Have Bod Like Jennifer Aniston, Or $1M
Given The Choice, Most Women Polled Say They'd Take The Money
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Rich Or Thin? What Women Chose
A survey conducted by Women's Day and AOL Body asked women if they'd rather have Jennifer Aniston's physique or be a millionaire. The results may surprise you.
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Jennifer Aniston (AP Photo/Michael A. Mariant)
An online poll conducted by Women's Day magazine and AOL Body asked women if they'd rather have Jennifer Aniston's physique or be a millionaire. Some 6,900 responded.
Only 22 percent said they'd prefer to look like Aniston, while 78 percent said they'd rather have the money.
Although every woman has her own answer to the question and reasons for it, some health care professionals are concerned about the survey's results.
"This survey maybe does suggest that women may be choosing wealth over health," observes clinical psyhcologist Rene Zweig. "Jennifer Aniston is seen as having the ideal body: She's toned, she's muscular, and she's not particularly underweight."
Zweig says she'd hope women would value being fit more than they do being rich.
"It's already an uphill battle for medical professionals to get people to a healthy weight; 65 percent of Americans are overweight. And if their values are not to be attractive and healthy, that would be concerning."
The survey also asked, "How do you feel about your body." Only 11 percent said great. Fifty-nine percent said OK, with some trouble spots, and 30 percent said they felt uncomfortable and ashamed.
"That really doesn't make very much sense," points out dietician Keri Glassman. "People are saying, 'I don't like the way I feel, I'm ashamed of my body, I'm uncomfortable, yet I'd rather have money than look great and be healthy.' "
Glassman says Americans should rethink what's important: "I think this survey absolutely points to the fact that our values are a little off."
But a lot of American women say they'd still prefer hard currency to hard abs.
"That just sounds like typical women," remarked one young woman on a Manhattan street. "We're very materialistic, so money comes first, especially if you can buy the body with the million dollars!"
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It has everything to due with wanting I have control over, and certainty, my life. What a concept!
I do not see anything healthy or vibrant about her at all. She seems to slump a bit and she is average in appearance. I would definitely take the $$$ as I like mine over hers any day.
I would take the money and buy a gym membership to help get my body healthier (get a personal trainer to help make me healthier as I am thin but not healthy and need to have my own issues addressed to make me stronger)...
This is the first time I do agree with someone saying that this example was a very poor one. Again - I am not sure I have ever heard anyone saying how great her body is???
I''m sure she is fit - but nothing above average that I have seen. I mean no disrespect to her whatsoever - she is an attractive woman but as far as having any striking beauty - I don''t see it...
I am a woman so it is not like the guy who said he wouldn''t want it.
The dietician who states her concerns about the results is not looking at the question... Many people may not be happy with the way they appear but to say I want to look like this person over taking the money to help make me healthier may be their thoughts (as this is the way I myself think)...
Everyone has some control over their diet, exercise, and health care even if it is hard. You can succeed in that.
But I suppose that taking the money is an admission that we really aren''t going to discipline ourselves to keep the body if we had it, right?
Men and women who are overweight or obese need to live within a tight balance of trying to become more healthy and having to live their everyday lives being able to face the daily ridicule from others who think they have the answers; not unlike Ms. Glassman. To maintain, overweight and obese people often have to develop a strong protective layer against what life has given them as a serious challenge and their ability to go forward.
A survey asking women if they would rather have a body like Jennifer Aniston or a million dollars is a stupid waste of time and money. To draw conclusions regarding the real lives of people in relationship to the study is, or should be, unallowable.
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by skinnyminny2
January 23, 2008 7:42 PM PST
- bfolts, give me a break. Healthy food isn''t always expensive--I know this having lived very cheaply as a vegetarian who actually lives on vegetables. As far as poverty, obesity and fresh produce, our local food pantries can''t even GIVE fresh greens away. No one wants them. Salad, broccoli, fresh spinach--all refused. They want the SPAM, bologna, white bread and hot dogs instead. They''re digging their own graves by refusing the very foods they complain they cannot afford. All you hear is excuses, excuses, excuses. Almost anyone can have Jennifer Aniston''s figure if they eat properly and work out, and it''s doesn''t cost a fortune to do it.
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