Food, Glorious Food....?

When talking to girlfriends about weight, food, diets, figures etc. its clear that most (but not all) are very conscious with what they eat and how they look. It seems that out of somewhere a pressure to look a 'certain way' has developed, leaving many girls aspiring to figures which are neither healthy nor achievable.

Food affects everyone in different ways. Some people don't even give food a second thought, knowing really it is there because you need it to be healthy, but there are others who see food as an enemy or even as an addiction they need to satisfy. Where has this negative and demoralising relationship with food come from?

Britain is on the brink of an obesity epidemic, with almost a third of the public being over-weight. But on the other hand they are over 1.1million people suffering with an eating disorder (Figures from EDA website. This number only represents the number of people who have been diagnosed- many more are suffering without help). How can there be these two extremes with so many people having an unhealthy relationship with food?

Nearly one in twenty women has unusual or dangerous eating habits. In a group of ten of us from school, three suffered from bulimia. Out of the three only one of them could put into words how it developed into such a problem, "It was just a normal diet at first, but when you start losing weight it almost becomes addictive. I felt disgusting next to my friends, always comparing myself to them. I wanted to look like they did."

It's strange to think how a relationship with food can develop an obsession that too many girls get carried away with, not even realising the long term effects it may have on them. Infertility, bad teeth, ripped stomach lining, osteoporosis etc. It’s also hard to understand why someone would want to do this to themselves, cause themselves so much pain just so they can be thin.

But it’s not just people with eating disorders that have a problem with food. Nowadays, due to misleading publicity many people have the wrong perceptions of food. One of my friends claiming the other day that, “Carbs are bad for you.” Yes carbs are going to be bad for you if you’re going to sit and live solely off potatoes and pasta for the rest of your life. But, as I tried to explain to her, most foods have carbs in them, you need carbs to be healthy. Where has this misrepresentation of food come from? Bad press? Unreliable diets like the Atkins? Wherever it is something needs to be done in order for girls and boys alike, to have a healthy, normal relationship with their food and stop over obsessing about the way they look.