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It is rare today for women and girls to feel good about their bodies. People have always been interested in appearance, but the current pressure on women to be thin in order to feel acceptable is unprecedented. As a result, it is now statistically "normal" for females in America to feel bad about their bodies and to describe themselves as "fat," regardless of size. Despite its counterproductive nature, "dieting" is seen as the cure for the "wrong" body. Roughly 70% of adolescent girls eat in unhealthy, restrictive ways for the purpose of controlling or losing weight. This is extending to younger and younger children, with almost half of 3rd to 6th grade girls now wanting to be thinner, irrelevant of their current size. Boys are increasingly affected as the national obsession with avoiding fatness becomes more and more pervasive. No one escapes the barrage of messages to "lose weight now!" Ironically, in the same four decades that have produced the greatest weight loss efforts ever known to humankind, America has become the fattest nation on earth. Clearly, something is wrong with our approach. Body image, eating and weight concerns are extremely difficult to change once established. We need to stop these problems before they start. BodyImageHealth.org can help.
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