How big is your beauty?

As Americans, we truly bask in a culture of extremes. While we purport to embrace the gray areas lost in many cultures, very few of us actually exist there. We are a nation of extremists, and this is in-your-face evident in almost all of our pop culture. It's a world full of Snooki, hoarders, Sarah Palin, Dr. Phil, Jackass, Man vs. Food... The list is long. You get the idea. Kudos to us, America! When we do something, we DO it! The most disturbing societal dysphoria I've noticed lately has to do with body image, particularly in women. Our pinnacle of excellence, our physical paramount weighs roughly 103 pounds. She has jutting hip bones, prominent collar bones and wholly unnatural angles. She probably only weighs 103 pounds because her implants are heavy. The reality is that, as of 2010, approximately 34% of Americans were obese, and that number has been, and is still rising. Right alongside these twiggy media images and miracle diet commercials, there are ads for all kinds of fast food, including such things as Taco Bell's "drive thru diet" and that KFC monstrosity. It is shocking that we thrust such unrealistic ideals upon women when the best place for both health and body image exist in (drumroll please).... that proverbial gray area. Zero isn't a healthy size, it's a warning. So as of today, I'm officially a non-dieter. Healthy eating is great, but skeletal does not equate to health.