Body image is an issue that would last a lifetime. For most people, an insecurity can develop during their childhood or even in the beginning of their adolescent years. I am neither an expert nor a nutritionist, but I do live with a chronic disability: cerebral palsy. The issue with my body image began in middle school, and I would run away from my problems by having midnight snacks when everyone was sleeping. Today, I no longer deal with my horrific habit, but I am slowly being careful of what I eat and becoming aware of the way my body reacts.
I’ve recently dealt with an issue of constipation (difficulty in emptying bowels), and I deal with that on a weekly basis. With cerebral palsy, my body is different from everyone else’s, and this includes those who has disabilities. Even with these differences, there is a great awareness for everyone’s body image. The issue with our society today is the fact that we are often judged for how we need to look: being sexy/skinny/muscular. Instead of tending to what our body needs and how our health should be, we are tending to what society is favorable of, even if it makes us feel sick.
Body image is also an issue for those who are either dealing with an eating disorder or they have dealt with an eating disorder in the past. Eating disorders holds a large message with body image; eating disorders such as bulimia, anorexia, and binge eating, consists of a range of psychological disorders characterized by abnormal or disturbed eating habits. I may have had dealt with an eating disorder in the past, and I never realized that fact until now because eating disorders have certain dangers with how a person deals with the way they eat. In thinking of eating disorders and the negative effect that they can have, one person comes to mind as she has struggled with eating disorders in the past and there is now an obsessive habit of orthorexia and exercising multiple times a day. That one person is Demi Lovato.
From a young age, Demi Lovato has had dealt with eating disorders, self-harm, and addictions. Now she is my age, sober for over three years, and she is advocating for mental health to bring up more attention to the issue. When a strong love for Demi is present, there is also strong concern at the same time with orthorexia (the obsession of eating healthy foods) and the extreme obsession with exercising multiple times a day. Through Twitter, Snapchat, and Instagram, Demi has shown herself quite often of the exercises she does, writes how many workouts she has a day, and even admits having healthy foods quite often/resisting foods because she is on a diet. Even with these extreme obsessions, Demi is still being body shamed for the way she is looking and takes the negative thoughts into working out harder/eating only healthy foods.
While I am not in the same situation as Demi is in, what Demi is doing is really dangerous for her physical and mental health. Demi is at an age when she should be focusing more on herself and less of how society and the media are dangerously affecting her. The larger issue still remains on the fact that we live in a society today when we are often judged by what we do, how we do things, and how we appear. Body image takes a long time to be confident about because there is still the insecurity that stays with us, no matter what is going on or how we are feeling. When Demi is slowly learning to be confident of the way her body looks, there is still a part of her where she is insecure and that can bring her down.
Everybody’s body is the way it is, and there is still a lot of progress to make to be more accepting of the way our bodies look. We may not be proud of the way our bodies are, but it is up to us to change what we are not so proud of. Body image is also not something we can wish to change in one night, but it definitely takes a long time and a lot of acceptance to realize that.
The largest issue with body image is the fact that it doesn't just stem from physical or psychological reasons. We need to recognize that how we want our body to be should be up to us, not what other people may think or have a belief in. Even when there is a strong dependency for someone else to tell us how we look, we also have to learn that sometimes our body image is something we may or may not have acknowledged of the issues.
When someone believes that they are beautiful and confident, they will recognize positive aspects of the world. On the other hand, when someone believes that they are ugly or they have an hatred for everything they do and they have negative criticism for the way they appear, they will recognize the negative aspects of the world. We all need to recognize that despite how everyone feels, it can accurately represent the way everyone is.
