The Beach – A place many women fear because of this stat
This morning I was able to run 3 miles. It was a beautiful cold fall morning. The golden leaves were falling onto the frosted grass. When I reached home I did an abs work out and listened to my radio show The Lindsey and Lambert show on 102.3 the Max. The DJ quoted a recent study that found only 8% of American Women are happy with their looks. Only 8%, that is so low!!! But if you are a woman you totally understand those studies don’t you? The number one complaint women had about their body was their stomach – I knew it!! I of course was working on my abs when I heard this study – so I was laughing out loud.
The woman DJ was explaining how ridiculous it is that we women are like that but we are. She said that she recently looked at some pictures from a vacation during college. She remembered not feeling good about her body image back then. But looking back now she realizes how skewed that thought process was. I can totally relate to her story. When I was in college I always thought I was too big…but I was actually underweight at the time. I am happy with where I am right now. However, if I miss too many days of exercising I suddenly feel like I am 20lbs over weight. The male DJ commented that guys don’t care they always think that women look good. They don’t have negative body images. They can easily make fun of their stomach bulge and not be concerned by it.
So how does it happen? Isn’t that the big question for moms of daughters?
Well, we know that women in our society are “supposed” to look perfect. The models are size 0 and 6 feet tall. The majority of actresses and singers are ridiculously tiny. Our media influences how we see a pretty woman. Then there is also the way we were raised. Were we, moms, raised by moms that were on Weight Watchers, The Grapefruit Diet or the Diet of the month? Were we raised by moms who berated themselves out loud in front of us? Were there comments made about our weight by other girls and children growing up?
I believe the best thing we can do for our daughters is to have a good body image. We should not obsessively diet but choose a healthy life style. We should eat healthy and exercise in a fun way with the entire family. Instead of the goal being weight loss it should be health. We should build our daughters up by noticing all their talents and good qualities. It truly helps for our daughters to have a caring and supportive father or male role model. No, we cannot change our media influence but we can try to set the best example possible so this problem will not continue in our daughters.
I want my daughter to be in the 8% that is happy with her looks. But truly I want 100% of women to be happy with their body image.
