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BODY IMAGE
Do you try lots of diets 'cause you're
not satisfied with the way your body looks or you think you're fat? Guys, do you
take steroids to bulk up and look buff? Worrying about
how our bodies look is a real issue in our society. The average person
sees between 400 and 600 ads per day, and one out of 10 of them relates
directly to beauty and image. Did you know
that over 500,000 teens in the US currently use steroids and
body-enhancing supplements?
But what can you expect when you take that stuff? If you're a
guy, you can look for acne, accelerated baldness, aggressiveness,
enlargement of breasts, shrinking testicles, cardiovascular disease or
inability to have sex (impotence). With girls,
acne, baldness, facial hair, reduced breast size, lowering of voice and
masculinization are what you're looking at. Then there
are the heavy-duty eating disorders:
Anorexia nervosa is dieting gone wild.
It's an emotional disorder characterized by severe weight loss (or
failure to gain weight in young people). People with anorexia have an iron
determination to become thin and an intense, irrational fear of becoming
fat, both of which often increase as weight is lost.
They have a hard time maintaining a healthy weight. They lose
weight by fasting, over-exercising, using diuretics and laxatives and over-the-counter diet aids,
and in some cases, self-induced vomiting.
They say they feel fat even when they are very thin. They experience a sense of control by not eating and often
turn away from food in an attempt to cope with life's stresses. People with
bulimia nervosa binge-eat, secretly consuming large amounts of food in a
short period of time. They follow these binges with self-induced vomiting
or purging -- fasting, over-exercising or taking laxatives, diuretics or diet pills. This binge-purge cycle is normally
accompanied by self-defeating thoughts, depressed mood, and an awareness
that the eating behavior is not normal and out-of-control. In most cases,
the binge-purge cycle is an outlet for feelings of frustration,
disappointment, anger, loneliness and boredom. Both anorexia
nervosa and bulimia nervosa have serious health implications if untreated.
A safe, healthy weight loss plan can be developed for you by your family
doctor. This
year, a thousand people will die from How much
weight is too much? To determine
the degree of a person's excess body weight accurately,
many doctors use something called a Body Mass Index (BMI), which
takes into account your height and weight.
A person with a BMI of 30 or greater, or who is at least 30 pounds
overweight would be diagnosed as obese, the condition of being
considerably overweight. Excess weight
has been proven to contribute to an increased risk of developing many
medical problems, including high blood pressure, high cholesterol, heart
disease and diabetes. Eating
excess fatty food and calories and not participating in any exercise play
a significant role in the development of excess weight. People who are
considerably overweight may have a problem regulating their appetite or
they may have an energy metabolism problem -- they consume more calories
than their bodies use. The
excess calories are then stored in the body as fat. In addition to
overeating and lack of physical activity, genetics, environment and
economic situation can all increase a
person's risk of becoming considerably overweight. An estimated 97
million adults in the US face the problem of excess weight. Once of the
keys to successful weight loss is setting realistic, achievable goals. Talk with your
doctor about your weight (whether you are overweight or underweight).
If he or she determines that you are overweight or underweight,
work on the solutions with your doctor and your parents.
Contact
Numbers National
Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associates 847-831-3438 Overeaters
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