“Don’t let your mind bully your body” – June Tomaso Wood
Have you ever gone on a diet? Or even considered it? The word “diet” is actually defined as the food we eat on a daily basis; but now, to the whole world, its meaning has changed to a self-chosen restriction of food for ourselves.
The core reason that teenagers go on diets is being unsatisfied with their bodies. This is often caused by the experience of traumatic events or emotional conflict during childhood, the involvement in weight-related sports, low self-esteem, parental criticism of a child’s weight, pressure to diet, parental role-modeling of dieting and pressure from peers, and most of all, a society that equates physical appearance with beauty and value. This can then lead to issues like body dysmorphia, eating disorders, depression, anxiety, etc. Very often it also occurs with people who already have diabetes, asthma, attention deficit disorder, anxiety, depression, or epilepsy.
Body dysmorphic disorder (BDD) is a mental health condition. A person with BDD becomes very fixated on a physical defect. Either they’re imagining the defect or it’s so minor that others can’t see it. They think about their perceived flaws for hours each day and miss school because they don’t want others to see them. They experience severe emotional distress and implicate self-harm. It is difficult to diagnose this disorder because people are often secretive about their feelings and symptoms. They may be embarrassed which can cause the disorder to go unnoticed for years. Besides, many people with BDD don’t get diagnosed for their whole life. Treatments for this disorder are psychotherapy, medication like anti-depressants, or group/family therapy. Body dysmorphia can often even lead to eating disorders.
Eating disorders are also mental health conditions. Some types of eating disorders are extreme dieting, food binging, anorexia, purging (bulimia), or over-exercising. A few symptoms are obsession over weight loss and guilt after eating. If you have an eating disorder you must open up to someone you trust, as this is the scariest, however, the most important step in the road to recovery.
Besides body positivity, from a scientific point of view, dieting actually slows down your metabolism. This means that every time you eat, even a little, your body will gain more weight and much faster. It also causes permanent hunger and the risk of overeating or binge eating. This can be very unhealthy for the body and lead to unconsciousness, acidity, and nausea.
Social media is a prevalent cause of dieting, especially in these times. You might be scrolling through Instagram and see someone with a perfect “hourglass” body, or perfect skin. Social media isn’t real. Those pictures have been perfected using photoshop and makeup, and those people have been perfected by plastic surgery. The main aspect of Instagram and other social media platforms is showing only the most glamorous aspects of your life, and finding the “perfect angle”. But in life, there is no faking it, and there isn’t a need to do so either, because that flawless body you see on Instagram, is fake, and altogether unrealistic.
Dieting portrays food as a reward or punishment when really it is a basic human need and joy. It rarely focuses on the nutritional value of foods and a balanced diet, and mainly focuses on the beauty aspect, but there is no weight limit on beauty.
“Stop trying to fix your body, it was never broken” – Eve Ensler