|
| 
|
 |
 |
 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
142,679 registered members
|
 |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Many teens going on crash diets
[Posted: Wed 20/07/2005 - www.irishhealth.com]
By Deborah Condon
Most Irish teenage girls are not satisfied with their current weight or body shape and many are going on crash diets in an attempt to find love and happiness, new research from the University of Ulster has found.
The research involved a survey of 400 teenagers, aged 14 - 16. Around 80% of those questioned said that it was important to be slim to attract the attention of boys and achieve self-confidence.
One girl remarked that 'lads will always go for the skinny looking blonde first'.
Almost three in four - 72% - were not satisfied with their weight or body shape and wanted to be slimmer. While almost half - 46% - said that they thought they were overweight, even though visual observation indicated that this was not the case.
A further 49% said they had dieted to lose weight, while 38% were currently on a diet.
The survey, carried out by Elaine Mooney, a doctoral student at the university, found that pop stars like Britney Spears and Beyonce were the role models of many Irish teenagers.
Beyonce is a role model for many teens
Furthermore young girls know in 'minute detail' the eating and dieting regimes of these celebrities after reading about them in teenage magazines. These magazines often carry articles and pictures featuring the dieting practices of celebrities.
The study showed that teenagers now regard the Atkins diet as 'old hat' and no longer 'cool'. The GI diet meanwhile is now the slimming plan of choice.
"These results are a real concern. This is an important time in the life of adolescent girls and they are not only indulging in poor food choices and practices but more worryingly, are missing important and essential nutrients at this point in their lives", commented the study's supervisor, Dr Chris Strugnell, a senior lecturer at the university.
The findings were presented at a recent research conference organised by the Institute of Consumer Sciences.
|
Carmen Posted:
10/11/2006 20:30 |
| Hey, im not Irish im English but i would just like to get this of my chest. 4 years ago i was 11st 2 which i thought i was fat and i hated the way i looked and i thought that since i hadnt had a boyfriend for 3 years i thought id never get one as i was TOO fat and ugly for one. Then September 2003 i started a course at college, Performing Arts - dance. I started eating less as i wanted to be like the other girls in my class. So for half a year ALL i ate was a packet of crisps or a sandwich when i was at college then me and a friend used to walk into our town centre and we used to go in Mcdonalds and i used to get ONE cheese burger. When i went home my parents had prepared or was preparing for tea and i told them i didnt want anything as i had something to eat (which i did but not enough to fill me). I ate very little and i eventually lost 1 and a half stone. I was pleased with the result and i was more confident AND i got a boyfriend from it. But September 2005 was when it started going downhill. I started eating lots and lots of junk anytime of the day. Then one day I weighed myself and i was 12st which was the heaviest i had ever been in my life. After that i didnt see the reason for living as i thought that my boyfriend would think i was fat (as he is skinnier than me) and hed go off me and be with a skinnier girl plus i thought that when we do go out together people would be looking and judging us (they probably wasnt but it was how i was feeling). As a result i didnt EVER want to dance at college so i used to sit out of it ALL the time. I eventually told my dance teachers why i was sitting out all the time and they understood but told me that dancing was exercise so i should be involved more. I started getting involved but i just didnt want to do it as ALL of the girls in my class was like below size 10 and i was this lardy 14-16 (which i still am) so i felt crap ALL day long and i couldnt wait til i got home as i could eat something for comfort. But the dancing did NOTHING. it didnt shift even a pound of me so i thought whats the point. All the time (sometimes even now) i felt like killing myself and ending my life as i kept thinking that if my boyfriend is forever looking at the typical slutty girls (blonde, skinny, tanned and big boobs and im NONE of that im more of a hippo lol) he'll go with them as why should he be stuck with a fat girl when he could be having fun with another girl who is like 8st. I ALWAYS cry myself to sleep as i cant bare being like this. Ive tried things but i cant seem to shift the weight. Its making my life hell. I just want to go back to how i was 2 years ago. I want to be the confident happy Carmen from then. My idol is Coleen Mcloughlin and i woul dlove to be her size but i dont know what diet i should choose. xxx |
| To join the discussion, register by clicking here |
|
QUICK LINKS: asthma | arthritis | psoriasis | crohn's | heart | epilepsy | eczema | osteoporosis | pregnancy | depression | alzheimer | cancer | sex | anxiety | overweight |
 |
About Irishhealth.com | Privacy Policy | Contact us | Why Register? | Make this your home page | Site Map |  |
| Copyright © 2010. All rights reserved. We subscribe to the principles of the Health On the Net Foundation |
