What does by the image is star some insecurities that ends up
being something totally different its forms where you why it forms a kind
of person to you they are supposed to be or whatever so just instead
of being secured to love yourself always love yourself don't care about
what other people say and you'll for up being a beautiful person.
We have a lot of young people, especially females who have issues
with the the eating problems such as moving and the Red Sea.
We need to.
I love in our care for itself and I kept in a cell and
I realize that we are beautiful a creation on.
Good body image is just comfortable with who you are.
Welcome to reality Avenue my name is Amy wood.
My name is Patrick Thomas reality Avenue is a program
designed to provide a platform for the younger generation to express their
feelings and to also be hard.
We went to you and we asked you what you want to hear about and the one thing
that you told us that you wanted to show that was real and the one topic
you want to hear about was buying image.
And body image is a serious issue we have to deal with this on a day-to-day
basis as the reason why will be providing the skills will be also
addressing the emotional aspect and the physical aspect with as well.
So let's get ready to get real today on Route.
Let's get started by talking to some young adults that
have agreed to be on a reality group and half questions asked
of them from people on the street to find out how body image really
affects their day-to-day lives.
Where new body image problems come from that they with body image
of her as a think like especially teens like we feel pressured to feed
like a look a like a lookalike body
should look a certain way that I feel that a lot of teens feel pressured to
look a certain way just to just to please their peers and he added
that that in the end the kind that could lead to a problem like if
they said doing something like that in this evening disorder where you know.
Mike right.
Williams else there of a lot of people get obsessed with how they should look
in.
That's what they strive for they get that from the media, you mean
Paris Hilton, you know a key you know
Lindsay lohan is are they like. Nigeria is now they're
a perfect role models you know they obviously don't achieve you know their
weight program lay that a lot of the problem is the Stars
don't say I have a problem they continue to say I don't have
I'm I'm fine I was healthy.
And then that makes the person teenager who might look
up to them not accepted themselves. Yeah, right or not he would not accept
or not believe it not even not accepted that if that that's what healthy is
like the starting I'm healthy that's unhealthy is and that's a lot of kids
are like well, they're hoping it is and what's wrong with me exactly makes it
tough at what causes. You know rivalry, you know,
and competition even in high school and yet that's not just the media, it's in
school or you know even if you don't even own a TV at home and pictures
magazines, yes, celebrity right and personally changes over time
like it like you know, but airline Osage you know she wasn't
a fan. Yes. She had she had some of the
guys and shake her, yeah, it changes over time now it's so
the opposite and everybody wants to be 10 now but
Shakespeare's time being exceptionally pale was what
was and I I think good differently that I feel that you
know if the insecurities you know that cause people to judge other people in
the first place you know, and they're playing off everyone's insecurity,
you know to try and be the perfect body. The perfect idea of a person.
All right now when I was about 11 or 12. I'm my parents,
you know had some issues with their marriage. Arms like.
The US today. And I was
I was the you know leading to a depression. Now be bad impression.
And you know at the same time. I
had been home top. I've been home time
6, 7, And that half of 5th grade. Okay,
and I had no friends, no social life. And my parents were
fighting, I would be alone. So the only comfort I would have
would be food. You know and watching TV you know a lot of
isolation. I guess I chose to be like that you know
as an escape from you know facing reality,
you know, and I was 11 years
old and weighed a £150 and baton
10 Marines, I lost £60.
What I buy work pretty hard
to the gym when my father a lot and he released a lot of stress and not
anxiety.
What made you. What made you turn it to
switch mode and say I'm just going to do it.
I hit rock bottom. Yeah, I'm
just because of the Depression, you know, and how I didn't like what
I saw on the mare I didn't like the person I was becoming emotionally,
you know psychologically out this mess to you know as a gradual
a gradual ice I turned over a new leaf.
Become the person I want to be but I refused to do it. You know
in the wrong way because I did everything the wrong way to get there
why not do it the right way to get it.
Like a like a family
being crushed. I think you know teenagers turned to different
yeah options to share well I need that
an and everything else they need to feel good everything else that makes them
feel good. There's good and bad things that they can
replace the void that they're missing I
like reading is a good thing
that can exercising you know he got in the tent is and that 10 is healthy.
I mean even okay what about a dance class people against yeah,
go ahead and do that to fill the void that you not getting at home, you know
it is all a visit the kids they don't know
any other way other than just your driver is.
As you know all I had a fight with my family's on the go to drugs by
you know in so I just.
There, you know, there's peer pressure again, you know, and you have all
these kids that have the same thing about each other, you know they they
feel about themselves and they're just projecting all of that and is one group
and that group just goes around you know trying to just deal. You
know with reality when they're just making their lives were so long.
And I think that goes back to self esteem to like they get into
of all the bad things like overeating to fill the void and it just
brings or something down and down and out when if they join a club like it is
a one to 10 a survey did drama they did something out and put themselves out
there that would stop them from eating and it would also boost your self-esteem
when you're when you're in a club that helped to go than to be motivated to
join something we add that that and that's where I think
parents come in.
I mean they see it you know if you see your child you know going downhill.
You know want to sit down and talk to them. Well, I that I that I
that I can say that parents are the reason United we know there's that they
could catch 20 to kind of thinking of it the day give parents are the reason why
you're doing the negative things or because they can help it, you know
they're the pressure on you yet exactly.
You just have to step back look at yourself and say is
this why would why want to be 10 years from now exactly you know you have to
take an out of body experience and look at back at yourself in the mirror and
it's not even about way that's a that's just a factor and it's about
style style and who you
are personality and that's all you're
everything physical about you whether it's good that you have to take a step
back to look at yourself. They say this is this who I really am is where I was
born to be it also what Kadlec by the
people that are making you feel this way if it's an outside source really
worth putting your own. South in in
jeopardy. Just for them.
The group had some great points are really like what they had to say
if the best brightest and most beautiful of us have
body image issues we're all going to have body image issues at something.
We had a chance to speak to Christie she provided her own personal
experience should disclose information about the self esteem issues
and want to find out exactly how she dealt with it so let's go to our right.
1314 years on I had some issues
with body image myself and I was I'm not
going to lie, I look exactly the same time built exactly the same way
right now as I was and I was 14.
And you know at 14 years old being built at the way that
I was I got a lot of attention from like really really or their
guys not know I had no attention from the guys manage not whatsoever,
but I got a lot of attention from older guys
which at the time to me I found out
on top of the world's ahead like these
1920 25 year-old guys
with CNN in a lockdown Siri
guy friends were like.
You know what I can do about this like it was terribly wrong. But I was like is
great.
I can just remember comparing myself to people like comparing myself
to my sister comparing myself to my girlfriends, you know, and
knowing that I wasn't what
I was, but I didn't think I was it looked like what I'm supposed to look
like.
I don't I know not to compare myself, anybody that I have my own
positives that no one else has right.
But that said I didn't I didn't know that and I didn't.
I had a lot of problems of it, you know, like I got borderline suicidal
for lovers and stupid stuff looking back on it it seems to have at times
very very real and very very intense, you know
to think that like you know I was
I wasn't in a size 0 the size 12
at 12. You know now I I'm not gonna lie
like now, I put it put it, I put a
definite image out there that I think I'm pretty I'm not gonna last
but I think in all actuality you know in reality we look
at ourselves mirror and we see everything that's wrong with us, you
know we see like this little thing you know we don't like right, maybe
you know, we're kind of program to think that that's being conceded
anything about ourselves, you know
like I like my collarbone
I don't think that having a liking your collarbone makes you can see that you
know to look in the mirror and say like wow,
you know that's conceded that this like I have a cute nose second
seated.
That we're
misinformed
being conceded is appreciating so you don't have to think that you're all
that a bag of chips. It.
Acknowledge your flaws in decline
is that I still like with I had a really whose am
I deliver them are, but every morning to be sitting there having a coffee
outside and to say Christine tell me
something that you love about yourself.
I have to say a physical thing that I love about myself
and then shoot and then something about my personality that I loved about
myself.
Every day we did see every day of his and different so it's really good,
you know, it's really good to bring attention to call your own attention
to things like myself, you know.
Well honestly I think that a good place to start is just that just
you know to force yourself, you know you get up in the morning
and are you getting dressed for school or work or whatever.
In the midst of you know looking at everything don't like you know, and
all these things these flaws value.
Name at one thing that you like about yourself and then they
one thing about your personality. The think is great, you know, and I
think that just doing that just thinking of one thing every day that you can hold
on to say I know I have a cute nose thing it, you know
this that you know, or I know that
I've been singing voice even if it's just in the shower.
It even just those small trivial things every day is enough
I think to
that are your own self-image.
On it to let it go.
And the truth is.
And some of the musicians and I was talking about how.
I don't I was having a moment as having self-esteem moment and I was saying
that I am not
conventional beauty and not a not a Lindsay lohan are not a
Hillary death. I don't not you know, I don't have a Paris Hilton body right.
Can you say look at me said could see don't chase last year's trend.
You know, and he was implying that
and he was implying that that bobblehead
you know that really skinny the orange orange on a toothpick look
is not is going to be beautiful. It hasn't always been good fun, it is and
you know, and he was telling me to who's telling me was that only
to appreciate on my own by for how does
and not for.
Cosmopolitan says it should be.
It meant a lot to me even though like he's just a professor in he was
maybe useful and so I don't know
so I think that's cool think don't chase last year's trend.
While Amy Christie was awesome she provided some excellent insight
and own dock and put it any better than that she also provided a sense of hope
to many people out there that are dealing with that issue.
Absolutely there's lots of co let's talk to someone who's an
expert in the field who can give us some real
and skills in terms of how to deal with body image issues whether it's for
souths for someone we love her name is Susan Klieman and she
works at the Renfrew center let's go to her now.
Body image is the picture we have in our mind's eye of
how we see ourselves how we think others
CS and what it feels like to live in our
body weight and body image problems come from.
The notion of how our body should look comes both from inside
of us and outside of us he comes from inside of us in terms
of our whole relationship with life from the time we're born
and even before in terms of our parents expectations of a
US and our relationship with our parents
or caregivers as well as
our relationship with kids in school,
teachers friends family growing up and
and the media and culture so every aspect of our life both
inner and outer has something to do with the image we form of ourselves.
What is the result of on realistic body images.
The result of an right and unrealistic body image and let me
refer to distortion the result of a body
image distortions can take on a fixed
and extreme. We all may have some
dissatisfaction with our body that's normal and no one is perfect.
But when we have to store shuns that get in the way of us
living life to the fullest that's when
we have a problem and that's and some of those problems could
be an eating disorder and could be the
tendency toward a depression, not
feeling accepted it could take on many forms.
Some people take their body image
distortions and focus on Dan
rather than on issues for example that underlie an eating
disorder, we know that eating disorders are really not
about how about the person's body
or about sued about your size or shape or how you look they're
really about feelings and they should have been called emotional disorders
so sometimes people have a tendency to
restrict their feelings to feel like it and and then that becomes a
anorexia when a person restricts their
food and that I feel is diminished and
everything they do is in the vein of trying to control and hold
an pullin their feelings, not let
feelings out and then they do it with food, the next
up food and feelings and restrict food and it's a very
very serious disorder as all of you eating disorders are another
eating disorders Billy Nia where a person has difficulty
containing their feelings so they may take in feelings
and later food, but let me explain his
feelings right now, and they may kind of stockpile them till they can't
contain it anymore and then those feelings may come out as
a. They may purchase those feelings
first with a words maybe with a temper.
We say where did that come from, and it's coming from holding in the feelings
and then they may have to let go of them. In a violent
way which is the purging or vomiting as we all know
it. Some people also are exercise
Billy makes and they use exercise or over exercise to try
to get a feeling of wellbeing all of this is done in place
of express experiencing and expressing feelings.
The 3rd form of an eating disorder is called emotional,
eating or binge eating or compulsive
over eating and that takes on a lot of forms and that's just a whole
lot of people and when that gets out of
hand, then the person finds that the whole world is consumed
by trying to take in feelings or food
and see it in a feeling satisfied, not
feeling like they're out there hunger is
ever Matt so eating disorders are really
about hunger. But it's not necessarily
for food as people make it it's about a hunger in of the
deeper nature having to do with life
with once acceptance or lack of acceptance of self.
There's always hope to overcoming issues that have to do with your body image
and I think accepting yourself is at the root of everything and believing in
yourself so we developed a healthier body image when in
our lives we learned to be realistic about what we can and
can't achieve when we take risks that
that are within our ability within our range of ability
when we guide people to trust themselves to risk being who they
are and believing in themselves. What can we do to remain healthy
building a new strain says a very important part of obtaining
a positive body image I would encourage
students to even consider listing
3 aspects of themselves that they like.
It doesn't have to be physical
necessarily it can also be emotional but
it should have to do with your abilities and remind and the
that's a list that you could build on man and building on your
strengths is very important to helping
new to feel good about yourself and
feel good in life and and progress in life.
3 things that I love about myself are smart.
It's have intent and I
I love myself and I know that I don't care what anybody else thinks.
I love where I'm going life you always have to love who you are and
where you're going to go just be the best you can be.
I love my body, I take care of it every day so it's
just something a part of me and I keep healthy and my legs, so that's good.
I would say I love that I'm a pretty happy person very optimist
a look at life every day and read that a call would have it sounds
as they come in overcome them, that's one of the things I love about my so
also love my wife and my son, I love my
family very very much.
And I love that that just keeps me grounded, he's me home
will and just TV taken every town, it's what a positive attitude.
My person, I me and
if we all felt that way
matter is we don't we've lost good days and bad days
are motion to be happy will be sad.
But it's all normal and natural and the sooner we accept ourselves.
The underlying issue with body image is the lack of love and accept herself
people all in to go to drastic measures to achieve that. I've you look
we need to first learn to love also before we can expect a lot.
The group had a chance to give one final message to the audience
at home. I think Luigi says it best.
All I got to say to the kids is only about what this thing about 2 at
the end of the day 50's of how you on how you look at all that the man.
For further information or if you would care to attend a workshop about this
topic or any other shows please contact the Office of prevention
programs at 754-321-2568
or go to our website at Broward prevention dot or.