i feel it all in my body my body my body

Okay so the title is just a song that popped in my head. if you look up the song it is completely irrelevant to what this post will be about.

BODY iMAGE.


 The way we perceive our bodies or what we think our bodies should look like 

I came to the starking revelation that this is something that should be discussed after something I witnessed today.

FACTS.
One percent of teenage girls in the United States will develop anorexia nervosa and up to 10% of these females may die as a result


In the United States, as many as 10 million females and 1 million males are fighting a life and death
battle with an eating disorder such as anorexia or bulimia.


• Over onehalf of teenage girls and nearly onethird of teenage boys use unhealthy weight control behaviors such as skipping meals, fasting, smoking cigarettes, vomiting, and taking laxatives
(NeumarkSztainer, 2005).
• Girls who diet frequently are 12 times as likely to binge as girls who don’t diet (NeumarkSztainer,
2005).
• 42% of 1st3rd grade girls want to be thinner
• 81% of 10 year olds are afraid of being fat
• The average American woman is 5’4” tall and weighs 140 pounds. The average American model is 5’11” tall and weighs 117 pounds.
• Most fashion models are thinner than 98% of American women.




 I personally have never had an issue with my size. I know that I am small and it`s something I have learned to cope with. I can`t really gain weight when I try. Actually, my body image issue came with my breasts, they`re huge especially on me. But I realized God didn`t make us all equal and they help to make me me, somehow. But most females I know are on the opposite side of the spectrum: they don`t cope with their body and can`t lose weight if they try. They have a negative body image.

With a negative body image, a woman has a distorted perception of her shape and size, compares her body to others, and feels shame and anxiety about her body. Being unhappy with your body can affect how you think and feel about yourself as a person. A poor body image can lead to emotional distress, low self-esteem, unhealthy dieting habits, anxiety, depression, and eating disorders. 


One thing I learned in high school is that you don`t play when it comes to eating disorders. They can consume your life and become an addiction. Actually the last episode of Intervention that I watched was about a girl who was anorexic and had a cutting problem. it was so bad they were keeping her daughter away from her. Anorexia nervosa is an eating disorder characterized by extremely low body weight, distorted body image and an obsessive fear of gaining weight. The term is derived from Greek meaning: a lack of desire to eat. 


Women in the U.S. are under pressure to measure up to a certain social and cultural ideal of beauty, which can lead to poor body image. Women are constantly bombarded with "Barbie Doll-like" images. By presenting an ideal that is so difficult to achieve and maintain, the cosmetic and diet product industries are assured of growth and profits. It's no accident that youth is increasingly promoted, along with thinness, as an essential criterion of beauty. The message we're hearing is "all women need to lose weight" 


ALL eating disorders are detrimental to an individual`s physical and emotional health. There are many medical risks associated with anorexia. They include: shrunken bones, mineral loss, low body temperature, irregular heartbeat, permanent failure of normal growth, development ofosteoporosis and bulimia nervosa.




I want to save all of these females. Put them in a room tell them they are beautiful. Play them Video by India.Arie and pray for all of them. Hope that they seek help and courage to rid themselves of this negative body image. 







To the person who inspired me to write this... I hope she realizes she is BEAUTIFUL and there are people who want to look like her and compliment her on a daily. I refuse to let this be your demise, you have a bright future ahead of you


la pace, l`amore, la felicita
<3 BRiDGE.