Skinny Jeans and the Weight of My Sins

In a Picasso painting of a woman poring over her reflection with a hint of disappointment and disapproval in her face, it applies to the hypothesis from James Ciment's essay entitled "Obesity and Eating Disorders" regarding the evolution of women's body image into its current, unnaturally thin state nowadays. One of his two hypothesis claims that the source of this ideal body image is not any sort of religion but rather that it is a matter of aesthetics taking over the world, and that was what gave way to concepts like the unnaturally cinched waist and lead to the rise of, for example, corsets in the nineteenth century. The painting ties to that hypothesis in that the woman in the painting has no explicit ties to any sort of religion, but rather, her concerns are of nothing but aesthetics. Her disappointment in her own self-image is something she deeply wishes she could change, but since that is not an instantaneous change, she gazes into the mirror wishing for ideal beauty. On the other hand, a painting by Goya depicting men beating themselves and others before a Christian statue would not apply to the aesthetic hypothesis but rather the hypothesis stating that the rise of Christianity correlates directly with the change of particularly women's ideal body image to unnatural thinness due to the practice of fasting and other kinds of ritual purification. In this painting, however, an implication is made that this ideal body type also carried over for men, even if it is not to quite so extreme a level as it was and is for women. The painting shows that men also underwent the changes of ideal body type, first by means of religion, though today it seems as though men have also subscribed to the thinner body image. No, they are not going for a size zero waist. However, in the minds of many people in the modern world, it is still not socially or aesthetically acceptable for men to be fat. Quite unlike Picasso's and Goya's paintings, there is a painting of a considerably sizable Mary holding a pudgy baby Jesus. This implies that this painting is from the age when obesity and being overweight was exalted as a sign of the gluttony and sedentary lifestyle that the life of the wealthy entailed. This is evidence of the constant changing and evolution of body image: one day obesity is hallowed and the next day people are becoming anorexic for the sake of the unnaturally thin body image. However, Christianity playing a key role in bringing the unnaturally thin body image to the table long ago, and it has since had yet to leave the world. Aesthetic concerns found in ancient paintings carry over into the music videos of the entertainment industry today. On that note, it has been found that sexually objectifying music videos – which are disturbingly common nowadays – can have a negative effect on women with low self-esteem and can lead them to idealize the unnaturally thin body image. This is seen in a scientific study conducted recently by researchers from the Behavioural Science Institute at Radboud University Nijmegen, where they tested college women to see the effect of sexually objectifying music videos upon their perception of their own body image. In their article entitled “Thinking Big: The effect of sexually objectifying music videos on bodily self-perception in young women”, they say, “they [the college women tested with low self-esteem] perceived themselves as bigger and showed an increased discrepancy between their perceived and ideal body size after video exposure. The neutral music videos did not influence women’s bodily self-perceptions. These findings suggest that body image is a flexible construct, and that high self-esteem can protect women against the adverse effects of sexually objectifying media.” One example of these sexually objectifying music videos that may be detrimental to the women watching is “Can’t Remember to Forget You” by Shakira featuring Rihanna. In this video, the lyrics and meaning of the song were set aside as the video was instead filled with the two women constantly in very revealing clothing and concerned only with sexuality. Women must be on the lookout for these videos, for the videos practically slap them in the face with this ideal body image. On top of Christianity, aesthetic concerns, and music videos, the media - not excluding social media - also takes its toll on body image and the thin body ideal. According to a scientific study conducted by researchers from VU University Amsterdam, while the media significantly impacts adolescents girls in regards to their ideally thin body image, media has its greatest impact when in conjunction with peer opinions. They claim in their introductory statement, "...we argue that media effects are negotiated by individual differences in susceptibility as well as by peer feedback on media messages (here the media message is: an ideal body is thin). Going off of this, social media must have a similar if not more brutal effect than the media at large, for that is when peer opinions are undeniably and constantly present. People look at things and post their opinions as comments. The girls on these websites are thus exposed to a heavy concentration of the media with uncensored opinions flying, with certainly a significant amount of these opinions in favor of the unnaturally thin body image. The media does not only have negative effects of ideal body image for women, however. For example, the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty reached many women anywhere from TV commercials to ads playing before Youtube videos. This campaign instead tells women to embrace realistic body image rather than unrealistic, unnaturally thin ones. Lastly, genetic framing, stigma, and personal responsibility also have an effect upon women with eating disorders, who strived for the unnaturally thin body image to such a great extent that they ended up diagnosed with a mental illness. In a study conducted by researchers at the Institute for Genome Sciences & Policy at Duke University, the researchers interviewed women to learn of their thoughts on the role of genetics in eating disorders. They found that for the most part, the women interviewed “anticipated that genetic reframing would help reduce stigma from personal responsibility.”

Lent is No Criminal...or Excuse for Anorexics

Religious controversy, one of the most popular forms of controversy in the modern world, has recently gained steam due to the Catholic liturgical season of Lent. For example, Jennifer Graham of The Boston Globe's article of late puts Catholics in the hot seat, blaming Christianity for anorexia. Graham makes these claims by means of personal experience, recounting her experiences gained from accessing a "pro-ana" or pro-anorexic website. She tells of the girls frequent mentions of how they are using Lent to diet excessively and further themselves in the pursuit of their ideal of extreme, unnatural thinness. There is, of course, not just one side to this argument. For example, St. Thomas Aquinas' ancient writings - specifically Question 147 of his religious work entitled Summa Theologica - states the beliefs of the Catholic Church on the question of fasting. They serve to counter general arguments against fasting as well as Jennifer Graham's claims. St. Thomas Aquinas begins Question 147 with Article 1, explaining why fasting is considered a virtuous act. Opposition claims that fasting is not a virtuous act for a variety of reasons, including that it is not always acceptable to God. In her article, Jennifer Graham sided with the opposition, saying that it is instead an excuse for anorexics. However, St. Thomas Aquinas counters the opposition and upholds the virtuousness of fasting, saying that fasting is intended to bring about "virtuous good" in three ways. One way is by cooling feelings of lust through abstaining from meat and drink. The second way is by clearing one's mind in order to better see and understand God. The third is by bringing us back to God after sinning. Another vitally important article of Question 147 is Article 2, explaining why fasting is considered an act of abstinence. Opposition claims that fasting is not an act of abstinence while it rather applies to other virtues. Jennifer Graham also seems to side with the opposition, for she believes that fasting is not abstinence but rather self-starvation gone too far. St. Thomas Aquinas once again counters the opposition and illustrates why fasting is in fact an act of abstinence, saying that abstinence is the means by which one may fast. His argument also serves to counter Jennifer Graham’s claims as he says, “Properly speaking fasting consists in abstaining from food, but speaking metaphorically it denotes abstinence from anything harmful, and such especially is sin.” In this statement, he denies that fasting is self-starvation gone too far, but rather that fasting is not just meant to be taken literally by merely abstaining from food and that it has a greater meaning – it accounts for spiritual fasting, or abstaining from sin. As seen in Articles 1 and 2 of Question 147 among others, Lent is no criminal, or excuse, or challenge for anorexics. It is intended to allow for spiritual cleansing, and some girls have just taken it too far.

Science Friday Podcast Recap: Recording the Global Soundscape

On a recent episode of the Science Friday podcast with host Ira Flatow, he and his guest Bryan Pijanowski - a professor of forestry and natural resources at Purdue University and a soundscape ecologist - discussed Pijanowski's new app he created in an attempt to record the sounds of nature all around the world. Pijanowski wants to ask people all around the world to help him by recording nature sounds in their ecosystems and uploading these to a server in order to share all the different sounds of nature with the world. There are several reasons behind Pijanowski's goal. One is that he recognizes that animals are being lost at an alarming rate, and he wants to capture their sounds before they are gone. He also not only wants scientists to have access to them but also ordinary people. He believes that sounds are a wonderful thing that can do anything from symbolizing human values to bringing back memories. Additionally, he thinks that this global soundscape could help people escape the industrial hum that is ever-present nowadays. One may download this extraordinary app by going to the iTunes or Google Play stores and searching for the app called Soundscape Recorder.

Science Friday Podcast Recap: The Sticky Science Behind Maple Syrup

On a recent episode of the Science Friday podcast with host Ira Flatow, he and his guest Dr. Abby van den Berg - a research assistant professor of plant biology at the University of Vermont - discussed the science behind maple syrup as well as her new way of extracting syrup from maple trees. According to Dr. van den Berg, the sap that is the pivotal ingredient in maple syrup is predominantly water with 2% sucrose - in other words, a little bit of sugar and water. This sap is made in maple trees as a result of the cycle of above and below freezing temperatures in the zones in which they are grown. When temperatures are below freezing, water is taken up from the soil into the fine branches of the tree. When temperatures are above freezing, atmospheric pressure develops within the tree. That atmospheric pressure is what allows sap harvesters to obtain the sap. The flavor of the maple syrup then comes from the reactions that take place when heat is applied as it is concentrated from sap to syrup. The color as well as some of the flavor also comes from the microorganisms that feed on the sap and produce glucose and fructose in the process. Though the most-practiced method of sap retrieval is the drilling of a hole into a tree and insertion of a spout into the tree that extracts the syrup, Dr. van den Berg has come up with a new method. In her method, she cuts off the top of a sapling, plugs a pump into the top of the stump, and sucks out the sap. She said that she does not intend to replace the current method, but rather add a beneficial tool to sap harvesters' toolboxes.

NPR Podcast Recap: Mind Over Milkshake

Alia Crum, a psychologist from Colombia University, recently questioned in an experiment the impact that food labels have on people psychologically, as well as the way the body corresponds to this psychological impact in the biological processing of food. After research especially on the placebo effect, Crum set up an experiment and began to take action. In the experiment, Crum made a batch of French vanilla milkshakes, all with the same calorie count of 300 calories. She then divvied the milkshakes up into two groups. One group she named Sensishake, a healthy milkshake containing only 140 calories (despite the fact that this was the 300 calorie shake). The other group was named Indulgence, a more decadent yet less healthy shake with 640 calories (though this shake, too, was the same 300 calorie milkshake). Then, she split those participating in her experiment into two groups, with one receiving Sensishake and one Indulgence - both groups were told the fake information about the shakes' calorie counts. Nurses were to monitor the participants' levels of a hormone called ghrelin before and after the consumption of the shakes, ghrelin being a hormone found in the gut that scientists often have deemed the "hunger hormone". Ghrelin levels rise when one is hungry and send a signal to the brain, telling it to find food; it also slows metabolism incase one may not find that food. Ghrelin levels drop after a large meal and send a signal to the brain, this time telling it to start metabolism and burn the calories. On the other hand, ghrelin levels drop considerably less after a smaller meal than after a bigger meal, and the corresponding signal sent to the brain tells it that one needs more food. For a while, scientists believed that the rising and falling of ghrelin levels correlated with the size of a meal and the nutrients consumed in that meal. However, Crum concluded through her experiment that that is not the case, and that ghrelin levels instead depend on what one believes they are consuming. She reached that conclusion because ghrelin levels dropped three times more when people thought they were having the Indulgent shake as opposed to people who had the Sensishake. Though more testing is necessary, Crum thinks scientists' perception of metabolism must change to account for peoples' beliefs about food and the significant impact those beliefs have.

Childhood Obesity: It's All About the Money

In a world full of controversy, obesity stands out as a prominent issue in recent years, especially in the child demographic. Many scientists and researchers have striven to uncover the cause of this epidemic of obesity amongst the many children of the world, and these extensive studies have yielded a great deal of possible explanations. This list of hypotheses includes but is not limited to: strict parenting, poor diet and food choices, sedentary lifestyles, working mothers, immigrant families, environmental pollution, socioeconomic status, insulin resistance, media manipulation, a lack of will, and misinformation of consumers. Emerging from this list as the most logical with several facts from scientific studies to back it up is socioeconomic status. A common misconception regarding this concept explaining the child obesity epidemic is that it merely accounts for those struggling economically. This is not true, however, and exposure to famous and historical artwork as well as more recent scientific studies reveal that socioeconomic status as the cause for obesity covers both extremes: it accounts for not only the poor families that are forced by their finances into unhealthy eating habits, but also the rich, who sometimes abuse their privileges of access to any food in any amount at any time. In an October 2012 study found in the scientific journal Social Science & Medicine entitled “Neighborhood context and racial/ethnic differences in young children’s obesity: Structural barriers to interventions”, research was conducted that provides substantial support for the hypothesis deeming socioeconomic status as the primary cause for childhood obesity. Authors Rachel Tolbert Kimbro and Justin T. Denney make a claim in the introductory statement that the study “identifies resource-based and community-based mechanisms that impede on the maintenance of healthy weights for young children and in socioeconomically depressed areas, and shows consistently higher rates of obesity in more deprived areas.” They later draw conclusions as of the data obtained through the study, saying, “Children who live in high poverty and low educated neighborhoods experience increased risks for obesity after accounting for their individual-level differences.” Both these excerpts from a professional study provide considerable support for the socioeconomic status thesis in that they directly tie poverty and low socioeconomic status to higher obesity rates among children. This essentially marks poverty as a cause of a higher risk of obesity for children. In another scientific research article entitled “Obesity and Eating Disorders” by James Ciment, references are made that similarly point to low economic status as the primary cause of obesity among children. For example, in the article there is a discussion regarding restrictions that have been placed on the number of fast-food restaurants within neighborhoods in certain places in the United States. These restrictions have been enacted due to “low-income areas, where other dietary options, such as markets with produce sections and more health-oriented restaurants, are not available.” This statement not only implies that residents – including children – of low-income areas essentially have a high risk of becoming obese, but it also illustrates in more detail what exactly happens on the road from merely being in a state of economic depression to becoming obese as a result of that economic state. That statement serves to impugn the lack of healthy food choices and, thus, the prominence of less expensive, unhealthier food choices for the childhood obesity epidemic brought about by low socioeconomic status. Low socioeconomic status, however, is not the only side of the economic spectrum that ultimately is the primary cause of childhood obesity. The article points out multiple times that while the obesity rate in developing countries is increasing, obesity is more salient in the wealthier countries of the world. This trend that high economic status can be just as detrimental to peoples’ health and weight is not just a matter of modern times. Obesity has been around for a long time, as seen through artwork and ancient artifacts that date back significantly – back all the way to 23,000 B.C.E. According to the scientific article afore mentioned by James Ciment, “Obesity has been with humankind since the beginning of recorded history…and perhaps even earlier, as seems to be indicated by prehistoric artifacts depicting obese persons, such as the so-called the Venus of Willendorf figurine.” This existence of obesity in the artistic world is also seen in the paintings of German painter Albrecht Dürer. For example, his painting Nemesis or The Great Fortune depicts the Greek goddess of retribution with the fortune of earthlings in her hands – and a considerable amount of body fat in her rear area and a protruding stomach. The obesity that this goddess represents, however, is what truly holds the fortunes of the many people of high economic status. These artifacts and paintings are windows to the past views of obesity that can serve to explain the effect that high socioeconomic status has on obesity in individuals. They reveal, as Ciment stated, “For much of human history, obesity…was a sign of wealth and status, since only those with money and power could afford the quantities of rich food, as well as the sedentary lifestyle, that led to being overweight.” The availability of food in conjunction with the lack of a need to work is something that not only existed in the past but rather that carries over into the present day. Unlike the socioeconomic status hypothesis, there are hypotheses regarding the cause of childhood obesity that lack the facts to back them up. One of said hypotheses is the theory that metabolic illness and the precursors to diabetes – namely insulin resistance – are what lead to obesity. There has been legitimate support for this concept, coming from scientific journal articles as well as experienced doctors and surgeons. For example, surgeon Peter Attia, whose viral video features a seminar in which he questions the morality of criticizing the obese and proposes that insulin resistance is the cause of obesity and not the other way around. However, researchers like James Ciment have established that, as Ciment said in his article “Obesity and Eating Disorders”, “obesity is…a leading cause of metabolic disorders.” This theory is based on years of research, while Attia’s claim is based so far on only personal experience and his own questioning of the topic derived from his guilt over mistreatment of former obese patients. Another hypothesis that does not quite compare to the socioeconomic status theory is the theory regarding immigrant food traditions leading to childhood obesity. Though there have been some studies that Hispanic children tend to be more obese, that for one accounts for only one of the many ethnicities in the United States. Also, according to a scientific research article from the journal Social Science and Medicine, “living in neighborhoods with a higher proportion of foreign-born residents is associated with reduced child obesity risk.” This study shows, contrary to the hypothesis regarding immigrant food traditions, that higher populations of immigrants and foreigners in neighborhoods lower the risk of children becoming obese. A third hypothesis that may be somewhat accountable for childhood obesity while it does not have as great of an effect as socioeconomic status is sedentary lifestyle and a lack of exercise. Even though this hypothesis is respected at even a governmental level with people like Michelle Obama and her Let’s Move initiative she has been trying to rally the nation with in order to fight obesity among Americans, there are some key points therein that allow socioeconomic status to maintain its position as the predominant cause of obesity. For example, the fact that the online Let’s Move campaigns are online in addition to the games found on the section of the website dedicated to children is self-contradictory. While the initiative tries to steer people away from screen time and towards physical activity, this website with its many features could have someone poring over their screens even more than before. Speaking of the Let’s Move initiative, this particular hypothesis regarding the issues sedentary lifestyles and a lack of exercise has sparked controversy within the United States due to the ever-present divisions between opposing political parties that it leads to, thus revealing that obesity may be looked at through a political lens. For example, The National Review, an organization in alignment with the conservative party, featured an article by Patrick Basham entitled “Michelle Obama’s Childhood-Obesity Myth” in which the author attacked the campaign – as would be expected, since the man is part of a conservative group with views that clash with those of liberals like President Obama and the First Lady. The abundance of partisan language within the article – one of many examples is when he uses the term “arrogantly”, referring to the way in which he predicts liberals will respond to recent good news regarding obesity – and the partisan language used in many other articles like this one covering the same topic will lead to anxiety among the American people. This anxiety will then lead to a broad fault line between opposing political parties, and it will allow detrimental divisions to continue to dominate in the United States. Obesity, like many other matters, leads to political controversy and resulting divisions between the American people. One additional hypothesis that like the sedentary lifestyle and lack of exercise hypothesis cannot quite compare to the substantiality and predominance of the socioeconomic status hypothesis is the theory that poor food choices – at schools in particular – is the main cause of obesity. This hypothesis has received a considerable amount of attention recently with the release of a trailer for an upcoming documentary called Lunch Hour that focuses on the unhealthy food choices available to students at schools at lunchtime. The documentary features celebrity Rachel Ray, who in the trailer notes that millions of children’s only access to food is at school. Though she was adding to the argument that unhealthy school lunch foods may be a cause of childhood obesity, that issue is derived from a greater problem that she points out herself: poverty. The millions of children that would starve if not for school lunches are not choosing to live that way. Rather, the reason they rely on school lunches is due to their low socioeconomic status. The unhealthy school lunch issue would become almost obsolete if poverty were not at hand for these children. By means of scientific research and other sources, one may see that the primary cause of the childhood obesity epidemic throughout the world is socioeconomic status – and that accounts for both the high and low ends of the economical spectrum. On the other hand, while other hypotheses such as metabolic illness and insulin resistance, immigrant food traditions, sedentary lifestyles and a lack of exercise, and poor food choices at schools have some evidence in their favor, the socioeconomic status hypothesis still overrides the others. This issue of childhood obesity also adds to the laundry list of political controversies in the United States. The first step to rehabilitation is often considered acknowledging the problem. America must take into consideration all these factors and the problem that socioeconomic status causes, and take the first step – away from childhood obesity.