Fri Mar 25, 2005 9:00 am   Reply with quote      

"Darin, you're the reason girls become anorexic."

This was said to me a while back, and I don't think that anything could be further from the truth. Nowhere will you find a larger proponent of girls eating than I. I am most attracted to shapely women: women with thick thighs, curvaceous hips and ample ass. The last thing I want to do is have sex with a twenty-year-old girl that looks like a prepubescent, thirteen-year-old boy. An attractive body starvation does not make.

But the opposite of anorexia is not gluttony. Just because enjoy eating does not mean that you must eat badly.

I don't expect everyone in the world to abandon butter and sugar in the name of purifying their bodies—eating perfectly healthfully all the time would drive all but the most dedicated insane. But by now, everyone knows what is and is not healthy. It’s no secret that ingesting glucose causes your insulin levels to spike or that hydrogenated fats wrack havoc with your cellular structure. So to consume unhealthy food regardless represents a deliberate and conscious choice to ignore such information. And that’s fine. If you place the pleasure derived from eating junk food ahead of your health, that’s your decision. Everyone has different priorities, and I’m not about to pass judgment over those whose differ from mine.

However, I simply cannot understand how some people complain about gaining unwanted weight while simultaneously chowing down on ice cream and guzzling soda. It’s always seemed pretty simple to me: either you eat well or you don't. No one is holding a gun to your head and saying, “Drink this soda or I’ll torture your puppy, burn down your home and rape your sister.” If getting in shape matters to you – if getting in shape really matters to you – then do something about it.

If you want to get rid of the beer belly, put down the f***ing beer.

But you can’t say that. Because if you do – if I ever express my preference for athletic girls that eat but eat well – then suddenly you’re some sort of abusive asshole. Teachers, parents and after-school specials have so stressed the ease with which the overbearing social pressure to be attractive can drive girls to eating disorders that any negative comment on anyone’s eating habits is incredibly insensitive and will not be tolerated. Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s a f***ed up society that we live in that so much importance is placed upon the physical beauty of either sex, but that doesn’t mean that individuals should be absolved of the responsibility of taking care of themselves.

Worse, it’s become a social trend for my generation to valorize poor dietary habits in the same way that we glorify alcohol consumption. Cries of, “Oh man, I got so f***ing wasted last night,” has been supplanted by, “Oh my god, I ate a whole f***ing pint of ice cream yesterday!” In both cases, “and it was awesome” is implied at the end of the sentence, and people expect commendation in response to either. It’s as if they think that admitting their addictions someone justifies them.

Unfortunately, the fact that I eat well and enjoy exercising seems to discount my opinions on the matters in most people’s eyes. They see me as an extremist, and immediately write off my views as equally fanatic. I’m “that guy that works out all the time” who “worries too much about protein” and is “probably on steroids.”

I don't think that I’m extremist in any way. I watch what I eat, yes, but I don’t let dietary concerns preclude me from going to restaurants or indulging in the occasional dessert. It’s only most other people’s utter lack of concern for their diets that makes me look abnormal. Nowadays, anyone who gives any modicum of thought to their health is the outlier. Take a look at the statistics: nearly two-thirds of adults in the United States are overweight, and almost one-third are obese.

I am not attracted to girls that are obese. I will admit this, and openly so. I like athletic girls that take care of their bodies by exercising and eating well. I do not think that this simple declaration will drive any girls to anorexia. And if anyone tells me otherwise—well, I think that says a lot more about them than it does me.

The original copy of the article is found here( Darin S. Lim Yankowitz).