Saturday, November 13, 2010

Body Image Issues

I think every person at one time or another has had body image issues. I know I certainly do. While I know my body is changing for the better there are still parts that I loathe and may never make peace with but I digress.

The other day I was hanging out with my neighbor Lu who has a 10 year old daughter, Nicky.  Nicky has a 12 year old friend named Helen who's mother's name is Mimi. Both girls are a little on the heavy side but not out of control.  Lu has instilled a positive body image into Nicky but Mimi keeps telling Helen how "fat" she is and says "you need lose weight" in front of everyone while we are hanging out. 

After further discussions, I discovered that the negative comments stem from Mimi's husband. Mimi is of Korean decent and weighs about 120 lbs soaking wet. She is not EVEN slightly overweight but her husband says to her "You too fat!" and so she is passing on this negative mindset to Helen. It makes me mad sad to hear it and it brought back memories of my younger years. I tried to explain to Mimi that it may have a negative effect on Helen and that she may resort to bingeing/purging or retaliate by eating more and that it was not a good thing.  I even told her that I was going to get some information for her and translate it into Korean so she will understand. Now, I am not a parent and don't claim to be an expert but I have been overweight most of my life and I know all too well what comments like that can do to your body image.

Hoping to get out to the gym today! Otherwise it is a get organized kinda day. Until next time...

9 comments:

  1. Yes, it's never good to hear that kind of thing. I am a parent -- and when my 11-12-year-old was looking a little heavy, my doctor made sure to point out (without my even addressing the issue) that that's really typical of that age, that they shoot up and slim down.

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  2. I totally agree. The times I have been fat, my mom never told me I was fat, but I saw how she treated herself and was always on some diet or another and just that fact passed the poor body image on to me. Even when I was 140 pounds in high school and tiny, I thought I was fat. Boy I could kick the crap out of that girl now, and would give my let pinky for that body.

    Polar's Mom
    www.polarspage.blogspot.com

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  3. Katie, Can you speak/write Korean? Deb

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  4. It might be a cultural thing tbh, I'm Asian and my family was always on my back to lose weight when I was 130 lb, in China random strangers kept scolding me and giving me diet advice . Most Asians are pretty thin and very fat-phobic so that puts much more pressure on those who aren't naturally that way, because we're not allowed to be "like those white people".

    At 115 lbs and a size 4 my parents still call me 'fatty' 'piggy' etc and I'm the fattest of my (constantly-dieting) Asian friends. I don't think parents should be passing on such bad body image issues, but even you don't say anything kids will pick up these things from school, from friends, classmates, the media etc. I hate to think it, but it is almost impossible to achieve a healthy body image these days. :(

    Best of luck with your goals!

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  5. I agree with you. That is just terrible. That girl will have emotional problems all of her life!

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  6. That makes me so sad. I wish I could wave a magic wand and make self acceptance the "norm" not the exception!!

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  7. how sad. i have a girlfriend whose mother weighed her every single day. fast forward a generation and now she's equally controlling of what her children eat. every time mom is out of sight, her daughters binge to the point of desperation. i'm worried for them. it's about balance. kwim?

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  8. late to this but chiming in none the less.

    I can only HOPE HOPE HOPE theres some quirky cultural thing we are missing :(


    MizFit

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