Obesity in America
By Rick Wilking
Almost 2 years ago I started work on a photo documentary simply titled “Obesity in America.” It’s a simple title but with complex subject matter.
Getting the access, the various permissions from individuals and institutions and working through the convoluted American HIPPA (Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act) that protects patient privacy to extremes was quite a challenge. But trying to tell a story with this many layers and permutations was even tougher.
It was a hot topic back in 2010 when I started, with obesity-related stories moving frequently on the Reuters wire but with few images to go with them. I set out to change that and decided to work the project in multiple chapters.
Since I last blogged about the documentary, I have shot several more chapters and learned a lot more about how complicated this topic is.
Fitness first for the First Lady
As children’s obesity has dramatically increased in recent years, Michelle Obama had made a cause out of fighting the national trend towards bad diet and too little exercise. Two years ago she launched her “Let’s Move” initiative to improve the diet and fitness of our nation.
According to “Let’s Move”, over the past three decades, childhood obesity rates in America have tripled. “Let’s Move” states that “today, nearly one in three children in America is overweight or obese. Thirty years ago, most people led lives that kept them at a healthy weight. Kids walked to and from school every day, ran around at recess, participated in gym class, and played for hours after school before dinner. Meals were home-cooked with reasonable portion sizes and there was always a vegetable on the plate. Eating fast food was rare and snacking between meals was an occasional treat.”
My, how things have changed! I see it at my own kid’s schools. Students have limited recess activity and physical education classes that seem to be more about eliminating injury than actually providing exercise. On several occasions I’ve gone to the school principal and requested more exercise opportunities for the kids at school. My requests were generally accepted and appreciated. On diet, my kids have never, to my knowledge, eaten at McDonald’s. Down time…..well….we have a saying in our house….”If the sun is out, so are you.” TV and computer time is closely monitored. Am I being a whacky parent, or were there others that thought like me?
It gave me great comfort and reassurance when first lady Michelle Obama launched the “Let’s Move” initiative. This was something near and dear to my heart. I can do my best to change diet and exercise in my own backyard, but someone like Michelle Obama has some serious pulling power to get the job done nationally. And so she has.
Exercise makes you feel better about yourself and also gives you goals to pursue. All you need to have is a good workout understanding of exercise and the way it affects your body in order to get the most of it. There is only one ideal way to benefit from weight exercise – Keep It Simple. Yoga provides fitness to the body.for more info visit : http://www.fitnessfirst.net.in.
Catwalks for all sizes
By Nacho Doce
Three days after photographing the svelte models at the upscale Sao Paulo Fashion Week, I found myself in the crowded backstage of the Miss Brazil Plus-Size beauty pageant, a contrast in every aspect from body size to the organization’s budget and the cost of each dress.
Backstage the overweight models pushed their own dress-filled suitcases with no assistants to help them, very different from the Fashion Week models, each of whom had two or three people dressing, preening, and supervising them.
Television channels filming Miss Plus-Size were offering the stream to reality shows, while at Fashion Week the transmission was to a more serious audience, focusing on present and future stars in the fashion world.
Not once did any of the Plus-Size models react against being photographed, showing no shame for their big dresses. I found their self-esteem wonderful.
Although fascinated by the contrast of the two events, I was also impressed by one similarity. All the women, the slender ones and the overweight ones, paraded with the same nervousness and dignity past the spectators. The morning after the pageant, Miss Brazil Plus-Size was hospitalized for the stress of competing, the demanding rehearsals and lack of a proper diet, all of which sound very familiar in the fashion world.
Choosing surgery for weight loss
Obesity.
Just the word is ugly. Morbid obesity sounds even worse, the clinical term for someone with a body mass index of 40 or higher. Morbidly obese usually means someone is at least 100 pounds over their suggested normal weight.
With all the media attention on the topic the word obesity by itself might conjure up images of giant sized people waddling down the sidewalk, pulling into a handicapped parking spot or riding electric carts that have popped up at almost any major store. You might pray you don’t get seated next to “one of them” on a train or an airplane.
The media inevitably run video or photos of giant people shot from behind to go with the latest story on obesity. Is it because they are protecting the person’s privacy or is it just to emphasize how big they are?
You might be thinking “Wow, there goes another one, glad it’s not me.” “What in the world does that person eat to get that big?” “Why don’t they just go to the gym?” “Such a shame for someone so young, good looking too, if he/she lost about 100 pounds they would look great!”
Yes, most of the American are overweight. Due to poor eating habits it can happen to anyone. To make improvement in the eating habit is the first step which can help to reduce the weight. Avoid junk food, drink plenty of water, do practice daily exercise are some of the natural ways to lose the weight.
My big, fat photo documentary
An 8-month look at obesity in America
Reuters photojournalists work in many different scenarios. You could be working in a 2’ x 2’ assigned space on the red carpet at the Academy Awards with 1,000 other photographers – we call that a set piece event. If you’re on the sidelines of the NFL Super Bowl or the camera platform at the U.S. presidential inauguration you’re on a set piece event.
Another day you might be covering spot news, shooting a hurricane or tornado, a school shooting or a tragedy like the space shuttle crash.
Then, there’s enterprise work which can be the most difficult of all. From the story idea, to getting cooperative subjects and access, to the shooting itself: enterprise journalism is all up to you and using your imagination and creativity. My recently completed project on obesity in America was such a piece.
Last spring I started looking for an enterprise topic to shoot during the year. I considered covering the economy but we had endless images of unemployment lines, foreclosures, job fairs and poor people devastated by the financial collapse. Frankly, I couldn’t see the need for doing more.
Soon I realized there was another topic that was in nearly every newspaper, magazine and website that we didn’t have much imagery of. “The Epidemic of Obesity” – a term bandied about in the media and vilified by the fat acceptance crowd.
You haven’t heard of fat acceptance? I hadn’t either. More on that later…
This isn’t a different side to the obesity story! This is the same crap in a different package. “oh it’s all well and fine but I still don’t want to be fat”. Nothing about how stigmatization of fat plays a role in the fat acceptance movement or how people with medical problems causing weight gain or swelling play into things. Or hell, even fetishists!
I see nothing but the same thing focusing on appearances. As a fat chick this annoys me. I’m not going to apologize for being fat. If you want to do more stories on fat people then you can do a story on me. I don’t care.
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Resident Photographers Blog Expert
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The Wall
If one were to travel to Wisconsin, or even live here, the enormous amount of obese persons, (very young to oldsters), would shock anyone. On top of the Tavern League and various breweries encouraging drinking, the huge meal portions served in restaurants does not lessen the epidemic. Even some theatres are installing wider seats! Buffet restaurants attract those already overweight with unlimited trips and endless hours of commandeering a table. There should be a buffet cut-off point,(as bartenders), or a specific menu for the obese, since this has become a national health crises. Also, the SNAP,(FoodShare Program), should prohibit the purchase of “junk” food, and limit purchases to only fruits, vegetables, meats, dairy, and juices. What is truly incomprehensible is how the obese continue to overeat, and seem oblivious to their own and family’s toxic food choices and gross physical appearance. If there is a medical and/or genetic component, these can readily be addressed by low-income clinics. Perhaps, even the ubiquitious health clubs might promote low-income or no-charge programs, in concert with physicians, to attract the non-exercisers. Nationwide city contests like the successful televison show, “The Biggest Loser,” with good prizes,would bring about a major obesity reduction.