Food and body image in the series

[Beth Currie]

No: HPFGUIDX 68015

Hi all

Thought I would post about something that has been bugging me for a
while.

I absolutely love the books and think that JKR is a genius....however, I
have an issue with the way she writes about food and body image.

As someone who has to eat healthily and exercise regularly to stay the
size I want, I find it very irritating that she portrays all the "good"
characters as eating unhealthily and not exercising, and never being
overweight.

Look at what HRH eat in a typical Hogwarts day.  Breakfast - bacon &
eggs, with lots of toast.  Lunch - steak & kidney pie, followed by
rhubarb crumble.  Dinner, perhaps a roast followed by another stodgy
dessert.  Not to mention the endless bags of Every Flavour Beans and
other sweets.

Exercise-wise, I suppose Harry & Ron play Quidditch, but Hermione
doesn't seem to get any exercise at all.  *HOW* are they not all
bursting out of their robes??!!

The portrayal of Dudley and his weight problem also bugs me.  We hear
how overweight he is, yet when he is forced to diet, all we hear about
is Harry sneaking upstairs after eating his grapefruit to have a "proper
breakfast" of cake.  I don't think this is sending out a good message to
young readers about healthy eating.  Also, when Fleur complains about
the heavy Hogwarts food, she is dismissed as being vain and shallow.

Does anyone else have any thoughts on this?  I'd be interested to know
if this is something that bothers others too.  Or maybe I just read way
too much into these things :-)

Beth, who would be the size of a house if she lived at Hogwarts. Or at
least the size of Dudley.