Fad Diets...Good 'ole Dr. Atkins

Well, I too had a serious weight problem, and in high school (You know, with all the social pressure...) I got sucked into EVERY diet on the market. Seriously, it was pretty sad, but I was also desperate. Anyway, I finally landed on the Atkins diet and stuck with it because it worked. Along with the diet, I was going to the gym seven days a work for 2-3 hours per day doing both cardio and weights. I ended up losing 90 pounds, so for me, this diet may have saved my life. I feel embarassed thinking back on the way I used to be, but I realize now that I knew nothing about nutrition and I did not know what to do to lose the weight that I needed to lose. Needless to say, I understand nutrition and excersise alot better now, and do live a completely different life style. Although the diet helped me, there are alot of dangers associated with it and most other fad diets, so I agree that it comes down to the proper diet and excersise.

I thought Annie did a great job presenting this topic. With the statistics, and logos pointing out the abounding number of individuals on a diet at any given time, she showed how the topic pertained to her as well as the majority of people in class and out. She also explained that she had tried many diets in the past that fell into this category. She proved her ethos and the connection with everyone in class. With anything weight or looks related, there is lots of pathos. It is an emotional issue, especially if you are overweight. It is a struggle, for sure, and there is the feeling of being left out because of being overweight. I know that it is something I will have to struggle with for the rest of my life. For this reason and the growing number in child obesity and diabetes, there needs to be more of an effort on the parents and school part to provide healthy alternatives in food along with the proper education so that children will understand healthy eating and a healthy lifestyle. It's a huge problem, in a society that praises external beauty, hence all of the fad diets marketing to people that already feel like crap about themselves. Annie showed how these products and vides and pills and etc. claim they will trasform these people and make them beleive that if they were thin, all of their dremas would come true and their lives would be perfect. Sadly, life is better for thin people, but being thin can't make things happen for you. When I say life is better for people who are thin, don't misunderstand, it is just sad that heavy people are at times not treated like they are human by many ignorant people. All in all, I think Annie addressed an important issue that is becoming more of a problem, and she did a good job of showing the rhetoric associated with it.