"Thigh Gap"

I just saw an article this morning about teen girls trying to acheive 'thigh gap.' This is utterly ridiculous. As a health nut, and a mom of two young girls, this just ticks me off.

I recently spent several weekends volunteering with a community theatre. They were doing a production of "Annie," and I was surrounded by a number of young girls daily. Several times, I would hear one or more utter something to the effect of, "I shouldn't eat this, i'm on a diet," or "I'm fat." Lucky (or unlucky) for them, I was doing the orphans' makeup, so I took that opportunity to talk to a few of them that I had overheard.

This EDUCATING of our young girls is SO important, and really, I feel it on my heart to do this.  I told these girls that they should NOT be on a diet. A diet is temporary. What they need to be doing, is ensuring that they're living a healthy lifestyle! They're GROWING!! They need to be fueling their bodies correctly with good, nutritious food. And yes, it's okay to have cookies once in a while, or a piece of birthday cake!

I hate that we live in a society that PUSHES diets on these young (and very impressionable) girls. So,  I encourage you to...well...ENCOURAGE young girls to live a healthy lifestyle. A stick-thin body with no fat is NOT typical, nor should it ever be unless it is in your genetics. Encourage them to eat well to fuel their growing mind and body. Encourage them to accept ALL body types. Encourage them to see the beauty in their body shape. Just ENCOURAGE them.

 

New diets

Top of my list: New, 'fad' diets. The one that particularly annoys me right now: The HCG diet. Really? They give you SHOTs people. Shots of hormones to 'retrain' your hypothalmus. Are you freaking kidding me??? You know how to train your hypothalumus? Get off your butt and MOVE. It's one thing to have a hormonal imbalance wherein shots may be necessary, but simply doing this because it guarantees you a 1-2lb loss per day?? Are you crazy? And then, on top off all of this, they restrict your caloric intake to 500 calories per day. Last time i checked, that was starvation. So let me get this straight--they're going to inject you with hormones, and starve you. Yeah...that makes sense. Perfect CRAZY sense. It says this on a webpage i found:

"Will you gain the weight back after hCG? There is no reason you should, so long as you have replaced any former negative eating and inactive lifestyle habits with new, healthy perspectives on food and exercise."


So, they're saying that if you replace your old, negative eating habits with good ones and work out, you'll KEEP THE WEIGHT OFF???? Holy crap, people--stop the presses!!

Let me give you a few tips: Eat right, burn more calories than what you eat. Those are two 'fit' rules to live by. Don't let doctors inject crap into you. Don't let people tell you there's a 'quick' way, or an 'easy' way. There is only ONE way, and it involves the two tips i just gave you.

Find a group of people that will support you and hold you accountable for your actions. Listen to people that have been there, and have taken control of their health habits. ASK these people for help! YOU can do it. It's not hard. It's NOT rocket science. It's common sense.