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CG ShopGirls, Fight Food Fears |
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| Written by CG Girl |
| Friday, 09 October 2009 19:42 |
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Girls, Let’s Fight Food Fears! By Brittany Valadez Some obsessions revolve around admiration for a singer or movie star. That kind of obsession can change with the trends of pop culture. Unfortunately, for today’s American teen, some obsessions can take the joy right out of life. Be happy, be healthy. This expression, made famous by the honeybee in Cheerios commercials cannot really happen. There is no longer an emphasis on healthy human beings, but on being skinny – super-skinny. Young women should be focusing on school and careers. Instead, they’re spending all their time thinking about how well their jeans fit around those two lumps of lard called thighs. For many college and high school girls, calorie counting is common. Calorie-counting used to be a way of not overeating, but for some, it has turned into a way of life. For some girls, consuming less than 900 calories feels empowering. This can lead them to measure every single piece of food put into their mouths. Having pizza after a basketball game would ruin an otherwise perfect day. Perfect days are measured by how many calories are consumed. The problem does not end there. Calorie restriction is often accompanied by hours and hours at the gym. By the end of the week, girls are exhausted, tired and hungry. Binge eating may result, as well as body-bashing and depression. Food is no longer something to be enjoyed, but something to fear. Sometimes, girls feel the skinnier they are, the more attention they will get from guys. Importance is no longer measured by a girl’s success in her studies or her job, but whether or not her Abercrombie-model classmate looked her way. Girls are no longer looking in the mirror to fix their lip gloss, but to criticize their bodies. Mirror-checking can become an obsession. Some girls look in a full-length mirror more than 20 times a day. Each time, they see imperfections. Their stomachs are not flat enough. Their backsides are not big enough. Their arms just can’t stop jiggling. Every day is a constant struggle. For these girls, the epidemic is taking over their minds and their lives. The media and pop culture contribute to the low self-esteem of all the beautiful girls in the world. It’s unfortunate that a healthy girl who works out and eats healthy feels she is fat when her jeans size is a 5. Why? Because she compares herself to the size 0 model in her fashion magazine? Girls, it’s time we stop criticizing how we look. The truth is, most guys love our curves and do not see all the “wrongs” we see. They admire girls with confidence, and that’s something we can control. It’s essential that we exercise, but we need to stop weighing ourselves five or six times a day. Put the scale away. Limit your weigh-in to once a week. In the morning, get dressed, check your outfit and leave. Do not stare at yourself. Look and leave. You are beautiful. God created you to enjoy this world. Make exercise and eating right a part of your life. Do not over-exercise to lose ten pounds in two weeks. Take it one day at a time. |
