Thinspiration tips
- Young girls trying desperately to be thin will often turn to the web
for a dose of what they like to call “thinspiration” the meaning being
inspiration to be thin.
Should this exchange of thinspiration and thinspiration tips be
considered harmless fun or a dangerous pastime that will lead to serious
eating disorders?
It is important to understand the emotional state of young girls. They
want to fit in with their peers. They want to be liked, and often being
liked comes along with being beautiful, especially at that age. And
being beautiful often comes along with being thin.
At that young age, teenage kids generally don’t have a sense of their
bodies physical needs. Most young teens are healthy and strong and do
not understand the damage they can do to their bodies if they begin to
play around with their daily food intake.
It is extremely important therefore for young girls to understand that
it is OK to want to be thin and beautiful, but certain guidelines
regarding food choices need to be observed.
Young girls have very little understanding of how they are affecting
their bodies with their behaviors. At that time the body still feels so
invincible to them, it is difficult for young people to comprehend the
care their bodies need to stay strong. Often once the anorexic loses
weight and feels the weakness, it comes as a shock to them, and
sometimes even assists in recovery.
Education regarding healthy food choices and healthy levels of
restriction may be more useful in combating eating disorders and the
obsession with thinspiration tips, than regarding all restrictive food
behaviors as unhealthy.
Young girls should be taught how making healthy food choices can help
them feel more beautiful about themselves. It should always be made
clear that usint thinspiration tips and abstaining from food is not
allowed and unnecessary.
Girls should know that anorexia often leads to bulimia as hunger signals
get skewed and when they do eat, they have no idea when to stop. Young
girls should be educated to understand the difference between a safe and
healthy diet that can help them feel their best and even lose weight
versus a disordered way of eating which eventually causes illness and
loss of control.
Now days more than ever teens need to be taught about healthy eating
choices. There are so many food choices available today that are truly
unhealthy and life damaging. The fact that young girls want to make a
change in their eating habits is not necessarily a bad thing. Problems
arise when there is frustration and lack of understanding of how they
can achieve their goals.
Adults should not discourage teens in their quest for beauty this can
only cause them to feel misunderstood. If this happens, adults can lose
the trust of the young teens and then will not be able to have any type
of productive effect until trust is restored.
It must always be remembered that young girls have a right to want to be beautiful, and this need must always be respected.
Trying to tell young people that they should not care about what they
eat, can be counterproductive at best and very destructive at worst.
Young people must always be respected for their needs, desires and
wants, sometimes adults need to show them better ways to achieve their
goals, but at no point should any desires or goals of teenagers, and
young adults be put down or disrespected.
Thinspiration tips
