A culture is formed by the stories its children are told.

The Model for Healthy Body Image challenges 5 pervasive, toxic myths that promote unhealthy body images, eating and weight problems in American culture...

...and then provides the antidotes needed to resist those destructive fables.

Most girls and women in the American culture are not comfortable with their weight. They use scornful tones and derogatory terms to describe the roundness of their own and each other's bodies. Yet we know that this attitude conflicts with a women's very biology. Fit and well fed bodies are naturally diverse in size and shape, ranging from tall to short, fat to lean. Why is it that women who value substance in character are afriad to take up too much space?

Men are increasingly seduced into believing that they too should reshape and sculpt their natural body sizes through intensive diet and exercise plans designed for this purpose. Eating well and a balanced, physically active lifestyle are not enough given today's high standards for the "right male look."

The obsession with weight that has become the norm in American culture is not about concern for health. It is about undue preoccupation with achieving the "right" appearance, and a willingness to risk health and a balanced life trying to accomplish that "look." This self-conscious, body-centered focus seriously interferes with self-esteem, self-confidence and the energy needed for more important things that are highly valued by most people.

Based on identification of five, prevalent cultural myths that encourage body image, eating and weight problems, the Model for Healthy Body Image challenges these toxic fables with down to earth "antidotes" that can be understood and applied by anyone of any age. This radically sane and simple approach is a roadmap to help people avoid or find their way out of this problem.

• Here is an outline of the cultural myths that promote unhealthy body images, and the antidotes needed to resist their influence.
• See how the Model for Healthy Body Image consolidates these antidotes into a framework with a clear outcome objectives for health education.