Why is it that a body which appears "fit" to you is "fat" to someone else?  
The answer is that fatness and fitness are in the eye and not in the body.  There is a big difference in how black and white teenagers tend to look at their own bodies.  White female teens think, "tight is right."  Black female teens think, "I don't care.  My pumps and my bump are mine."  
A team of black and white researchers at the University of Arizona surveyed junior-high and high school girls.  While 90 percent of white girls were dissatisfied with their bodies, 70 percent of African-American girls were satisfied with theirs.  Even significantly overweight black teens were proud of their bodies.  64 percent of black teens thought that it is better to be a little overweight than underweight.  

Whites fear that age will wither their beauty, so they dread getting older.  Two thirds of the black teens say women get more beautiful as they age.  Many cited their mothers as examples.  White teens thought that their mothers might have been beautiful back in their youth.  Don't dread your body or the prospect of aging; these are two things from which you can never escape. 
Fortunately, some realize early on that by thinking negatively about themselves, they won't get anywhere.  Who is more likely to be happy, the one who constantly thinks how bad his or her body is or, the one who thinks, "I look great?"  Knowing that beauty is in the eye of the beholder, we can, at least theoretically, take pride in ourselves.  If the idea of taking pride in yourself is too much to swallow, just develop the attitude that "lumps and bumps are mine, I accept them."    

Become "size wise."  True beauty or, "looking good" is about more than size.  People who are  self assured and want to please you always look beautiful.  When they meet you, they break into a perfect  smile, their eyes sparkle, and their faces glow with joy, it's not because they got a lottery, it's because they are glad to see you.  Those are the ones who are truly beautiful.                      
file: "diet-eat"  3/16/98 index: eating disorder, fat, obesity
 
 

 


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