A Healthy Body Image Makes You Irresistible!
Dec | Leave a Comment
So many of us are unsatisfied with the body we were born with, leading to a poor self image, lack of confidence and a whole lot of unnecessary unhappiness. Teens are particularly vulnerable to this syndrome – not having a healthy body image. Let me tell you, I have yet to meet an ugly human being, with the exception of people who are constantly negative and grumpy in their outlook on life. Attitude matters, tremendously.
I’ve seen many an individual who, at first glance, is well proportioned and seemingly attractive – until they open their mouth with a sarcastic or demeaning remark. Their attitude is well reflected in facial expressions and body language. On the other hand, there are people who may not fit the description of a model or Greek statuary, but are nonetheless beautiful. Such people may have an over-inflated view of themselves and their visual attractiveness, but they cannot be said to have a healthy body image. This type uses their attractiveness as justification to treat others with disdain.
Most people start finding fault with their bodies during adolescence. “Oh, if only I had longer legs, nicer hair, a smaller nose, better looking lips, etcetera.” There’s been an ad on TV recently, describing a program where young children are confidently saying “I promise to think of myself as a beautiful person!”
Apparently, this program is responding to a growing trend of kids who are ultra sensitive to jeers and jokes from their peers regarding big knees, long arms, short legs or whatever the kids deem to be ‘out of the norm’. The program is intended to help kids develop a healthy body image. When kids tease or taunt other kids, a sensitive or insecure kid may focus obsessively on their supposed physical faults. If they are teased for being ‘fat’, they may become anorexic, simply to avoid the taunts and ‘fit in’ to their friends mold of extreme and unhealthy skinniness.
The fact is that people come in all shapes and sizes, each with their differences. Think how boring it would be if everyone you met had a body which was more or less identical to their own! Variety is the spice of life and one person is neither superior or inferior just because his feet are smaller than average, or her hair is curly rather than the currently popular string-straight hair. Having a healthy body image involves accepting your body as it is, not trying to make your body conform to today’s idea of beauty.
Some people will opt for plastic surgery to modify their body. What happens to that person’s self image when, ten years later, the beauty police do a makeover of ‘what’s beautiful’? Who knows that breast implants, for example, go the way of alligator shoes and fur coats? Will you then have a healthy body image, ‘knowing’ that you are now out of step?
One of the better approaches to a healthy body image is to make an objective analysis of your good and lesser attributes. If you’re actually overweight or underweight, do something about it! Exercise and eat right and the picture will change soon enough. When you do it for yourself, rather than to meet someone else’s expectations, you’re well on the road to a healthy body image.
Women love fashion, so take advantage of what fashion can do for you. Choose styles that flatter your body. If you think your thighs are too fat, work on the issue through exercise. In the meantime, shop for styles which deemphasize the big thighs and play up your best points. A baggy turtleneck sweater, with a hem that ends halfway to your knees, is a fashionable and comfortable solution. You’ll feel confident that no one is looking at you, judging your thighs to be enormous. Besides, whether your thighs are too large is a subjective matter. The idea is to wear clothes which make you feel good about yourself. Hey, nobody’s perfect and everybody knows it!
In Hitchcock’s classic movie, ‘The Rear Window’, one of the characters was a beautiful ballet dancer, who could hardly beat off handsome admirers. In the end, her soldier boyfriend, a short, geeky looking guy, comes home and is greeted with obvious joy and love by his ballerina. Beauty is much more than skin deep.
In the end, a healthy body image makes you happy, beautiful and irresistible!
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Perfect Body — What Is That Exactly?
Dec | 1 Comment
In search of the perfect body? First we must know what perfection is!
Today, our society places a great deal of emphasis on the so-called perfect body. Both men and women engage in this quest, some quite obsessively. Plenty of people work out daily at the gym, counting calories, carbs and fat as though due diligence will reveal the holy grail of the perfect body. These people may also adopt strict eating habits that allow for no excuses, eschewing food pleasures as tantamount to a great sin. With a perfectly disciplined regimen, you might just approach that perfect body, according to your own definition. However, you can spend most of your time and effort to achieve this goal and still end up dateless on Saturday night. So the quest for your imagined bodily perfection may only pay you back in vanity for your accomplishment, in wresting your physique into a pleasant view in your mirror.
This is not to say that a healthy, well nourished body should not be pursued. Exercise will tone your muscles, making you better looking, more energetic and stronger. Let’s say you inherited your Mom’s knock knees. There is absolutely no amount of exercise, dieting or any other regimen which will change that. Does this mean you don’t have a perfect body? You may think so, but maybe your boyfriend or spouse feels you’re just perfect.
Men may obsess endlessly about those elusive and prized ‘six-pack abs’ touted by the exercise machine manufacturers. Well, here’s a newsflash. Many women do not find these unnatural looking, tightly defined muscles attractive.
So how may we accurately define the perfect body? Historically, the perfect body has gone through a number of iterations and definitions, according to the times. Michaelangelo, in his desire to represent the human anatomy accurately, was a muscle definition freak, but produced nothing on the order of today’s body builders. Reubens favored a generous female form, with hips and waistlines of ample proportions, along with a good dose of fat here and there. In that day, his paintings represented the perfect body of every man’s desire. Today’s woman would be on a diet and exercise program in a heartbeat, to make the necessary corrections! Fast forward to Twiggy, of 1970s fame. This skeletal girl’s body was the goal of every female under 30.
So what’s to be learned from these examples? First, the definition of bodily perfection is truly in the eye of the beholder. If your body doesn’t match up to today’s top model or womanhood’s latest celebrity heartthrob, it’s unlikely you’ll be able to force the issue. Although you can’t change your height, proportions or bone structure, you can still look your best. Do eat healthy, do exercise and practice a moderate lifestyle. You will then have your perfect body and no one can take that away from you. You’ll be happier and have time for more substantive endeavors, such as who you are on the inside!
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How To Go Shopping When You’re On A Diet
Mar | Leave a Comment
When you go through a typical grocery store, you are faced with a lot of things that aren’t a part of a healthy lifestyle. You will come across many foods geared toward creating disease, which allure you with sweet flavors or sensational spices.
Shopping on a diet is a challenge because your shopping list has to be more rigid than ever. Temptations are thrown at you everywhere. Processed foods require little preparation. Candy is a tasty delight to go. Snacks are hanging on sale in nearly every aisle. How will you manage going shopping on a diet and coming home with only those foods that fit your diet?
The number one rule for shopping on a diet is to eat a large, healthy meal that fits in with your diet plan immediately before going to the grocery store. Then your choices in food will be based on your beliefs, rather than your cravings. If you get really desperate, grab a bag of baby carrots to eat while you go about picking foods.
A close second on the rules list is to only go shopping on a diet after you have made a complete list, and, most importantly, don’t buy anything that is unlisted, even if it is a healthy food. Sticking to your rule requires that you put healthy foods on your list for the next trip. Once you start making exceptions you are in trouble. It helps most people to create a menu for the following week before going shopping on a diet. You can make your food list straight off of the menu of what you will be eating. You shouldn’t need any foods that are not required by your complete menu, so don’t buy them.
If the temptation gets too great, just leave the credit and debit cards at home. Put an estimated price next to each item on your list and only take enough cash into the store to buy those items. This isn’t necessary for everyone, but you will know if this is necessary for you based on whether you ever leave the grocery store with more than what is on your list, healthy foods or not.
Beware of wholesalers when shopping on a diet. Buying in bulk is not good for diets, even if it does save money over the long term. Eating less and sticking to a menu can save at least as much money. The only time you can buy on bulk when shopping on a diet is when you are splitting things with friends, though we would still caution against it. If you should buy in bulk, put the extras out in your garage or a garage freezer where it will take extra time and energy to get to them.
When you go shopping on a diet, you can plan your desserts, meats, and processed foods into your meals because you know those will be the only processed foods, meats, and dessert foods you get during the course of the week. As long as you only buy what is planned, and it is well planned to meet the requirements of the diet, you can eat some of those foods you love. This will make it easier to stay on the diet for life.
Take time to read the labels on foods. You already have your list and must purchase what is on it, but sometimes one brand may be considerably different from another for the same food. Also, educating yourself about the foods will help you make better lists in the future so that you will improve your skills shopping on a diet as you progress in life. Eventually, if you never compromise, you will learn to make great lists and only buy exactly what is on those lists.
How To Stop Emotional Eating
Jan | Leave a Comment
Background Information on Emotional Eating
You may not realize it, but you are more likely an emotional eater, just like most people. Your eating is often triggered by your emotions. Think about it. Recall those times you ate because you were happy, depressed, sad, celebrating, frustrated, angry or scared.
If you’ve never really thought about eating and your emotions, don’t worry; most people are like you: they don’t realize that their eating habits are oftentimes dictated by their emotions.
It’s common to be unaware of things that impact emotional eating. In reality, many of us tend to make decisions based on our emotions rather than our rational side. In the case of emotional eating, since we were little, we have been subconsciously conditioned that food helps us feel good. In the beginning, eating fills a biological need: stop our hunger. However, there are times when we use food to fill an emotion need, which should have been filled by something else or elsewhere.
The line between emotional eating and a serious eating disorder is very narrow. An emotional eater is different from a binge or compulsive eater. But how can you tell if you are simply an emotional eater and not someone who has a serious eating disorder?
People with full-blown eating disorders tend to binge on a regular basis. They tend to eat huge amounts of food and they do so very fast. They also feel that they have no control over food or they have a food obsession. People with eating disorders tend to hide foods around the house or they may hide someplace and then eat. For example, they buy foods in secret, and it usually after members of the family have gone to bed.
Both emotional eaters and compulsive/binge eaters may share a similar characteristic: they often have experienced trauma — either physical or sexual abuse. However, it has been found that the percentage of binge/compulsive eaters who have experienced physical or sexual abuse is higher than that of emotional eaters.
Binge eaters face a number of challenges. Unlike anorexia or bulimia, binge eating isn’t as popular or well known eating disorder. In fact, many people go on not knowing that they have this type of eating disorder. Those who have an eating disorder are advised not to go on a diet; they are instead encouraged to talk to a trained and licensed therapist.
Although emotional eating isn’t as serious as the other eating disorders such as binge or compulsive eating, emotional eaters may still suffer a great deal. However, there are ways to manage emotional eating. The first step, of course, is becoming self-aware of the emotional eating problem. Self-awareness involves admitting and accepting that an emotional eating problem does exist. For a lot of people, admitting and accepting that a problem exists is hard to do. Some hold the view that admitting and accepting the existence of a problem means they are weak. Needless to say, self-awareness is a crucial step towards successfully managing an emotional eating problem.
The next step is evaluating emotional eating habits by recording the times you eat for four to five days. In this step, you don’t write what you ate; you write instead the times you ate and how you felt each time. By the fifth day, you go over your notes and count the times you ate because you were hungry or you thought you were hungry. Analyze your eating habits over this five-day period, taking note of those times your emotions seemed to trigger you need to eat.
The next step is self-management. You’ll want to keep recording those times you ate and how you were feeling as you ate. Over time, it will become easier for you to identify whether your eating was an emotional response or not. It’s a good idea if you write in your diary right before you reach for that food. If you realize, through writing, that your urges to eat are in response to feelings of anger, depression or some sort of emotional high, you’ll soon learn to train yourself to put down the food and walk away. In time, you’ll minimize your tendency of an emotional eater.
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