The Thin Ideal is the concept of the idyllically slim female body. The common perception of this ideal is that of a slender, feminine physique with a small waist and little body fat. The size of the thin ideal is decreasing while the rate of female obesity is simultaneously increasing, making this iconic body difficult for women to maintain. This creates a gap between the actual appearance of an average woman’s body and its expected appearance which, depending on the extent to which the ideal is internalized, may have serious psychological effects.
The degree to which women are psychologically affected by the thin ideal depends to what extent the ideal is internalized. An article from the ‘Eating Disorders Journal’ states that ‘thin ideal internalization is the extent to which an individual ‘buys into’ socially defined ideals of attractiveness and engages in behaviors designed to approximate these ideals.’ Women generally relate the ideally thin body to positive life outcomes such as happiness, confidence, and romantic success, and consequently a majority of women value the thin ideal to some extent.
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The Thin Ideal
Anti-fat Bias
Anti-fat bias refers to the prejudicial assumption of personality characteristics based on a visual assessment of a person as suffering from obesity based on physical characteristics. Anti-fat bias can be found in many facets of society, and the media’s portrayal of obese individuals has often been blamed for the pervasiveness of this phenomenon.
Anti-fat bias leads individuals to label obese members of society with negative personality traits such as ‘lazy,’ ‘greedy,’ ‘stupid,’ ‘smelly,’ ‘slow,’ or ‘unmotivated.’ This bias is not restricted only to clinically obese individuals, but also encompasses those whose body shape is in some way found unacceptable (although still within the normal or overweight BMI range).
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Glutamic Acid
Glutamic [glew-tam-ick] acid is a flavor-enhancing compound which provides an umami (savory) taste to food. Glutamic acid is a natural constituent of many fermented or aged foods, including soy sauce, fermented bean paste (a component of miso), and cheese, and is also a component of hydrolyzed protein such as yeast extract (e.g. Vegemite).
The sodium salt of glutamic acid, monosodium glutamate (MSG), is a widely used additive in the food industry. Although they occur naturally in many foods, the flavor contributions made by glutamic acid and other amino acids were only scientifically identified early in the twentieth century.
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The Daily Omnivore 