When Anna Meets Jane, part 1: The Underlying Problems & Beliefs Most Women Suffer From

Meet Anna Freud; my professor liked her.

This is a pretty dense post, bear with me.

In my class, we covered anorexia nervosa (AN) and bulimia nervosa (BN), but due to both having low prevalence, and I don't think any of my readers suffer from either disorder (I hope not), our focus will shift to another set of eating disorders. They're known as eating disorders not otherwise specified, abbreviated EDNOS, or also known as partial syndrome eating disorders.

They are less recognized because they don't meet full criteria for AN or BN. The problem?

50-70% of eating disorders are EDNOS. What's with this?

Well, did you know that because body-image dissatisfaction, satisfaction/dissatisfaction one is with one's body & physical appearance, is so common among girls and women that it's considered the norm? This means a significant portion of the population shows being unhappy with their physical appearance as typical.

This is awful, and unfortunately, there's more.

A type of corumination - the focus & discussion of negative feelings with peers - termed "fat talk" refers to weight-related negative body talk that occurs in peer groups, which in turn perpetuates the thin ideal. Not only are the majority of women dissatisfied, but their feelings are further reinforced by this "fat talk."

Simply saying things such as

• "Do I look fat in this?"
• "You look great, have you lost weight?"
• Commenting on what one is eating.
• Criticizing others based on weight.

"I feel fat," how often have you heard the phrase? How often has the person looked perfectly fine? I'm sure plenty of times.

And to make matters worse, these worries about appearance can be found in young children. A few facts we were given in class...

• Over half of average-weight adolescent girls have at one point in their lives tried dieting.
• In one study, almost one-third of girls (ages 10-14) were currently on a diet.
• The majority of girls who diet begin dieting before the age of 15.
• Concerns about being "fat" and high levels of body-image dissatisfaction are found in children as young as 7 or 8.
• Half of girls between 7-13 years old, and two-thirds of girls between 14-17 report often feeling "fat" or wanting to lose weight.

That's ridiculous.

Let's look at a few reasons that high body-image dissatisfaction is present.

1) Pubertal development:

• Girls experience an average weight gain of 20 lbs. during puberty. The body changes significantly during this time period.
• Interest in opposite sex leads to more concerns about appearance.
• Importance of peer relationships increase, fat talk occurs with peers.

2) Adulthood:

• Stress increases.
• Metabolism slows down later in life, and no longer able to simply eat whatever you want.
• Responsible for what you eat as you get older. Easiest options aren't always the healthiest.
• Friends eat junk, easier for you to "go with the flow" instead of choosing better alternatives

Looks bad, right? That's because it is.

Another change that occurs is in the size of muscle fibers. Men develop larger type II/fast twitch muscle fibers than women, who actually develop larger type 1/slow twitch muscle fibers. The former-mentioned are important to train in weight lifting. They allow for sprinting, lifting heavy, and doing virtually anything that requires strength. The other fibers, they're better suited for activities like long distance running.

So far we know that,

1) the majority of females are not happy with their body.
2) "fat talk" compounds the problem within a social circle
3) concerns begin young
4) changes occur with aging (physical & intra-/interpersonal ones)

Now, what does a person do when they want to improve their appearance? Either diet, exercise, or a combination of the two.

Diet will be covered in part 3, but let's look a little at exercise.

What do most women use as their form of exercise for fat loss? Usually, long distance running.
What did I say about muscle fibers? Type I/slow twitch muscle fibers are larger and better for long distance running.
How often has it led to that dream body? Most likely, not enough.

It's important to make those type II/fast twitch muscle fibers grow. But still, women don't want to take up weight training. It's the fear of bulk and having muscles that scare women. This aversion is a limiting factor for potential success.

As you can see, Rachel Cosgrove's hardly "bulky"
despite holding 225 lbs. in that picture.
(click the image for the original article)

Where's this perception of bulk come from? Chances are because muscle is usually added before fat is shed - creating more total mass - and the fact that muscles become bigger during a workout session.

It isn't that simple to become hulkish, as in bodybuilder-like (despite women following bodybuilder routines, more on that in part 3).

I'll end this first installment on a simple note.

In one word, what is the function and purpose of the muscular system?

Movement.

And movement encompasses an array of motions outside just running.

Also keep in mind, this doesn't include every single female individual. There are women who train hard, eat wholesome foods, and aren't part of the majority that are stuck in a rut.

Hope you all enjoyed part 1. Stay tuned for part 2 next week, where I'll go over how men and the media play a role in this big picture.

An introduction to women in relation to fitness, society, and why the perfect body is so hard to achieve

Think of the title almost as an abstract to a paper. The purpose of this post is to lay out the structure of the upcoming 4-part series "When Anna Meets Jane" I mentioned last post.

My child psychopathology class spent 2 lectures on eating disorders, which affects our society more than we know.

My goal is to discuss and go over what I learned, as well as connecting it to women and the approach they take towards diet & exercise. Additionally, I'll take a look at the role of others - men & the media - in regards to how they reinforce negative behaviors/habits for women, that in the end, only do more harm than good and create unrealistic ideals & goals.

I'll do one post every Tuesday, with it following this format:

1) 12/29/09 - Part 1: The Underlying Problems & Beliefs Most Women Suffer From
2) 01/05/10 - Part 2: The Contribution Men & the Media Make to Create Weak Women
3) 01/12/10 - Part 3: The Results from a Bad Foundation
4) 01/19/10 - Part 4: A Start to the Right Path

The titles aren't set in stone, but that should give you an idea of each post.

For any guys that read my blog, don't worry, I haven't forgotten about you. I'll still be doing an additional post near the end of the week.

The first post as you can see will be this Tuesday, and I hope you all stop by to read it!

Cultivating the right stuff

1) Pick a goal.
2) Plan out the steps.
3) Follow through on it until goal is achieved.

Doesn't get more straightforward than that, right?

But of course, you and I both know it's never that simple. (Obviously not or we'd all be living rich luxurious lives)

It's only as good as it is if you stick to it.

And that's not quite the problem. Rather, it's about the other variables you come across that make you deviate from your plan.

The plan to stick to the plan?

Build good habits. Do what you know is right.

Sometimes, you might be in a crowd and everyone else is doing so and so and you may feel awkward, but that's okay.

It's your plan for a reason.

You want to reach that goal, not them.

Keep at it long enough, and eventually, you'll affect others.

It's all about the right stuff.

Cool, but you're missing the point

Beautiful, but that's not the point.

No posts last week since it was Thanksgiving. I figured the last thing people wanted to do was sit on a computer and read here.

Speaking of last week, I had a paper due on Monday. I chose my topic as "Tibetan Buddhism in Central Asia."

As I scoured three textbooks, I found some interesting information.

One was that of mandalas.

To make a long book short - since I didn't read it myself - the author was explaining how mandalas are viewed as pieces of art. Contrary to that belief, he says they're not meant to be viewed as art.

The mandalas have religious and spiritual significance.

Similarly, the same can be said about exercise. Chiseled muscles and no "cottage cheese" (flab) is what many of us exercise to attain.

While that's all fine and dandy, exercise wasn't always about that.

It was about getting stronger, faster, increasing athleticism, improving health, and to simply put it, improving all physical domains of your self.

So, don't look as exercise as a means to change your body. Yes, that's what a lot of us are after, but, we're losing sight of exercise's true purpose.

Improvement.

Are you making any?

Kids, obesity, and being a good role model

Eager to imitate.

Children are always looking up to older people. Often, they copy what they see trying to be like that person.

Easy-bake ovens and toy tools aren't played with because kids want to be chefs and construction workers. They want to be like mom, dad, sibling, cool person they saw, so on and so forth.

Where am I going with this?

Role models, and no, I'm not talking about the movie.

Modeling positive behavior is a must. How are we suppose to expect kids to be in decent shape if the adult they're around most barely eats, regularly consumes fast food, and does nothing productive with their time?

Parents who think their child is overweight might even force them to exercise and/or only eat certain foods.

That's awful.

8 hours of school, 5 days a week, and added to the mix is exercise or a diet? You just can't do it.

It's important to give them a warm loving childhood for the best development possible.

We can't fix child obesity if adult obesity is still a problem. Seth Godin wrote a post about fixing the real solution. This is a similar scenario.

Ross Enamait wonderfully explained the same topic recently as well.

Want a kid to be active? Give them a fun activity to do. Any sports, DDR, going to the park, you name it.

The rules are simple.

1) Make sure they're having fun and enjoying it.
2) Make sure it's safe.

That's all there is to it.

I'll end the post with a story.

Last spring, my Infant & Child Development professor told us one visit, she took her daughter to the pediatrician. The doctor said, "your daughter is overweight and something needs to be done."

She goes to daughter and asks her, "do you want to join dance?" She nods her face no.

My professor goes on to say, "well, since she didn't want to do that, I put her in Taekwondo. She enjoys it, she lost weight, and she got her black belt by 3^rd grade."

Simple solution. On top of that, it most likely boosted her self-confidence, enhanced her social well-being, and got her a new hobby.

Not too hard, right?

What does an athlete look like?

You wouldn't guess they're deaf.

When we think of an athlete, we imagine these rock hard bodies with chiseled muscles.

And then, what do most of us do? We use exercise as a means to achieve that perfect body.

But what if we're wrong? The result?

We're chasing after something that's not even there to begin with.

Athletes put in a lot of work to become pro and do what they do.

Exercise is their job and they better be good at it, or otherwise, they won't be employed much longer.

So, we should see what their bodies really look like.

Go see for yourself here. (thanks goes out to Ryan Andrews for posting this)

Not what you had in mind?

Don't worry, neither did most of us.

Hopefully you won't epitomize their bodies anymore over yours.

I believe beauty is in the eyes of the beholder.

But before you do, you need to open your eyes so you can truly appreciate it.

Calorie vs. Calorie

Try eating a hundred calories worth of vegetables.

A similar topic to last week's post, but overlooked often.

Let's start with a joke, one most of you are familiar with.

Which weighs more, a ton of bricks or a ton of feathers?

When you first heard that, you most likely answered the bricks. But of course, when it's explained to us, we realize that it's a ton of each material.

Regardless of what either is, a ton is a ton. It may take less bricks than feathers to reach a ton on the scale, but that wasn't the question.

Now, what's this have to do with calories?

Everything!

It's the same deal. A calorie is a unit of measurement.

100 calories of cookies is the same caloric amount compared to 100 calories of carrots. (first learned this in The Metabolism Advantage)

The difference? You're won't have nearly as many cookies as the amount of carrots.

On top of that, the latter has nutrients useful for your body, while the former will have a negative impact on your health.

There are other factors besides what I've mentioned, but the picture's clear.

If you're starting a more health-conscious way of living, don't worry so much about calories. Usually when people do worry about calories, it's over a poor food choice to begin with.

Don't worry how many calories that baby is.