Love Your Body
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We might not realize this, but social media has brainwashed us. So many advertisements on television and pictures on social media promote the “perfect body” that is required in order to be beautiful. Today’s socio-culture narrows the definition of beauty that includes only men and women with specific body weights and shapes. The cultural norm is to value people on the basis of their physical appearance, and not their inner qualities. But, how does this lead to Binge Eating Disorders? It’s a simple answer, and that is dieting. There are countless types of diets. We see all these beautiful, thin, smiling people on social media and then we look at ourselves and think that we need to look like them in order to be “normal” and “happy”. We think that we need to go on diets to look and feel “perfect”. From the typicality of the Raw Vegan Diet to the extremity of the Cotton Ball Diet, millions and millions of people go on some sort of diet at one point in their lives. Dieting is all in all setting your brain to think that you are eating with restriction and that could lead to disaster. Food deprivation will fail every time and it could eventually lead to binge eating. It has been researched that around 90%-95% of diets fail. Why?
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Imagine holding your breath for 60 seconds. Your body is deprived of oxygen, so naturally, your body gasps for air as soon as you start breathing again. They are not normal, deeps breaths, they are forced gulps to recalibrate. Everybody needs air to breathe, as it is vital for living. It is the same idea with food. If you go on a diet, it restricts you from necessary aspects that come with the food you are depriving yourself from. Over time, your body starts to notice effects of the “starvation state” as your metabolism drops, your energy is empty, you are “hangry” and irritable all the time, and are obsessed with food. Oh, and the cravings never stop! In a blink of an eye, you are binging on all your favourite sweets and treats. You are gulping down food as fast as you can, and you feel guilty at every bite. You are mad at yourself for not having enough "willpower", but it is not about that or about you "cheating" on your diet. It's about your body trying to find balance again. Once you find yourself binging on an unnecessary amount of food in a short amount of time, it could become a habit and it could lead to a Binge Eating Disorder. So, before you get yourself into this mess, do not diet or restrict foods. Don't get manipulated by what society thinks you should look like, just LOVE YOUR BODY. Jennifer Lawrence, star of The Hunger Games opened up about Hollywood's ideal body image saying, "But I think when it comes to the media, the media needs to take responsibility for the effect that it has on our younger generation...I don’t want little girls to be like, ‘Oh, I want to look like Katniss, so I’m going to skip dinner'”. Let's all just embrace all shapes and sizes and most importantly, love our bodies.