Body Image & eating disorders

we are going to discuss how attaining a healthy body weight has to be balanced with a message about developing a healthy body image, setting realistic goals, and maintaining emotional well-being.

I am also going to briefly go over our society's obsession with thinness and dieting and eating disorders. 

shit is going to get real homie.

first of all, lets just give the media a big FUCK YOU for brain washing us all int believing what is beautiful, what looks good and what doesnt,what may or may not be the latest trends, what is "best" for us, and what goes.

I may get a little off topic for a moment, but that is only because I do not understand who the fuck decided that dolce and gabbana was going to say that a brown bag on my leg is going to be the next big thing ( this didnt really happen, but lets go with it for the point ). WHO THE FUCK made him the man, the one to call the shots? What if my out of wack fashion sense is just as fucking good as his own, I just have to rock the confidence and be able to make a few shirts, know my fabrics and shit, im a fashion designer. The advertising industry and the media are relentless in selling the American consumer an image of the ideal body, and many of us buy into WHATEVER THE FUCK THEY ARE SELLING!!!!! FUCK YOU MESSAGE OF THE MEDIA for being so fucking powerful.

oh, us poor souls who don't have the back bone to fucking not give two cares.

but, for all you out there who enjoy being told what to do and what to wear and how to look, it may or may not be effecting you emotionally, mentally, and physically, so stop! 

alright, so, just like all ideas, values, attitudes and beliefs, body image is the mental representation that a person has of his or her own body, including perceptions, attitudes, thoughts, and emotions----- all which are strongly influenced by culture.

lets take females.

The female body is portrayed by the media as an object of desire, and this beautiful objectification reinforces women's focus on their appearance.

the lovely media ( said with heavy sarcasm ) place a heavy emphasis on women's physical attributes rather than on their abilities, performance, or accomplishments.

since the 1950s,what is held to be the ideal female body in US culture has been getting thinner and thinner. Can we really keep up?

Yes, I get that now we have research on healthy body weight and obese, but, marilyn monroe was curvy, healthy, and beautiful. 

 * studies have shown that after women view media images of thin women, they are less satisfied with their own bodies than they are after viewing images of AVERAGE sized women.

this really scared me. 

eating disorders are most likely to develop during adolescence. 

this is because the hormonal change that happens in the females body causes increase in body fat, especially on the hips, buttocks, and thighs. 

if you or anyone you know has an eating disorder, or you believe they may, here are a few symptoms and characteristics of one.. 

Certain characteristics or thought patterns associated with eating disorders, including:

• Low self-esteem
• Self-critical attitude
• Belief in the importance of thinness
• Black-and-white thinking
• Feelings of emptiness
• Need for power and control
• Difficulty expressing feelings
• Lack of coping skills
• Lack of trust in self or others
• Perfectionism 

Anorexia is due to starvation, anorexia carries the highest death rate of all psychiatric diagnoses.  to the left is a picture of how it effects each part of your body.

Bulimia is another eating disorder that can also be deadly.

 < not all of these will be present in all people with the disease

VALUE yourself based on your GOALS,TALENTS, & STRENGTHS

rather than your body shape or weight.

How to treat a eating disorder :

• First step: Recognize problem

• Effective treatment 
• Therapeutic therapies ( I will make a separate blog for this! ) 

• multidisciplinary 
• multimodality team

• Possible hospitalization
• Once weight has been stabilized, the next phase is behavioral modifications through:

• Psychotherapy
• Behavior relearning and modification
• Nutritional rehabilitation and education 
• Medication

This next disorder is for my fellas as well as my ladies, but it is found more with the male than females!

Body Dysmorphic Disorder :

• Preoccupation with an imagined concern about a slight defect or exaggerated defect in appearance
  
• Preoccupation causes significant distress or impairment in social, occupational, or other important areas of functioning
  
• Other concerns related to this disorder are:

• Muscle Dysmorphia (obsession with muscle building) .. i may make a small blog for this disorder!

**TIP**

-try going a week without making any critical comments about your body- or anybody else!

sleep!

Since I am a college student, this blog about sleep was a must have topic for me!

We as humans spend 1/3 of our lives sleeping!

Now, according to a study,
individuals with severe sleep deprivation ( staying awake 19-24 hrs ) scored worse on performance and alertness tests than people who are legally too drunk to drive (0.1 % )

Symptoms of Sleep Deprivation:

• day time drowsiness
• sleepy while reading
• sleepy while watching tv
• if you fall asleep the instant your head hits the pillow ( a well rested person only takes 15/20 minutes to fall asleep)

NREM sleep ( non rapid eye movement ) 75% of sleep time

• stage 1- relaxed/ half awake (10 sec-10 mins)
• stage 2- brain activity slows, you stop moving (10-20 mins) beginning of your actual sleep

^ - people awaken during these two stages say that they weren't really sleeping

• stage 3/4- blood pressure drops, heart rate and respiration slow, blood to brain shorten (20-40 mins)

^- people awaken in stage 4 feel groggy,  your in a "deep sleep"

REM sleep ( rapid eye movement ) 70-90 minutes after falling asleep

• breathing and heart rate go up
• brain activity is similar if you were awake
• experience first dream ( although you can in all stages )
• no muscle tone
• body can't move
• ideas are filed in long term storage

- if you sleep for 8 hours, your body cycles 5 times in the sleep cycle of NREM & REM

** IMPORTANT**

- memory may be impaired if sleep time is insufficient, as a result to memory impairment, the ability to learn new skills is also impaired. performance in learning a new skill does not improve until an individual has had 6 hours of sleep; performance improves even more after 8 hours of sleep!

  

things to remember when trying to get a good nights rest!

1. ideal sleep temperature is 62-65, temps above 75 and below 54 cause people to awaken
2. caffeine doubles sleep time
3. take no longer than 45 minutes of naps, you'll enter stage 4 of deep sleep and it will be more difficult to wake you up and you will feel more groggy
4. 7-9 hours of sleep a night is ideal for optimal health and growth 

Email me if you have any questions and need help on falling asleep and how to get a propers nights rest!

hope you were somewhat informed!!

Protein... because the natural way is gooood

Here is a giant shout out to all those protein shake companies who have the buyers fooled into thinking that their products are health beneficial to our bodies!! Please, do not get my words mixed up.
Protein shakes WILL give you bulk-age.
but
Protein shakes WILL shorten your life.

Yes, you read it correctly, SHORTEN YOUR LIFE.

Now now now.Protein shakes are made for your body to put on the added weight, and they do put on the added weight you want to obtain, but, they are also adding toxic to your intestine.
Anything that says " amino acids added" is BAD for you.
Your body NATURALLY will take the amino acids from food and NATURALLY break it down.
If you consume any products that take away that natural function of the body, your body can't break it down.
But its already broken down jenna, why does it mess up your intestines?
well, my little minions ,   because your body can't naturally go through its natural process to take and break down the amino acids from the food, everything just sits and stays in your intestines.
which, in the long run, is staying right where it started.
So yes, you are adding weight to your body, but the weight you are adding is actually harming your body rather than helping it.
Just because your results are helping you on the outside and you are looking fit and fab, DOES NOT mean that your insides are fit and fab as well.

THINK ABOUT THAT !
....and if you don't care about your over all body outside AND in than, DONT READ MY BLOG, because i believe and know that good health is all about mental, physical, and emotional, all inside and out body functions!
... now back to my topic!

stay smart, save your money on the supplements and eat the real thing!
buy natural chicken, meat and fish and double up on your intake to increase lean muscle mass, or muscle mass in general. ( aa-duhhhh!)
This will not only save you money on supplements,but down the road when they realize you need a liver transplant from not being able to break down any food and cause of build up, you wont have to pay thousands of dollars to get the surgery, instead, you'll hear via facebook how that one idiot friend DID NOT LISTEN, they just wanted the fast approach, well guess whose laughing at your now stupid rabbit, all of the turtles who took the time, had patience to get their results, and thought about the smart, healthier way to add on muscle mass! :) ;)

**Keep in mind about protein**

1. if you eat meat, you wont have to worry about getting all your amino acids or b-12 vitamins!
2.protein helps with our pH balance (acid balance)
3.if you eat meat, you absorb 90% of the proper protein and nutrients your body needs to survive.
  if you take supplements and chemicals, your body only absorbs 20%
4.excess protein, harmful on kidney stones
5. acts as a buffer, regulates body functions
6. very important for immune system
7. building blocks for hormones

If you want to figure out how much protein you should be getting, here is a basic equation to figure out your daily amount!

 body weight/ 2.2 x .8 ( this is for the average person who doesn't work out )

if you do work out, and be true to how intense you work out, here is the rank of low intensity to high
1.2-1.8

so, say you work out a lot at your highest efforts, and your weight was 190 lbs. your equation would look like this :
190 / 2.2 = 86.36
86.36 x 1.8 = 155.5 grams of protein daily!!!

You should be having protein with every meal and or snack!

Proteins help control glucose in the body, storing glucose in the body after working out.
so,you should always team up carbs with protein.

- apple and cheese/ apple and peanut butter
- steak and brown rice

Tips for the herbivore eaters out there : 

plant sources dont contain all the amino acids for the body ( incomplete proteins )
take two or more and come up with the amino acids to form one , eat beans and rice ( complementary proteins ) 

GOT THE POWER! keep up the motivation

Hey everyone! So I know I haven't kept up with my writing but A LOT has happened. From school, to work ( current weight watchers employee!) to loosing my power for two and a half weeks :/ to currently studying my ass off for my anatomy class, it's been a nightmare!!!
I haven't gotten a good workout in for about two and a half weeks now!
But, I was doing some ab work and lite leg work by candle light!! Lol

But, i will be posting a food log, I had to keep track of my emotions with what I ate daily and what I ate at each meal and all that good stuff for one of my nutrition classes in school !!!

Today's Moto : don't be lazy. You'll become hazy. Instead, WORKOUT LIKE CRAZY!!!! :)

Im about to go work out.. but remember, Rome wasn't built in a day .. Neither will you're hot body if you do it THE HEALTHY, RIGHT way :)

If you do it healthy and go on a well balanced diet and exercise program, you will KEEP that fat and flab away because you WORKED hard for it :)

Ciao!