Do you stare at the food labels thinking about how many calories you have consumed already today? In today’s society, we have become so obsessed with this idea of “the perfect body.”
We tend to constantly compare ourselves to people we see on social media or in advertisements. The tall, thin, perfect body is constantly being shoved down our throats because we tend to only be shown one type of body.
This problem does not only affect one gender, as there are social standards that are created between both males and females. Counting calories is unhealthy because it creates a person to become obsessed over the numbers they are putting into their bodies rather than just focusing on the nutritional value of food.
The intent of calorie counting can be simply because someone wants to lose weight. However, when counting every calorie you enter into your body, it is easy to become obsessed with the action. This can do way more harm than good because the amount of calories that are in foods do not solely signify the nutrition value of that specific food.
For example, there are foods with healthy fats and higher calorie intake than other foods that may be processed but have less calories.
Eating healthy and living a balanced lifestyle is important. Wanting to live a healthier lifestyle is a good goal to strive for. However, healthy eating should come from the correct food you put into your body. Food acts as fuel to keep your body running and it is important to be conscious of the foods you are putting into it. Counting calories can become an exhausting process, always being hyper aware of the calorie content of food.
College is an exciting time in your life where you are meeting new people and trying to find your self-identity. However, college can cause a lot of self-pressure of always looking a certain way. Especially with social media being a major factor in most college students lives, it makes it easy to compare ourselves with others.
It is easy to feel like you aren’t good enough because of these air brushed and edited images we see on a daily basis.
Being thin and beautiful seems to be the message that is a constant theme in our advertisements. Counting calories may seem like it is the answer to helping you obtain this look. But, losing weight and feeling good should be something that you want to do for yourself not others.
While it is hard especially in college to not compare yourself to others, it will allow you to feel much happier. Counting calories can add so much stress to your everyday lives because it makes you constantly think about how much food you are eating.
There are so many ways to live a healthy lifestyle like being active and eating healthier. These actions do not cause so much added stress because it allows you to do things you enjoy doing instead of counting every little thing you put into your body.
