Girls, is this you?

Question

I will admit that I personally have serious self esteem issues and yes, a lot of it is related to body image. Even though I am aware of all the false images the media bombards us with, I am still affected by it. I don't have any eating disorders, but still every time I look in the mirror I hate what I see. It broke my heart when a friend here told me her 8 year old sister was depressed because of her body image, thinking she was not good enough and turning to the frigde for comfort. It is starting at a younger age and it is getting worse. How do you relate to this issue?

Did you see the latest add campaign by Dove? I just love it. What do you think about this?

http://www.campaignforrealbeauty.ca/flat2.asp?id=6960

http://www.ctv.ca/servlet/ArticleNews/story/CTVNews/20071003/dove_ad_071003/20071003?hub=TopStories

Of course guys are welcome to state their opinion too.

@ zoser: I know what you mean, but beauty does not always mean health. I hate the fact that most Egyptians think that white people are more attractive, blondes are more beautiful, coloured eyes are prettier ...etc. If a kid wants to have plastic surgery because she thinks her nose is too big, what does that have to do with health? And Asians going under the knife to make their eyes look like Westerners ... the list is so long and it is anything but healthy. I know everything that could be said about inner beauty first and mind over body, but I still can't help feeling uncomfortable in my own skin despite all that. It makes my heart ache that little girls have to go through this. My friends all tell me I'm crazy to feel like that ... and I still do. Makes me wonder how a little girl would feel when she is being teased by other kids and sees all that stuff in the media.

Answer 1

wait wait wait, this is a lot related to my work,, of course the body image is extremely important , why? not because the superficial reasons people think, it is more serious than that, I will explain in a while , I am a afraid to be long,, I will try to summarize
1) Lots of us do not know that what we call beautiful is actually healthy, we use the term beautiful without knowing that beauty =good health (I can simply prove that if you want) example all the beautiful feature of a woman is related to her health and her ability to carry babies, (that is also applied on men), do not be shocked , even a silky hair indicates more estrogen which means more feminine capability ..
2) The Fat belt around the tummy is the first reason for the heart attack, high blood pressure , cancer and diabetes
3) You have all to know that you start gaining fat features after your body inside had the maximum fat it can store ,,do not be amazed let me explain how it works
* when you eat most of the food turn to be glucose , and some amino acids , and fatty acids
* your body consume the glucose for worming , and just for the body posting, then the various activities, even digesting the food consumes glucose
* A woman needs a day 2000kcal a man needs 2500kcal in average
* the rest turn by the liver to glycogen which is stored over it ,till you need it (like now when you fast)
*then all the rest isto be deposited in the fat cells which is developed undrer the skin while you are growing, if you were sporting these fat cells will be well distributed through the body other wise they will be concentrated in certain areas for many different reasons..
*The worst is the cells around the bellay (main reason for heart attack)
*Human fat tissue contains about 87% lipids, so that 1 kg of body-fat tissue has roughly the caloric energy of 870 g of pure fat, or 7800 kcal. So you will gain a kg of fat if you have 7800kcal than you need from your food and that mean also you will loose a kg when you have 7800 defect between Kcal intake and used..
* The disaster that there are two kinds of receptors in the body : Alfa which construct the lipid and Beta which burn them sometimes the ratio is up to 6 till 8 to 1 so it is very easy to build lipid (fat) than to burn it
I know you have just had your breakfast but you do not want me to show you some pics of the fat stored inside our bodies surrounding the organs , I promise you will think 100 times when you eat...if you see them...sorry

I even encourage liposculpture , lipolysis (NOT A WAY TO LOSE WEIGHT , JUST TO REDISRIBUTE THE FAT CELLS) , not because they redistribute the fat storage in the body but believe it or not it is very useful for the heart to have such new distribution,,

edit Iovy :Tips to lose weight:
1)The real strong will to lose weight, (or to be accepted as a healthy person),,
2)Do not expect mirical that quickly..
3)knoweldge..awarness of the food we eat value, what our bodies need. why we eat..
http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;_ylt=AqkcOeb8qJs1d8UozmlVNl7ty6IX;_ylv=3?qid=20070422082521AAfkn0c&show=7#profile-info-QMpw3367aa


****edit Farah :You gave two examples: the nose job: we should do that only if we have a defect in the nose bones to straight them (we would not snore /snoring is also a reason for heart attack) as for the size only, most of the time the size of the nose is related to the other features of the face; lots of beauty icon have big noses or mouths if we watch them alone , but all the face features , together are well proportional….As to change the shape of eyes to look like westerns , who said that beauty is only the image of westerns,, if some people are brainwashed and misuse the science for that, well they are just stupid, we only correct alhowal nothing else (and that lead to good sight also).. I still insist that beauty=health and healthly =beautiful ,,If God creates us with some defects, Also God gave us his light (knowledge to correct that) , we should always use God’s gift if we can..

By the way , most white people are trying to be darker , a dark skin is stronger to fight cancer, the Egyptians think the whiter is more beautiful,,( a brainwash during the turkish occupation) again that does not relate to what I mean..I am talking about the real beauty and health not wrong thoughts,,(i thought Daliah albahari as a beauty queen of Egypt, once ,not white???),, I am mainly talking about fat, slim issue,,and i am still insisting on my theory..lol

The mistake is not that we want to be beautiful, it is how/what we think of being beautiful....!!!

Answer 2

I find this whole issue very sad. I wish girls would stop caring what they look like and be happy as they are. I live in a small town and i know alot of girl who have stopped eating or being very obsessive over what they eat. I know one girl who has been diagnosed with anorexia and this was through bad media. What really upset me was the other day i was shopping and i saw a friend who i hadn't seen for two years and she was naturally slim and looked healthy and she was such a happy person well that is what we all thought now she is so skinny she looks painfully ill and all she eats is 1 yogurt a day. It shows how media can put pressure on girls specially young girls that they feel they have to be a certain size.
I my self feel i should be a a bit slimmer as i have put weight on after i stopped doing exercise it naturally just came on but i would never loose weight drastically i know how my goal and it isn't a stupid goal its realistic and I'm doing it properly.

Answer 3

South America

Answer 4

When will we get smart and educate our girls, boys too to ignore what other people think of us. I have been chubby my whole life but I have not missed out on anything! I have had lots of good opportunities,own a business, married a great guy, had great kids and now grandchildren. I am dearly loved by all and I don't give a rats *** what anyone thinks about my body. I am healthy and happy and every person I have ever met treats me well. Life is what you make it for sure!!

Answer 5

I loved the campaign and it surely increased my selfesteem lol Listen, I personally work in an advertising agency and those things are always fake fake fake. Just be yourself! I tried thousands of time dieting and excercising I always loose like 10 kg and then re-gain them just a month later so just don't think about your image, if 5% of egyptian ladies are beautiful when it comes to their body, be sure that the rest are just FINE :)

Answer 6

everyone is beautiful in their own way. true beauty isnt just from body image. its personality. I have come to terms lately with the way I look but I have always had negative outlooks on my body up until about a year ago. I have always been a very curvy girl. I will never have the lean skinny look. I have wide hips and It wasnt that I was overweight, just curved, I hated it, i wanted to be that supermodel thin, but then I realized, its not pretty. not at all. Girls and women with more curves are amazingly gorgeous. just keep reminding yourself that and love yourself for who you are.

Answer 7

well,actually the media now adays becomes the most effective way on peoples personalities,behaviours and attitudes(this is my opinion)

but also away of the media effection,what's going on now in our life surely affect us.
about me i have a problem of eating disorder, i always get the felling that i wanna through up everytime i eat sth.actually no one know about it ,but i don't know i feel satisfy when i do that.

i know it's wrong,but.........

Answer 8

I think girls should watch what they eat (eat sensibly) and workout to get that lean look that guys like...I don't see why anyone would want to purge or do any of that other crazy eating disorder stuff...just eat senisbly and exercise a lot and you'll be fine.

Answer 9

"The campaign for real beauty" is such a breath of fresh air, since nowadays most people do not want to take time to know a person real well before judging them by their appearances.

Zoser: i don't even want to cook anymore, but u know what it was very informative. Thank you.

Answer 10

i'm not that affected but the one who really is and i have tried so many approaches without success is my daughter, hurts me to see her in pain, unhappy about her body, she always is, imagine at age 17, she wanted to have plastic surgery, no matter how slim she gets, there's always something about her that isn't perfect, to tell you the truth if it weren't for society and some women i wouldn't care one bit about my figure, i have developed cellulite and who cares i wear shorts and swimming costumes at the beach, i admire obese women who do the same and enjoy the sun and sea, of course i do look at beautiful bodies and wish i had the same, sometimes the thought of getting treatment crosses my mind, but i don't do it, not so much out of acceptance, i'm just not bothered and very lazy when it comes to beautifying myself, i hate using creams and lotions, make-up, i hate wearing clothes that aren't comfortable and as time passes it gets worse, i really would have liked for my daughter to enjoy life fully without having to do so through a perfect body, i wish people would leave people alone, i wish and i pray that she finds real love, a guy who would love her for who she is as she is, i wish and pray that she loves herself for what and who she is, the times we are living are killing, destructive, i remember being 13, i used to play like mad, ride bicycles run and climb trees, PLAY, i used to play, girls age 13 today, first they don't have the space to, second they have other priorities, their hair, body, make up, pictures, clothes, oh...and cellulars, and if one of them is different she is odd and weird, and to tell you the truth different but also human, she looks around sees and compares

when sara was going to university she asked for clothes and a bag, so we went to carrefour and ended up having a fight, she wanted to get this tiny bag, orange, for 650LE that would fit nothing but a comb probably and some make-up, no room for a book, papers, she cried that day, saying that i haven't seen the girls, they all have similar bags and that i don't understand
she wanted to study engineering at the academy here in alexandria, abou keer, she would tie her hair into a pony tail, put on jeans and a t-shirt and off she went, then suddenly she stopped going to university all together
to be continued