When looking for a great Ted talk that can be described as a call for a paradigm shift, I wanted to make sure it was a talk that is important to me and can have a timeless impact. I chose a Ted Talk by Dr. Stacy Sims. She suggests that the comparison between men and women needs to change.

She starts her talk by sharing that when she was a little girl, she was very into princesses, specifically Wonderwoman and Princess Leah. Why?

These women empowered her with their strength, speed, and skill and the fact that they didn’t stop when they were told to and never took no for an answer. Her ideals are that women can do anything they want if they have the drive. I found this very intriguing because it is inspiring and a great way to get your audience intuned and present for your presentation.

Following this, she contributes her main idea by telling a story while she was in college, participating in an experiment where she and two males had to run for two hours on a treadmill and then repeat this the following week. Stacy shared that she felt great the first time she completed this task without issues. However, the next week she felt ok for the first part of her run, but her second part felt like “five years.”

Why is this?

Well, in her first trial, she burned through a lot of fat using that as fuel, which allows you to run for a long time. On the other hand, in the second trial, she burned through a lot of carbohydrates and found it hard to fuel herself. While she acknowledges that this was interesting, what she found more interesting was that there was no difference for the men. When she questioned why this, the response given to her was, “women are an anomaly, so we don’t necessarily study women in sports nutrition or exercise science.” Ironic, considering that fifty percent or more of our population is female.

Why do we need to study women? We don’t know enough about men?

Stacy believes this is because women’s bodies go through the most change from girl to woman. Expressing the outrageous and unattainable diets and pressure our society puts on women, even though it is natural for our hips to widen and for us to gain body fat.

I thought the most helpful thing about her presentation was the examples of her patients, who are women. She shows that this woman and her husband are doing the same exercise and diet. Yet, he is getting lean and fit, and she is gaining weight, becoming fatigued, having no energy and no focus, and now having irregular periods. Dr. Sims was able to fix this by tracking her physiology and coming up with a plan that sustains her body, maintains regular periods, and helps her lose weight.

All in all, her ideas suggest we must stop comparing women to men regarding emotional or physical aspects. We are not the same. So, making diets and exercise routines that are effective for men will not always be the case for women because our bodies have different necessities and don’t respond to the same things men’s bodies do.

While analyzing Dr. Sims’ speech, I found she had a great way of connecting with her audience. She spoke confidently and shared a paradigm shift for the world in health and nutrition. Her presentation can best represent an empowering invitation to change how people address and approach this issue. As well as giving a feeling of support and hope to women who are struggling with weight and health issues that have tried everything they are being told to by their physicians and peers.

https://sites.psu.edu/agl5363/2022/10/20/rcl5-women-are-n…nce-of-nutrition/