Body Shaming: When Will it End?

We live in a world where thin and tan, rich and thin, and young and thin are the ideal beauty standards. There is much gossip when it comes to celebrity weight gain, talking about someone’s look on Facebook, or even looking at all of your own flaws in the mirror. We may wish for bigger lips and a bigger butt. Those are the only areas most women wish to not be skinny. Fat shaming, unfortunately, has become such a huge thing, whether it is towards other people or ourselves. Fat shaming isn’t just hurting women mentally, but also physically. Women who tend to think negatively about their body image are more apt to have poor overall physical health. Jean Lamont, ph.D has took it upon herself to look further into the mind-body connection. She has a theory that women who are ashamed of their bodies tend to feel ashamed of their natural body functions, such as eating, sweating, and menstruating. Lamont is trying to basically say that if a woman doesn’t like their body, they won’t try to take care of it. Most people even skip going to the gym because they feel they don’t belong there. Have you ever binged on junk food and not liked what you are seeing in the mirror?   Have you ever thought about which comes first – Do women get sick and that is what causes their low self-esteem or do they feel bad about their body and then get sick? Lamont took this question and conducted a survey with 300+ young women for two studies. She then found that women who reported the most amount of body shame had infections that also involved headaches, diarrhea, and illness. This pattern happened as women were teenagers and it didn’t matter their weight. It was the body shame that caused poor overall physical health. Body shame doesn’t do anything but destroy your self-worth, and to be honest it’s not going to help at all with weight loss. There was a British study that was done last year. It showed that although people tend to think humiliating themselves or other people will spur their weight loss, it was actually quite opposite. People who were picked on due to their weight actually gained 3-4 more pounds than those who never got picked on for weight issues. It’s about time that we put a stop to body hate. It’s not going to get you anywhere. If you truly want to lose weight, you first need to focus on loving your body. Love that you are alive, love that you have a chance to become healthy. Stop hating yourself for what you look like at this moment. Each person has beauty in their own way. We all have something that someone else wishes to have. Embrace your good qualities and stop focusing on what you think is “bad”. Do you agree that body shaming is becoming a serious issue? Source: Shape