Media Influence

What we see in the media can have a huge influence on our body image. The media's portrayal of beauty is very specific and inflexible. For example, women who are shown to be examples of beauty are slender and feminine, while men are usually shown as muscular and powerful. When people who do not fit these standards they see in the images in the media, it can make them feel insecure about their bodies.

Self Esteem

Self-esteem is how you feel about yourself and your confidence in yourself. It is possible to have either good (high) self-esteem or bad (low) self-esteem. People with higher self esteem usually are happier, do better in school, have a better body image and make healthier choices than people with low self-esteem.

Body Image

Body image is the way you feel about your body. People who have a good body image feel good about their body and the way it looks. Often, people with a good body image also have a high self-esteem. People with a poor body image do not like the way their body looks and see what they think is wrong with their body instead of what they like about it. Poor body image can lead to low self-esteem and even an eating disorder.

Eating Disorders

Eating disorders occur when someone has extreme behaviors, emotions and attitudes around issues of weight and food. Eating disorders can be caused by many factors, including low self-esteem/poor body image, family issues, stress and experiencing a crisis. The most common eating disorders are Anorexia Nervosa, Bulimia Nervosa and Binge Eating Disorder, although other forms of disordered eating do exist.

For more information about eating disorders:

http://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/

Anorexia Nervosa

Anorexia Nervosa is an eating disorder characterized by self-starvation and extreme weight loss. Signs and symptoms of Anorexia include fear of being fat or gaining weight even when underweight, preoccupation with food, calories, fat grams, or dieting, excuses to avoid meals and eating, excessive exercise and dramatic weight loss. Anorexia can occur in both women and men, but is more common in women. Health problems that can occur as a result of anorexia include heart damage, hair loss, muscle/bone loss, severe dehydration, fainting, and growth of a thin layer of hair over the entire body (called lanugo). Anorexia has the highest fatality rate of any psychological illness.

Bulimia Nervosa

Bulimia Nervosa is an eating disorder characterized by large intake of food followed by "purging." Often, episodes of binging (eating a lot of food in a short amount of time) are accompanied by a feeling of loss of control over what one eats. Purging refers to methods of compensation for the amount of food eaten. Purging can include vomiting, laxative abuse, temporary self-starvation and excessive exercise. Bulimia can cause health problems such as irregular heartbeats, tooth decay and irregular bowel movements. People who are bulimic are not always underweight, and are more often at or just above average weight. Bulimia occurs in both women and men but is more common in women.

Binge Eating Disorder

Binge Eating Disorder (BED) is an eating disorder characterized by eating large amounts of food in short periods of time (called "binging"). People who have BED feel out of control when eating, and often feel ashamed about how much they eat, and eat in secret. Binge Eating Disorder often leads to obesity, high blood pressure and high cholesterol, heart disease, and adult-onset diabetes. BED is frequently associated with depression. BED occurs in both women and men, and is only slightly more common in women.