Getting married is something so many girls dream about at a young age. We fantasize about the dress, our shoes, the something blue, our prince, the dress, the dress, the dress. We have reality shows based on this obsession "Say Yes To The Dress" for example, where hopeful brides come searching for the perfect gown to complete the princess dream. Recently some brides have been taking things to the EXTREME, it's beyond crash dieting and bridezillas but onto medical procedures. Let me introduce you to the feeding tube. Brides get a feeding tube that goes through their nostrils and into the stomach. All food is delivered through this tube for 10 days, no carbohydrates are administered and rapid weight loss is the result. According to the New York Times this is a regular procedure in Spain and Italy, who knew other countries were as devastatingly consumed with looks as we are!?
In the New York Times article it states:
"Note: wedding dresses run small, so a typical size 8 dress will be a size 10 or 12, a psychological shock for the young woman buying the gown. Kleinfeld resists brides who want smaller sizes, because taking a dress in is easier than letting it out."
Our culture is so psychologically wrapped around the number on our garments we will go to extremes to wiggle into the smallest one. This diet is nothing different, I understand it's medically supervised, but this seems very similar to the diagnostics for anorexia nervosa, a very serious psychological disorder where people restrict caloric intake themselves. The tube "diet" provides no more than 800 calories a day and the person consumes no actual food.
This procedure costs around $1,500 dollars and the tube is worn in public, some brides state that they didn't leave the house because people thought they were dying. Huh, wonder why that might be? Maybe because feeding tubes are designed for people who are comatose or dying, just a thought.
Frankly, this is terrifying to me, people say things like "feminism is dead because we are equals now", yet women go to such
extreme lengths to fit into societies standards. I will state now so trolls don't attack me that I understand some men go to these extremes as well, but statistically these crash diets attract females far more than our male counterparts.
I fear for these women and even more for our culture, we are so fat obsessed, anorexia is more socially accepted than being overweight. Our kids are growing up consumed by food, thoughts of food, pictures of food, what not to eat, what to eat, fat shaming etc. Watch one episode of "Toddlers in Tiaras" to see what I am talking about.
What do you think of all this? Is it as scary to you as it is to me!? Leave me your comments below!
New York Times
