Fashion and Poor Health II
The fashion industry’s long-time presentation of a certain look, tiny waistline, and objectification has resulted in women participating in restrained eating, leading to eating disorders and body image dissatisfaction. In addition, social media as an outlet to fashion expression forms a culture of heavily edited images, resulting in social comparison, and decreased self-esteem. The unhealthy dieting ways to achieve such goals put women at risk for increased chances of having dementia, cognitive decline, and Alzheimer’s later in life. As women, what we eat is extremely important for our brain health.
For a while when I worked in the fashion industry, my friend and I were guilty of unhealthy dieting to achieve body satisfaction. We would starve ourselves, obsess over a certain number on the scale, and utilize other appetite suppressants so that we wouldn’t have to eat all day. Fortunately, we have totally changed our eating habits, and here’s why. Women need the right vitamins and minerals from a well-balanced diet to have both good hormonal and brain health. Reproductive hormones communicate with the brain on a daily basis. Depriving your body of nutrients in order to look unnaturally thin can affect your brain’s communication with your hormones by creating symptoms like acne, bloating, headaches, too light or too heavy cycles, hair loss, and more. As we age, women are at an increased risk for Alzheimer’s, dementia, and cognitive decline, and starving your body of the proper nutrients for too many years can actually lead to increased chances of these occurrences. And if you think that you can just worry about it in the future, think again, because these health issues begin decades before symptoms occur. Knowing all of this really motivated me to change my lifestyle, and now that I do I feel good both mentally and physically. If you would like, I can share with you what I do to maintain good brain and hormonal health.
Something else that I found interesting was that excessive dieting to look like these images and models only results in being unnaturally thin for so long. Do you notice that this dieting pattern you may have tried results in extreme dieting for a year or two, maybe, and then gaining a ton of weight, and then starting the cycle over again? This is because when you are in starvation mode, as soon as you eat slightly more food than your body is used to, your body will begin storing fat, since it does not know when it will receive another meal. This fat storage will stay with you until your body feels that it is consistently getting the right amount of food to regulate your body weight and composition. My point is that it is much better to eat foods rich in vitamins and nutrients that we need, consistently, to both look good, feel good, and optimize our health! While it may take a few months to get into this healthy pattern, you will see amazing results in the near future. It is actually a lot more fun to do things this way. I can’t believe that I had been missing out on a balanced diet for so long! I noticed that when I was starving myself, my hormones were off balance, my mental abilities were impaired, and I looked physically worse than I have before. Adding in exercise three days each week and eating a healthy, balanced diet will give you both the mental and physical the results that you want to see, while keeping your brain strong and decreasing the chances of future health problems. Once you feel mentally and physically healthy, the fashion you incorporate in your daily life will allow you to express yourself in a positive way.
References:
The XX Brain https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07VQ4DPX5/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
Beyond the Pill https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07BDFLWDF/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1
Clothes Make a Difference: The Role of Self-Objectification https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11199-011-0085-3
The Psychology of Fashion https://www.amazon.com/Psychology-Fashion-Everything/dp/1138658677