Images in magazines and on television may cause increased body dissatisfaction in adolecents.
Adolescents who read magazines and watch television contents that deal with the concept of image prove to be unhappier with their own bodies. Girls are more susceptible to experiencing a lower perception of their physical appearance. Body dissatisfaction is linked to the type of content that is consumed (diet, beauty, health or music videos) rather than the frequency of exposure.
Read more….
Barbie doesn’t look so good in real life.
If Barbie were human-size, she’d stand 6 feet tall with a 36-inch chest, an 18-inch waist, and 33-inch hips.
Galia Slayen, who once battled an eating disorder, wanted to know what a person with these dimensions would look like so she built a life-size Barbie.
Barbie’s dimensions are out of whack (Read more…)
Darryl Roberts Attacks BMI in New Documentary
Cutting down TV time doesn’t help kids lose weight-study
Trying to help children lose weight by cutting back on the time they spend in front of a TV or video game doesn’t have much of an impact, according to a Canadian study. Interventions designed to reduce overall screen time, including individual and …
No point in telling parents about kids’ weight?
In the last decade, almost all public schools in California collected information about height andweight on kids in the fifth, seventh, and ninth grades, but only some opted to send the results to parents. This gave Dr. Kristine A. Madsen of the …
Is Photoshop Destroying America’s Body Image? Huffington Post The American Medical Association (AMA) recently announced it was taking a stand against image manipulation in advertising, stating that alterations made through processes like Photoshop can contribute to unrealistic body image expectations, …
Body Image a Struggle for First-Year College Students Patch.com Students returning from their first year away at college talk about their body image and self-esteem. By Deanna Del Ciello | Email the author | 7:00am Teenagers face many worries before leaving for college for the first time—moving away from home, …
Develop a healthier relationship with food St. George Daily Spectrum Brown references statistics from “The Assessment and Treatment of Negative Body Image,” a presentation by Nicole Hawkins, PhD, given earlier this year at a Center for Change eating disorders conference. “Seventy-five percent of teenage girls feel they …
People with eating disorders likely to die earlier, study shows Reuters Anorexia increases a patient’s risk of death fivefold, and people with bulimia or another nonspecifiedeating disorder also face an increased risk of death — about twice as likely to die as people without those disorders, a study said. …
Eating disorders stalk women into adulthood msnbc.com carrie didn’t expect to be here, in treatment for a eating disorder at the age of 41. >> you don’t fit in a pair o pants anymore, so you’re a big fat cow. yet, here she is, after a desperate intervention. >> my sister said, carrie , you are spiraling …
Man eats 25,000 Big Macs
Healthy as he can be, this Wisconsin man enjoys Big Macs daily.
Is skim milk making you fat?
Research takes a look at the effects of cutting calories and fat to manage weight. The results may surprise you.
What does it mean to be fat? Do you know it when you see it? What if the doctor told you that you are overweight or obese, and suddenly you think you are fat but didn’t know it. Without the label, could you see the beauty in these diverse bodies:
Do you measure it? With what–the BMI? Here are a few quotes on the legitimacy of that measurement:
“When a standard such as BMI is used, its limitations must also be presented. In particular, equating the terms increased BMI and obese can be quite misleading, since excess body mass calculated solely from height and weight may be due only to excess fat, only to excess [lean body mass], or to any combination of the two.” —Letter in JAMA, June 2005 “The major problem with this ‘obesity kills’ statistic is the lack of compelling evidence to substantiate it.” —Harvard Health Policy Review, 2003 “Someone needs to say the emperor has no clothes … [the conventional wisdom on obesity] is cultural bias, not science.” —Dr. C. Wayne Callaway, Professor of Medicine, George Washington University, 1998 “The BMI doesn’t give a precise readout. It can be horrible as an individual gauge.” —Cleveland Clinic Foundation Chief Academic Officer and Case Western Reserve University Department of Cardiovascular Medicine Chairman Dr. Eric Topol “Evidence that it is more dangerous to be thin than fat is either ignored or minimized in analyses that shape public policy toward weight loss … What evidence exists for an association between obesity and mortality or morbidity, is usually found not to apply to those with mild to moderate obesity.” —Clinical Psychology Review, 1991
“When a standard such as BMI is used, its limitations must also be presented. In particular, equating the terms increased BMI and obese can be quite misleading, since excess body mass calculated solely from height and weight may be due only to excess fat, only to excess [lean body mass], or to any combination of the two.” —Letter in JAMA, June 2005
“The major problem with this ‘obesity kills’ statistic is the lack of compelling evidence to substantiate it.” —Harvard Health Policy Review, 2003
“Someone needs to say the emperor has no clothes … [the conventional wisdom on obesity] is cultural bias, not science.” —Dr. C. Wayne Callaway, Professor of Medicine, George Washington University, 1998
“The BMI doesn’t give a precise readout. It can be horrible as an individual gauge.” —Cleveland Clinic Foundation Chief Academic Officer and Case Western Reserve University Department of Cardiovascular Medicine Chairman Dr. Eric Topol
“Evidence that it is more dangerous to be thin than fat is either ignored or minimized in analyses that shape public policy toward weight loss … What evidence exists for an association between obesity and mortality or morbidity, is usually found not to apply to those with mild to moderate obesity.” —Clinical Psychology Review, 1991
Here how the ‘obesity epidemic’ is tragically impacting life-expectacy:
If we keep growing, we are liable to live forever! There are numerous books and websites that document the science behind the fact that overweight/obese are not categories that spell impending doom. These include:
If you perceive BMI as an accurate indication of your ‘fatness’, your perception is your reality. Just know that this is a flawed measure, as are the old Metropolitan Life Insurance tables (used the weights of dead people to predict mortality), and these are our only ‘objective’ tools. Otherwise it is all you, or someone outside of you, that decides if you are fat.
Be clear on this though: if someone outside of you is judging you, they are the ones with the problem. People who truly feel good about their own bodies are unlikely to judge, compare, or criticize others. People with positive body image are most likely to see all bodies as unique and beautiful.
So if you get to decide if you are fat, and there is no valid external measure, then what will you decide? Do you think it benefits you to feel bad about yourself? How has that been working out so far? Self-loathing, especially regarding our bodies, only fuels chaotic behaviors with food. Hating yourself while eating will not make you eat less. Understanding your relationship with food and your body are key to breaking free of the power that food has over you. Trying harder at the same things you’ve been doing (that do not work long term) is similar to the definition of insanity.
So do you want to be ‘fat’ and ‘crazy’, or do you choose to learn to love your body and be sane?
*Quotes and chart were taken from the Obesity Myths website–thank you for your heroic work!
Post by Brittany Gowland
Just like so many of my fellow Americans, I partake in the guilty pleasure of reality TV, usually with a smile on my face, but I can’t stop myself from becoming saddened by the television shows that chronicle the weight and body image struggles of celebrities like Carnie Wilson and Kirstie Alley. Many people can relate to these women and feel relieved knowing that even when you’re famous, you can fall victim to a fad diet and experience yoyo-like weight loss and weight gain.
Carnie Wilson underwent gastric bypass surgery to “solve” her weight problem, only to have gained weight in the end, and is now struggling (in front of millions of people) to try to figure out what to do.
Kirstie Alley has been in the spotlight for years, always because of her weight. After losing 75 pounds and becoming the spokesperson for Jenny Craig, she regained that weight plus some. Recently, Kirstie Alley has vowed “to lose 100 pounds again!” which I suppose she will attempt to do with the help of a weight loss product that she is currently endorsing.
The missing element in both Wilson and Alley’s solution is that they do not address their underlying relationships with food, weight, and body image. This portrays the message to all individuals watching that they too can ignore their own food issues. Newsflash: No weight loss plan/diet/exercise regimen, etc will ever be successful without first resolving other issues.
Carla Wolper, a researcher at St. Luke’s Roosevelt Hospital in New York, states exactly what I’m thinking when she says, “It would be nice if there was somebody out there doing it the right way”. But then again, I guess that wouldn’t make for a very interesting TV show.
On the contrary, I commend actor and comedian Jeff Garlin who wrote about his struggles with food in his new book “My Footprint”. It is not very often that a male, especially a famous one, speaks out about his insecurities. I applaud his honestly as he discusses his compulsiveness with food and his never-ending diet plan. It is comforting to those suffering to know that anyone, regardless of gender, can face these issues that he has identified, and will hopefully overcome.
Sometimes you have to lose 10 lbs. or 200 lbs. to realize the skinny dream is nothing but a fantasy. Much like its cousin, the rich dream, skinny doesn’t equal happiness. For those who are below a healthy weight, there are often behaviors in place that make them down-right miserable. But that is another story.
The focus of this article is looking at the reality of weight loss. Many people hold off on life until they ‘lose the weight’. This provides a protection, in many ways, from taking risks in life. If you have an excuse (I’m too fat, my nose is too big, etc.), you do not have to do all the big things you wish you could do.
If only I could bottle the hope and excitement of the person who declares “I’m going on a diet!” The wistfulness is palpable as you see them drift off into the fantasy of what will be. They will likely find Mr. Right, get their dream job, and on and on. Oprah was brave enough to do all of the things she wanted to do despite her weight (thank goodness she didn’t put things off until she was skinny). The sad part is, you can almost feel she is still resting true happiness on the hopes that one day her body will be different than it is.
This level of enthusiasm for the Next Great Diet is only there for the first few tries, though. After that it is almost a joke as you reach for more of whatever it is you will not allow yourself to eat on the diet. At some point even just the thought of dieting leads right into a binge.
For those few people (2% of all dieters) who actually keep the weight off over time, the reality is harsh. Often there is a hyper vigilance with food that is all consuming. Life is not so much fun. But worse than that, all of those promises of what it would be like to be thin (the sky opening up to angels singing from the heavens) are not fulfilled.
Now you don’t have your fall back excuse for not having the life you want. Now it is all on the real you–not the facade. It always was about the real you, but now you cannot deny it anymore.
What if you pretend your body is not going to be different. Assume your body will be as it is today for the rest of your life. Nothing you eat (or don’t eat) and no amount of exercise will change your body. Now, what do you want to do? Love your body as it is (every single part) and get on with your real life.
In a recent study, researchers found a significant bias in healthcare professionals who treat overweight and obese patients. This includes, but is not limited to, nurses, doctors, dietitians, and physical educators. Weight-based discrimination among healthcare providers has increased 66% over the past decade. This type of prejudice has a significant impact in the care that may be provided to the patient.
Lead author Dr Kerry O’Brien, from The University of Manchester, UK, said: “One reason for the high levels of obesity prejudice is that people only hear that obesity is due to poor diet and lack of exercise, which implies that obese people are just lazy and gluttonous, and therefore deserve criticism. But, uncontrollable factors, such as genes, the environment and neurophysiology, play an important role.
“Weight status is, to a great extent, inherited. It’s crucial that health professionals, such as nurses, doctors, dieticians and physical educators, are aware of these other influences, as well as their own potential prejudices, and don’t just blame the individual for their weight status.
“Those tasked with providing health services to obese people may become frustrated with patients when they do not lose weight following counselling and treatment, but the research shows that weight loss is extremely difficult to maintain long term. Obese people are constantly fighting their physiology and the environment. If professionals keep this in mind it may help in not stigmatising their clients.”
Researchers found that by administering a tutorial about additional factors in weight status, they could effect a 27% decrease in the bias. The tutorial focused on causes beyond the control of the patient that contribute to weight. When only given training regarding the influence of eating and exercise on weight, the bias increased 27%.
Obviously this fatism is not limited to those in the healthcare field. This is a widespread issue in our culture. People assume those who have weights outside of ‘normal’ (67% of the population) lack the will to control themselves. This is despite the obvious success and achievement in all other areas of the individual’s life (ie. Oprah).
The assumption that the entire issue is how a person eats and moves actually contributes to increased rates of overweight/obese as well as eating disorders. There is obviously a strong genetic factor in set point weights, and there is also the issue of disordered eating or binge eating disorder. Advising people who struggle with these issues to simply ‘diet and exercise‘ does a tremendous disservice to them.
Moreover, the CDC has found the category of ‘overweight’ actually has the lowest mortality rate. Only those in the morbidly obese category experience a potentially shorter life, but actually to a lesser degree as those who fall in the underweight category. In fact, research has shown it is the losing and regaining of weight that may cause many of the medical issues such as high blood pressure, diabetes, etc.
Based on those figures, the net U.S. death toll from excess weight is 26,000 per year. By contrast, researchers found that being underweight results in 34,000 deaths per year
Think there will be a bias on being underweight? Or maybe even a national War on Underweight? Probably not–the bias is widespread and not subject to being swayed by logic.
I recently wrote an article for a site promoting the end of fat talk. I’m pretty sure you know what talk I’m talking about. Whether out loud or just inside your head, fat talk is going on for millions of people.
My two main issues with fat talk are:
It doesn’t really work in the way you think it will. It largely backfires on you. It makes you eat more to avoid your feelings. It makes you eat more also because now you are so upset about your body (and for a second felt deprived when you thought about going on a diet–ack!).
In the article I asked people to ask themselves three questions:
Please check out the full article on the Reflections: Body Image Program, created by the Tri Delta sorority.
Demi Moore recently discussed the end of her lifelong struggle with her body image. She stated she has come to realize externals do not bring happiness. I am so encouraged to have famous women discussing their real thoughts about their bodies. This further emphasizes the point that body image has nothing to do with how you look. It is a mental state.
It would be hard to argue that Demi Moore is unattractive. Yet she felt that way. I’m pretty sure you feel that way sometimes too. But in your case, you think it is justified. Well, she did too. Body Image is a mental state often used to distract you from real feelings under the surface.
You see, if you just focus on your body (instead of work or boyfriend or finances, etc.), it feels like something you can control. You will just get to the gym everyday and eat less. Voila! That should make you happy–to have the body you always wanted.
Have you ever said, “When I get to X number of pounds, then I will LOVE my body”? If you actually got there with your methods, I’m pretty sure you found what everyone, including Demi, finds: you are still not happy. Well, maybe you haven’t lost enough–there are still some trouble areas. Wrong. It will never be enough, because changing your body is not the solution. You need to change your attitude about your body. You need to see body image thoughts for the emotional cover-up they are.
So Kate Beckinsale has also recently stepped out discussing her previous battle with anorexia. She decided she was either going to die or be a real person. Not everyone is faced with such a straightforward decision because not everyone is on the brink of death with their disordered eating. However, if you have a bad relationship with food, you are not really living. You would benefit from choosing to be a real person as well.
Portia de Rossi is releasing a memoir chronicling her struggle with an eating disorder. Every time a celebrity comes out of the closet about their eating disorder, my heart leaps in my chest. I am just so grateful that women and girls who try to look like celebs can see it is not healthy or realistic. Even celebrities cannot do it–because that is not how people are really ‘supposed to look’.
Next time you turn on the TV or open up a magazine, remind yourself of two things. First, all of those pictures have been retouched. Those people do not look like that–you certainly shouldn’t try to. Second, many of those people are struggling with eating disorders and body image issues. That’s right, the people you want to look like don’t even like the way they look. Love the real you–honor your genes, not your jeans.
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