The video really got us thinking about being 'Fat' and requiring Weight Loss. The realization hit us that being 'Fat' is a very human only condition, this became even more apparent when the only unhealthy fat animals we could think off were those being cared for by humans.
Can you think of any unhealthy fat animals.
We, as humans, have been psychology conditioned to desire 'things', we are no longer a society of 'need' but a society of 'want'. What this means has been best described in the Adam Curtis' Documentary called 'The Century of The Self'. But to give you an overview there was a time when people only had one set of clothes. Once their trousers had worn out, repaired and finally were unrepairable would they 'Need' a new pair. Now a day we all have many pairs of trousers and 'want' them in different colours. So what changed and how does this link to weight loss?
What changed, Curtis explains in his documentary, is that in the 1920's a department store employed a PR man called Edward Bernays, and the nephew of Sigmund Freud, to increase it's sales. He did this by creating a desire for a product. Think the moment in 'Pretty Woman' when the shop owner turned Julie Roberts away because they didn't think she had enough money. That is classic ploy designed by Bernays, before his strategies were implemented every shop would serve every person regardless. What happens is that because you were not left feeling valued you 'aspire' for that product because it is just out of reach. Imagine for a moment you went in to a high range sports car showroom as a 17 year old dressed inappropriately, the chances of you being treated the same as a City Banker dressed in a suit is very unlikely. Edward Bernays description below demonstrates this a bit more extensively.
If we understand the mechanism and motives of the group mind, is it not possible to control and regiment the masses according to our will without their knowing about it? The recent practice of propaganda has proved that it is possible, at least up to a certain point and within certain limits.
Edward Bernays
So how does this effect you with weight loss? We are daily seeing adverts and promotions, which are a form of propaganda, for processed and fast foods and stating how socially they will effect us all. The reality however has not changed one little bit from when we were cavemen hunting and gathering our own natural food, and this is the rub as the quote from Edward Bernays suggests:
The conscious and intelligent manipulation of the organized habits and opinions of the masses is an important element in democratic society.
Edward Bernays
Animals eat what is available to them in nature and are not influenced by propaganda. The dangers of over eating for animals are also more critical than for humans. In the animal kingdom it is clear that if they over eat or become fat they will move slower and are more likely to become prey for another animal in the food chain, something humans, sitting near the top do not have to fear. Their problems come from falling prey to human diseases like heart attacks, diabetes and Irritable Bowel Syndrome.
This is information is shared with you to not give an excuse to not lose weight but to empower individuals into the realization that they have the knowledge to take back the power for their own life and be 100% responsible for their actions to obtain their life's goals.
With this is mind, we should eat natural food and not socially encouraged processed and fast foods, it starts to become really clear to us why we don't see fat animals and that obesity and weight gain is a truly human condition. Perhaps, after a little more investigation, we will find that weight gain has been such an issue over the recent years due to us 'wanting' food rather 'needing' it like our animal counterparts. As Benjamin Franklins' quote sums up "One should eat to live, not live to eat."
No comments:
Post a Comment