The Obsession Continues

I live in Cheyenne. Despite the fact that it's the capitol of the state, it's a small town, only between 50,000 and 60,000 people. So there's not a lot of news that goes into the newspaper.

Today, I was annoyed to see that on the front page was the headline, "Why are we fat?" And then something about scientists trying to figure it all out.

I have to admit this annoys me. If a newspaper must focus on our weight (and it's always women's weight they focus on), do it in the Arts & Entertainment section, not on the front page of what is supposed to be a newspaper giving us news.

But there's no getting away from it. We're bombarded with weight loss commercials on TV (there's one with Charles Barkley in which he's all dressed in black, talking against a black background. Has he lost any weight? Hard to tell.) But for the most part of course, this weight loss crap is aimed at women. It's interesting what the new slogan is for ....I'm blanking on the name - senior moment - "Lose weight like a man." Very macho.

I get my newspapers in batches from my parents...yesterday I was going through several weeks of papers leading up until Christmas and New Year's Day, and of course the Arts & Entertainment section (a whole 2 page section, in the Cheyenne paper) was given over to worries that people might gain weight over the holidays, and provided tips, over and over again, to prevent this from happening.

And I'm not saying that there weren't some good tips. Indeed, I'm going to share some of them in my next post. It's just the over-arcing thought....no one can just enjoy themselves anymore. We're always being told - don't overeat, don't overeat, don't over eat.

Personally I think they should be telling people not to do drugs and not to drink to excess and to study hard in school, but that's just me.