I don't eat after 5pm because I am dieting.
My parents say I am fat so I am on a diet.
While being weight concious may not be a bad thing Koreans do tend to take it to extremes. Their idea of a healthy size isn't just different, it often borders on anorexic. It is bad enough when adults get that extreme but I lost count of how many of the kids I used to teach were forced to diet by their parents. Kids who didn't need to diet.
One of my elementary school students, she was in grade 5 at the time, always comes to mind when I think of this insanity. She was tall for her age and a skinny. A beanpole. One day she was distracted in class, it was in the evening, and seemed out of sorts. When asked she told me that she was dieting because her mother says she is fat. Dieting meant you eat breakfast and lunch. Come 5pm she wasn't allowed to eat anything. So if she didn't get supper by then she was shit out of luck until the morning. Bloody insane.
Fine, you are an adult and want to show everyone your ribs, it is your perogative to be stupid. But to force that insanity on your kids? You should be smacked up the side of the head.
I teach at an all-girls school, and I cannot tell you how many times my heart has been broken by my sweet Korean students telling me that their moms have them on diets. These are tiny girls already and yet they constantly call themselves "fat" and say they need to lose weight. It moves me to tears.
ReplyDeleteIt is pretty bad and it just makes makes them too obsessed with their size when they are adults. One of my co-workers/gym buddy would weigh himself before and after working out. If he hadn't lost weight he would pout and be depressed for a while. Since you don't usually lose weight that fast he was depressed after his work out most days.
ReplyDeletes korea is a nation filled with looks
ReplyDelete