think that telling young women to completely disregard their health as long as they are proud of their bigger bodies isn't the solution either. Despite what some would like to believe, there is a line that no one should cross (on both extremes). There is such a thing as being too fat, just as there is a limit to how thin is too thin. It reaches a point where the curves become dangerous, and the health risks become serious.

I'm all for supporting women of all shapes and sizes, and being proud of who we are despite what the media has to say about it, but I think it's more important to be honest with yourself. Are you within a healthy weight range, or do you need to make some changes?