Reality Check
...es where fat just seems to make it’s self right at home and just won’t go away. People must understand this concept before having an “over-weight mental breakdown”. Generally bodies fall into one of three categories: ectomorph, endomorph or mesomorph. The slight frames of ectomorphs reflect a low capacity for fat storage, endomorphs have the most fat-storage capacity, and mesomorphs have an ability to store fat that falls somewhere in between. Fat storage is also more evenly distributed. If you're a rounded endomorph you may never have the lean body of an ectomorph or the muscular build of the mesomorph regardless of your weight. Most people, however, are a combination of all three, with a tendency to be more like one or two of them. Some people have a naturally high metabolic thermostat -they tend to burn more calories than average even when they're asleep. Other individuals need fewer calories for the same physical activity. These metabolic differences alone, however, aren't great enough to account for weights that exceed a healthy range. It is not surprising that eating disorders are on the increase because of the value society places on being thin. 10% of children 10 years of age or younger, 33% of teens 11 to 15, 43% of young adults ages 16 to 20 and 86% of 20 year olds and up all suffer from mild to dangerous eating disorders. In North America, women are given the message at a very young age that in order to be happy and successful, they must be thin. Every time a woman walks into a store they are surrounded by the images of emaciated models that appear on the front cover of all fashion magazines. Thousands of teenage girls are starving themselves this very minute trying to attain what the fashion industry considers to be the "ideal" figure. The average model weighs 23% less than the average woman. Maintaining a weight that is 15% below your expected body weight fits the criteria for anorexia, so most models, according to medical standards, fit into the category of being anorexic. Teenagers need to realize that society's ideal body image is not achievable. The photos we see in magazines are not real either. Many people don't realize that those photos have gone through many touch ups and have been air-brushed to make the models look perfect. Teenagers striving to attain society's unattainable ideal image will just end up increasing their feelings of inadequacy. If one were to watch television, view movies, read newspapers, or flip through magazines, they've probably noticed that diets are everywhere. High-protein diets, low-fat diets, all-vegetable diets, no-pasta diets, but with all the focus on dieting, how can one differentiate between the good ones and the bad ones? Many teens feel pressured to lose weight and try different types of diets, but if they really need to lose weight, improving their eating habits and exercising will help them more than anything. Any diet in which one would eat fewer calories than they need to get through the day without feeling like you're going to keel over - like an 800-calorie-per-day diet, for instance - is dangerous. Diets that don't allow any fat can also be bad. There should be a certain amount of fat in a good diet, about 30% of the total calory intake throughout a day. Although a low-fat diet may be okay, people shouldn’t eat a diet completely fat free. Diets that restrict whole food groups should also be avoided. A diet that says no pasta or bread, for example, is dangerous because we are designed to have a daily intake of vitamins, minerals, and carbohydrates that are only found in certain foods or food groups. Although one would probably lose weight, they would most likely regain it all once they are back to their normal eating. The most important diet is to eat a wide variety of enough food to meet the body's needs. Try to cut back on meats high in fat (like burgers and hot dogs), eat more fruits and veggies, drink lots of water, and maintain a daily level of physical activity. Why are individuals so fat? Two words: fast food. The documentary Super Size Me introduced the aspect of what could happen if one ate nothing but fast food for an entire month. Film maker Morgan Spurlock does just that and embarks on the most potentially dangerous journey of his life. The rules? For 30 days he can't eat or drink anything that isn't on the Mc...