Women and Body Image
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention informs us that about one third of all children in this country are overweight, and 17% are clinically obese - more than triple the rate from 1976.
At the other end of the spectrum, rates about anorexia and bulimia, particularly among teenage girls but not exclusive to them, are alarming as well.
The National Institute of Mental Health reports that about 5% of girls and women and 1% of men suffer from anorexia.
For 10-15% of anorexics, their eating disorder is fatal.
Of the ones who survive, about 50% become bulimic! The saddest part in this picture is the fact that these problems seem to show up earlier and earlier in people's lives, starting from childhood.
These are shocking figures, and there seems to be no end in sight.
What are the underlying causes of this dismal situation? Of course there are multiple reasons why people develop problems with weight, ranging from genetic, to emotional, psychological, environmental and cultural.
Neuro-scientists are studying brain chemistry to determine what if any are the connections between neurotransmitters and appetite.
Emotionally, food is associated with different meanings that go beyond its dietary value.
Food can be company, comfort, love, acceptance and, always, immediate gratification, as most of us look forward to eating and enjoy food.
We eat when we are sad; we eat when we are lonely; we eat when we are bored; we eat when we are nervous, excited and so on.
Because of the central role weight plays in most of our lives, however, often food intake is associated with shame and or guilt.
We sneak food in our bedroom because we don't want anybody else in the family to see what we are doing.
We gulp things down quickly while at work, again because we don't want our colleagues and friends to see us eating and see what we are eating.
We eat and feel bad at the same time because we know what we eat is often not what we SHOULD eat.
We give ourselves rationalizations to justify why we eat what we eat; we make promises about changing our patterns, we make commitments...
but we often fail them.
80% of American women are dissatisfied with their bodies and their shape, and 50% are, at any time, on some kind of diet.
No wonder why eating is such a conflictual issue for most people, and for women in particular! From a cultural point of view, we are constantly bombarded with mixed messages about food and body shape.
Models are all ultra-thin, some of them borderline anorexic, and these are the models young girls look up to and want to emulate.
Most women, however, will never have models' bodies no matter how hard they try.
So, we set ourselves up for disappointment because we set goals that are impossible to achieve and sustain.
At the same time, however, we cannot watch television for more than half an hour without being bombarded with food ads.
Food is all around us, all the time, so we are constantly tempted by it Fortunately, there are things that can be done to reduce the problem and create healthy ways of dealing with food.
In the next blog we will discuss how we can get better control over our eating patterns and how our families and support systems can help us achieve that goal.
At the other end of the spectrum, rates about anorexia and bulimia, particularly among teenage girls but not exclusive to them, are alarming as well.
The National Institute of Mental Health reports that about 5% of girls and women and 1% of men suffer from anorexia.
For 10-15% of anorexics, their eating disorder is fatal.
Of the ones who survive, about 50% become bulimic! The saddest part in this picture is the fact that these problems seem to show up earlier and earlier in people's lives, starting from childhood.
These are shocking figures, and there seems to be no end in sight.
What are the underlying causes of this dismal situation? Of course there are multiple reasons why people develop problems with weight, ranging from genetic, to emotional, psychological, environmental and cultural.
Neuro-scientists are studying brain chemistry to determine what if any are the connections between neurotransmitters and appetite.
Emotionally, food is associated with different meanings that go beyond its dietary value.
Food can be company, comfort, love, acceptance and, always, immediate gratification, as most of us look forward to eating and enjoy food.
We eat when we are sad; we eat when we are lonely; we eat when we are bored; we eat when we are nervous, excited and so on.
Because of the central role weight plays in most of our lives, however, often food intake is associated with shame and or guilt.
We sneak food in our bedroom because we don't want anybody else in the family to see what we are doing.
We gulp things down quickly while at work, again because we don't want our colleagues and friends to see us eating and see what we are eating.
We eat and feel bad at the same time because we know what we eat is often not what we SHOULD eat.
We give ourselves rationalizations to justify why we eat what we eat; we make promises about changing our patterns, we make commitments...
but we often fail them.
80% of American women are dissatisfied with their bodies and their shape, and 50% are, at any time, on some kind of diet.
No wonder why eating is such a conflictual issue for most people, and for women in particular! From a cultural point of view, we are constantly bombarded with mixed messages about food and body shape.
Models are all ultra-thin, some of them borderline anorexic, and these are the models young girls look up to and want to emulate.
Most women, however, will never have models' bodies no matter how hard they try.
So, we set ourselves up for disappointment because we set goals that are impossible to achieve and sustain.
At the same time, however, we cannot watch television for more than half an hour without being bombarded with food ads.
Food is all around us, all the time, so we are constantly tempted by it Fortunately, there are things that can be done to reduce the problem and create healthy ways of dealing with food.
In the next blog we will discuss how we can get better control over our eating patterns and how our families and support systems can help us achieve that goal.
