Now you don’t think I would just leave you hanging out there did you? This is the good part, how do you find a balance, and when can you know if your relationship to food or your thoughts about it are becoming obsessive and you might need to talk to someone.
Check out the Bethenny Frankel clip she talks about the same things, Love her!!!
The following is an exclusive excerpt from the “Body Image” chapter of Our Bodies, Ourselves for the New Century. For complete information and resources, we recommend that you consult the chapter and the book in its entirety.
BODY IMAGE, WEIGHT, AND SIZE
In many cultures and historical periods women have been proud to be large–being fat was a sign of fertility, of prosperity, of the ability to survive. Even in the U.S. today, where fear of fat reigns in most sectors of the culture, some racial and ethnic groups love and enjoy large women. For example, Hawaiians often consider very large women quite beautiful, and studies show that some black women experience more body satisfaction and are less concerned with dieting, fatness, and weight fluctuations than are white women. However, the weight loss, medical, and advertising industries have an enormous impact on women across racial and ethnic boundaries. These industries all insist that white and thin is beautiful and that fatness is always a dangerous problem in need of correction. The popular notion that some communities are less influenced than others has meant that women of color in particular have a hard time being taken seriously when they have eating disorders. A black woman suffering from an eating disorder says:
After all, don’t black people prize wide hips and fleshy bodies? Isn’t obesity so prevalent in our communities because it is actually accepted? Don’t black women have very positive body images?…Anorexia and its kin supposedly strike only adolescent, middle- and upper-middle-class white girls…Women like me are winging it, seeking out other sisters with the same concerns, wondering if we are alone on this journey.
This is the cover after
There wasn’t that much done some color adjustment and they made her boobs bigger.
By JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICH
University of Haifa study authors advise parents to supervise their children’s web use in order to reduce the danger.
The more teenage girls are involved in Facebook, the higher their risk of having a negative body image and developing eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia, according to a new University of Haifa study, whose authors advise parents to supervise their children’s Web use in order to reduce the danger.
Prof. Yael Letzer, Prof. Ruth Katz and Zohar Spivak (who studied the matter for her doctoral thesis) of the Social Welfare and Health Sciences Faculty studied two factors involved in eating disorders among a sample of 248 Jewish secular adolescent girls aged 12 to 18: exposure to the media and personal empowerment.
The girls, with a median age of 14.8, were asked about their TV-watching, Internet and magazine-reading habits. Regarding television, the girls were queried about whether they watched popular shows that present an extreme focus on Barbie doll-like “beautiful, voluptuous and thin” women. They also filled out questionnaires on their desire to be thin, satisfaction (or lack of same) with their bodies, weight and eating.
Jenny Stahl senior editor for Pointe and new contributing writer for My Body My Image shares an ironically truthful story about a woman and her love/hate relationship with her muscles!
Of all the conflicting messages women get about their bodies, none may be more complicated than how we’re are supposed to feel about our muscles. The party line seems to be that toned is beautiful—unless it’s bulky.
Just before Christmas, my roommate Amy, who’s a freelance dancer and personal trainer, dislocated her left ankle and was stuck in a cast for about a month. She recently graduated to a removable brace, and the other night we were checking out the difference between her two legs—it was crazy how drastically her muscles had atrophied in just a few weeks! Her right leg was still the powerful limb of a dancer with a bulging calf and athletic thigh muscles. The other had shrunk remarkably (except for the swelling around her ankle). In the nature vs. nurture debate of how much our actions can override our genes, nurture was kicking nature’s ass, showing us just how much exercise (or a lack thereof) could transform her body.
What was disturbing, though, was our reaction. First, we both laughed about how sad and wimpy her left leg looked. But then I complimented how thin her calf was and she admitted that she kinda preferred it, too. For a moment, we were both inspired to lie completely still for the next month or so to de-bulk our bodies.
Obviously, that’s a sick and twisted thought. But it got me thinking about the love/hate relationship we ladies have with our muscles. We go to the gym, take yoga classes and do our crunches trying to get a toned physique. Working out burns calories and helps melt off our love handles. But, like most women I know, I’d be terrified of sporting rippling Madonna arms—or worse, getting “bulky.” In all honesty, I really only love the look arms—or worse, getting “bulky.” In all honesty, I really only love the look of my muscles for how it can highlight a lack of fat. Fit is great, but thin is better.
Too many of us associate muscular with masculine. Yet male or female, muscles are what give us our strength. I have to remind myself to embrace my muscles for how they make me feel and the power they give me. Without my quads, I wouldn’t be able to run. And although I’ll always wish my arms were sleeker, I love being able to knock out 10 push ups. If I were to stop moving, sure, my body might get smaller and lighter. But would I really want to be a flimsy weakling? Not so much.
As for Amy, she’s been the most inspiring gimp I’ve ever seen. She’s determined to stay in shape and to keep her body as strong as possible. In addition to taking hip hop classes from a chair(!), she’s been performing one-legged workouts at the gym.
Check out Amy’s blog here
Amy in Action!
Photo by-Alice Olivia Photography
Two out of five women and one out of five men would trade three to five years of their life to achieve their weight goals.
In 1970 the average age of a girl who started dieting was 14; by 1990 the average dieting age fell to 8.
After viewing images of female fashion models, seven out of ten women felt more depressed and angry than prior to viewing the images. (Check out The Tools- stop the intake of things that make you feel bad)
The “ideal” woman – portrayed by models, Miss America, Barbie dolls, and screen actresses – is 5’5, weighs 100 pounds and wears a size 5.
The average U.S. woman is 5’4” and weighs 140 pounds whereas the average U.S. model is 5’11” and weighs 117 pounds.
Check here for more interesting and disturbing facts
The T’ruth is told. I share my experience of disordered eating that began at 16 or 17 years old and how it effects me today. I think that once you have “issues with food you sort of always have them. It’s very similar to drug addiction. There are those who may not fit the classification of an “addict” but you exhibit behavior that has you with one foot on a banana peel on an oily floor and your wearing a rollerblade on your other foot! You have to be aware and keep your head level so that you don’t slip into that darkness.
1. Do you like what you see in the mirror?
Hell yeah, I’d shag it 0
If I’ve made an effort 1
I get bad days 2
Never 3
2. Do you enjoy going clothes shopping?
Yes, I live for it and everything looks so great on me 0
If I can find something I like, yeah 1
If I’m having a good day 2
I hate it as a look terrible in everything. 3
This is a bit of fun! have a go at it see where you stand with yourself
What’s love got to do with my giving up a body part?
Did she give up an organ in the hopes of acquiring a lifestyle? (These are just questions)
MediaTakeOut.com just got a very SHOCKING report from one of Tracy Morgan’s ex-Tanisha’s friends.
Remember a couple of weeks ago when MediaTakeOut.com reported to you that Tracy got a KIDNEY TRANSPLANT. He was diagnosed with diabetes a while back, and continued to live RECKLESSLY – so he destroyed both his kidneys. Anyways, guess where he got the kidney from . . . . his EX-GF TANISHA. Yes . . . she gave dude HER KIDNEY!!!
read the rest
You know George Lopez’s wife gave him a kidney or part of a liver and shortly after they filed for divorce, can she get that back as a part of her settlement? But they were married and had been for a long while, these two where merely dating the report says they had broken up when she offered -perhaps in an effort to get him back. My body My heavens! What do you think about that? would you give up a body part to a lover, or spouse? The saddest thing is if she is depressed about being one kidney lighter and single she can’t even drink away her sorrows.
Is it just me or do you seem to carry a couple of extra lbs. in the winter? Is it my imagination or does it seem like when it gets warm you’re like frosty the snowman melting away almost with out trying? (get me on the train – happy burfday) Well honey right about now I’m like Wax on!!!