Food For Thought: New Food Reality Show Wants To Shame Americans
Posted by: Simcha Whitehill
Filed in:
news
8:30AM, Friday May 15th 2009
“American Idol” host Ryan Seacrest and British chef Jamie Oliver have announced they’re teaming up for a big challenge. In their upcoming reality show that’s expected to hit the airwaves next year, the dynamic duo plans to battle obesity in the U.S. Oliver is going to hit the “fattest cities” in an attempt to salvage their diets. Clearly, they’ve got a superhero complex, but aren’t they going to give the rest of us a real complex?
Chef Jamie is hopped up on the success he’s had in his homeland, where “Jamie’s School Lunches” got the government to add £500 million (that’s $758 million) in funding towards healthy school lunches. Jamie is hoping to do the same thing here, where he believes there’s a diet crisis, since 1/3 of the population is supposedly overweight. Isn’t that better than having 127 million Americans underweight?
I’m torn between my love of Oliver and standing by my people, the fat kids. Not that everyone in America has a perfectly balanced diet, but as a kid my mother always made sure I ate right and exercised. I wasn’t allowed cheesy snacks or sugary cereals, and I was enrolled in so many after-school exercise programs that I got a foot injury from working out so much. The clincher: Despite all that nutritious food and physical activity, I was fat, like my mother and her mother before her. That didn’t stop people from making me feel bad about the way I looked.
No matter how old I get, I still feel like that chubby child who got picked on for her weight. At least my humiliation was mostly from other children. It’s quite another thing when an adult expert singles you out as a “problem,” let alone a celeb like Seacrest. Aren’t you boys forgetting how important a healthy self-image is?
I’m not saying we shouldn’t pick our food well and be advised wisely, but perhaps the way to get people on track isn’t by shamming entire American cities on camera. Chew on that, Jamie Oliver and Ryan Seacrest. Maybe I’m fat, but I’m happy without you!
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Perceptible
wrote on May 15 2009 @ 08:39 am: [report]
Simcha, it’s likely tho, that you are the exception, rather than the rule. As a parent, I see the ridiculously unhealthy diets that other parents feed their children – and it shows. I also know a mom who feeds her kids healthy foods and her girls are still “chubby”, despite the abundance of after school activities. It’s clearly just their body type. But their mom also makes sure they have a healthy self-image, as does their pediatrician. But again, probably the exception rather than the rule. Just take a look at the families at ChuckECheese, McDonalds, and Pizza Hut to see proof that many U.S. parents either don’t know or don’t care about the food they feed their kids. It’s not like 5 and 7 year olds are buying their own food! But you “learn” to eat from your parents.
Do we know that the show will be “shaming” U.S. cities? Or will they position it as more helpful? I don’t remember Jamie’s other show being particularly degrading, just informative.
shannac02
wrote on May 15 2009 @ 08:59 am: [report]
This has nothing to do with the topic… But Simcha, you are FAR from fat, and I want to be just like you when I grow up.
jimnist10
wrote on May 15 2009 @ 10:03 am: [report]
I agree with Perceptible. Simcha, I don’t know you or know what you look like, but you and your mother are clearly the exception. If you’re eating healthy and being active, then the alleged “chub” is just part of you and that’s just your body and that’s totally OK. Being healthy is more important than size. However, there is such a thing as FAT. I highly doubt Mother Nature intended for the human body to be 300+lbs. I’m totally supportive of someone “shaming” Americans’ unhealthy lifestyle, especially when that unhealthy lifestyle is affecting children in a very negative and life-threatening way. People need to put down the Doritos and cheeseburger and make it a habit, just like brushing your teeth, to get daily exercise. Real exercise, not just walking to your car on the other side of the parking lot or taking the stairs. And this goes for the “skinny fats” too. Obama is talking about health care reform, and you know what is going to decrease health costs in this country more than any useless “agreement” with insurance companies? Promoting exercise and banning fast food chains or at least limiting how many can be in any given area. Don’t get me wrong, I LOVE me some McDonald’s, but it’s in NO WAY my main source of food. It’s a treat and people need to start thinking of it that way. So while I’m not really a big Jamie Oliver or Ryan Seacrest fan, I’m hoping that this show will open Americans’ eyes more about how we need to change our lifestyle for a better future for ourselve and our children.
bittermelon
wrote on May 15 2009 @ 10:08 am: [report]
I’m so glad Jamie Oliver is doing this. A reality show is one of the best ways to reach a mass audience these days, hopefully parents and kids watching will get his message. If he can somehow persuade people to eat healthier and it trickles down to feeding kids healthier meals, kudos to him.
The school lunch programs in the US seriously need to be revamped. I live in a relatively progressive suburb of NJ and the meals at the public schools here appall me. I expected more but it’s the same crap as in every daycare center we had looked at, a rotation of chicken nuggets/fingers, hot dogs, nachos, burgers, ziti, pizza. If kids eat this on a daily basis from the ages of 5 to 18, how healthy do you think they’re going to be. (And forget about college where liquor will be the diet of choice.) I’m not saying to cut it all out, that’s just not realistic, but throw some frickin’ healthy meals into the rotation.
Simcha, while I feel for you for the teasing you received as a child, I think you may be taking the concept of this show too personally. Like Perceptible said, Jamie’s previous shows haven’t been degrading. That’s Gordon Ramsey.
H. Blue
wrote on May 15 2009 @ 10:17 am: [report]
Simcha! You are not fat. It sounds as if you have some residual hurt from your childhood.. hopefully people aren’t being cruel to you now as well (I looked at your pics- you’re beautiful!)
As a person who has always been overweight, I understand where you are coming from, so I’m not criticizing. I still feel like the fat teenager who couldn’t get a date.
Re: Mr. Oliver etc., I lived in England for a time, and one of the main stereotypes was that Americans are all fat, eat huge amounts of greasy food all the time and are lazy. It was completely insulting, but as a 5’3” 270-lb woman at the time, I couldn’t really argue.. That said, the British aren’t known for their “cuisine” and most “traditional” English food is made with a large helping of fat and grease.
I do feel that Americans need to learn about health, exercise, and healthy eating. But I also think the media feeds (pardon the pun) us so much contradicting information that people don’t know what to believe/follow.
I’m not sure that the program is meant to “shame” certain cities for their statistics on obesity, but to bring awareness, education, and hopefully with it, a healthier lifestyle. I wish that as a kid I had the information I do now. And no, I’m not thin now, but I take a lot better care of myself and FEEL so much better as a result.
I wish that instead of focusing on size as a society, we focused on promoting healthy habits. The rest often follows, at least to some degree.
cbass8
wrote on May 15 2009 @ 10:29 am: [report]
I wouldn’t call Simcha an “exception”. There are a lot of people in this world who aren’t going to be a size 2 no matter what they do (I’m one of them)
I wholeheartedly agree there’s a HUGE difference between unhealthy fat, and “built that way”. It’s equally as important that people get and live healthy - if that’s a size 2 or a size 12 - and love themselves no matter their natural size.
Rose
wrote on May 15 2009 @ 10:31 am: [report]
I’m with you, Simcha. It’s one thing to promote healthy eating and life habit, and another to paticipate in the culture-pervading sport of fat-shaming. Fat-shaming is so socially acceptable, I’m not sure most people can tell the difference.