Too Much of a Good Thing 1

Too Much of a Good Thing By Rachel Tomzek BCULST 593 Portfolio Assignment 1 January 26, 2012

Too Much of a Good Thing 2 Statistics blast from media sources stating that because of the increasing rates of obesity, unhealthy eating habits, and physical inactivity, we may see the first generation that will be less healthy and have a shorter life expectancy than their parents (Surgeon General, 2004); we are inundated with photos of our morbidly obese population; new documentaries and books are released yearly on the health crisis of America; new reality shows surrounding weight loss and transformation are becoming more popular; and it seems as though a new diet comes on the market every time you turn around. What is the effect of this constant bombardment of statistics as the media represents them? Is the knowledge making a difference or falling on deaf ears? I hope to address these questions briefly in this paper. Food Inc. (2008), was my first exposure to a media representation surrounding the food crisis in America and I admit that it changed the way I looked at food and started my husband and I on a journey to improve the way we looked at food and how we consumed food. Over the years I have watched a parade of documentaries, reality television shows, tried a few diets and made significant changes as a food consumer. As time has gone on though I have begun to wonder what the effects of this inundation of knowledge has on the populace at large. The term information overload was popularized in 1970 with the publication of Alvin Tofflers book Future Shock and refers to the difficulty a person can have understanding an issue and making decisions that can be caused by the presence of too much information (Wikipedia, 2012). As we have entered the digital age with easy access to the internet there is a sense of information overload due to the sheer volume of information we receive from all different types of media sources, whether print or digital. Food Inc. is certainly not the first movie made about the food crisis in America, but it is a pivotal documentary that many people

Too Much of a Good Thing 3 oft quote as the piece that galvanized them into making a change in their food life on a personal level and even within their community or workplace. Using words such as abnormal, excessive, epidemic and crisis leads to a heightened sense of urgency and even panic in some cases. In the television reality show series, Biggest Loser, contestants are described as being in battles for their lives and are pitted against each other in teams, or as individuals, to lose weight through grueling workouts, strict nutrition intake and challenges (NBC.com, 2012). But are the contestants on Biggest Loser really representing an epidemic that is sweeping America or are they just good television? Biggest Loser does make a difference in the lives of the contestants who participate in the show; they might even help make a difference in the lives of the people sitting at home and watching the show, however, one has to wonder if watching a sensationalized, celebrity hosted reality show with a $250,000 prize package at the end really helping the epidemic? I find myself watching the show for the entertainment value versus the effect it has on inspiring me to go walk a mile or eat less. In his documentary, Fat Head (2009), Tom Naughton pushes back against the claims and information presented in the documentary, Supersize Me (2004) with facts such as theres never been a single study that proves saturated fat causes heart disease and being fat is not, in and of itself, bad for your health. The behaviors that can make you fatcan also ruin your health, and thats why being fat is associated with bad health. But its entirely possible to be fat and healthy. Its also possible to be thin while developing Type II diabetes and heart disease. With these wild swings in information it is hard to find balance or know what information is true or best to follow. One key thing that stands out from the movie Fat Head is Naughtons statement of using his functioning brain to make decisions about what to put into his body. With this statement it is

Too Much of a Good Thing 4 as though Naughton is stating that the media assumes people are ignorant and do not know how to eat healthily. This is a profound assumption that the media may be making when producing knowledge surrounding obesity the assumption that people are stupid and often portrays obese people from supposed lower socioeconomic status, people of color and people living in certain geographical locations (i.e. the southern United States). Some of these media sources have been used to address the anxiety surrounding the obesity epidemic, while far more have been used to promote the idea of an epidemic. Julie Guthman (2011) quotes Phil Edwards in her book Weighing In as saying, the main message is staying thin. Its good for you, and its good for the planet (Guthman, 2011, 7; Landau, 2009). We have this overwhelming desire to take care of our planet and our bodies and the media, and other organizations, feeds on these assumptions by inflating statistics, using data to their advantage and making sophisticated connections to issues that may or may not be interconnected. I believe that one assumption the media makes when presenting this information to their audiences is that people are striving for the ideal of being thin. By pushing statistics that show how obese the population is becoming and advertising the latest and greatest diet plan the media feeds the insatiable diet of people, especially women and young girls, to be thin and beautiful. Rich (2011), states, the obesity epidemic offers one of the most powerful and pervasive discourses influencing ways of thinking about health and the body and this obesity discourse instills a sense of moral panic, urgency and disaster which fuels the mongering of obesity as a disease category (Jutel, 2006) requiring immediate action (5, 6). The oft-thrown around measurement of this obesity epidemic is BMI (body mass index) which is used as a concrete, medical measurement of relationship of body or adipose tissue to lean body mass

Too Much of a Good Thing 5 (Guthman, 2011, 27). However, BMI is actually a ratio of weight to height and makes no exceptions for variations of bone mass or density; it also cannot distinguish between lean muscle mass and fat body mass. BMI does not factor in race or gender variations but rather lumps everyone into one normal zone and by tenths of a percent categorizes people as overweight, obese or morbidly obese (Guthman, 2011, 28, 30). I believe this is another assumption the media makes when using the standard of BMI, the assumption of people trusting health organizations such as WHO (World Health Organization), CDC (Center for Disease Control), the AMA (American Medical Association) and the Surgeon General. The struggle of anxiety and worry over these issues leads to two scenarios that Robbins (2007) describes in his book Lawn People. He describes how this worry produces a shouldering of responsibility for the economys hazards and the desire to consume alternatives; Guthman (2011) describes this as an economic bulimic purging which is necessary for later consumer binging (132). In other words, anxiety is produced by experts and causes people to take responsibility for their own health, risk, and safety, rather than calling for truly alternative economic and ecological relationships (Robbins, 2007, 132). However, the flip side of this is when you have a domestic network crisis such as loss of electricity or contaminated public water areas, these situations cause us to sit up, pay attention and respond in a more direct manner that influences these relationships (132). In this setting, information overload is impossible to avoid one minute we are told that carbs are bad, the next carbs are good; we are told to not eat saturated fats and eat trans fats instead, then we are told that a mistake was made and you should not eat any fat at all; how many times a day or week we should work out is like climbing a Jacobs Ladder and never being able to climb off. The inundation of material in the way of food, diet and health information can

Too Much of a Good Thing 6 be compared to the barrage of information from charity organizations portraying devastating pictures of children dying around the world from lack of nutrition, education and clean water leading to the terminology poverty porn. Whittemore (year unknown) writes, in the last decade, there has been a fundamental shift in the way NGOs tell their stories. More and more, nonprofits are replacing misery with opportunity, making a bet on inspiring a sense of human connection rather than tapping into reserves of white or wealthy guilt. Part of this is strategic; it supposes that after decades of being battered over the head by relief organizations flaunting horror images, theres not much left but table scraps in the guilt bucket (obtained from http://www.fastcoexist.com/1679092/the-rise-and-fall-of-poverty-porn, January 2012). When it comes to discussing the obesity epidemic and media reality television shows such as Biggest Loser, Extreme Makeover: Weight Loss Edition and The Revolution, we would do well to take a note from the way NGOs (non-governmental organization) are changing the way they do business. There are people out there doing amazing work to educate parents, children, families and many more about how to eat healthy, be active and become better stewards of our earth in the process. By focusing on the crisis the media is dismissing the efforts of these groups and replacing hope with fear; they also continue to perpetuate the ideal for thinness and the generalizing discourse that people of lower socioeconomic status and those of color are more prone to obesity (Guthman, 2011, 173). Knowledge is a definite must, yet we cannot continue to push this idea of a crisis without providing balance. Unfortunately, I do not think the balance will come unless people push back against the information being presented and demand equal representation. Finding ways to become involved in the community, work place and my own backyard have been the things for me that have helped to bring balance and perspective. I realize that not everyone has

Too Much of a Good Thing 7 this luxury, but I do believe that each person can make small choices to be their healthiest and best self. Tom Haughton said that he would use his functioning brain in the thirty days that he chose to eat fast food for three sole meals a day and I believe that this is the greatest tool that we have for our utilization (Fat Head, 2009). We must practice intellectualism with activism and find the balance within them.

Too Much of a Good Thing 8 Works Cited An Epidemic of Obesity Myths. (n.d.). From Science to Activism. Retrieved from http://www.obesitymyths.com/myth3.4.htm Guthman, J. (2011). Weighing in: Obesity, food justice, and the limits of capitalism. Berkeley: University of California Press. Information Overload. (2012). In Wikipedia. Retrieved from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information_overload Kenner, R., Pearce, R., Schlosser, E., Robledo, M., Pohlad, W., Skoll, J., Schorr, R., ... Magnolia Home Entertainment (Firm). (2009). Food, Inc. Los Angeles, CA: Magnolia Home Entertainment. Naughton, T., Smiley, S., Vine Street Pictures., Middle Road Pictures (Firm), Ostrow and Company., Cinema Vault (Firm), & Vivendi Entertainment (Firm). (2010). Fat head. United States: Cinema Vault. NBCUniversal Media, LLC. (2012). Biggest Loser. Retrieved from http://www.nbc.com/the-biggest-loser/about/ Rich, E. (January 01, 2011). `I see her being obesed!': Public pedagogy, reality media and the obesity crisis. Health, 15, 1, 3-21. Robbins, P. (2007). Lawn people: How grasses, weeds, and chemicals make us who we are. Philadelphia: Temple University Press. Whittemore, N. (n.d.). The Rise and Fall of Poverty Porn. Retrieved from http://www.fastcoexist.com/1679092/the-rise-and-fall-of-poverty-porn