Constantly bombarded by images of super skinny, size 0 models and movie stars such as Mary-Kate Olsen, teenage girls are sent overwhelming messages to be skinnier, smaller, and even tinier than ever. One tool that many young girls are turning to is the use of diet pills, such as hoodia and Hydroxycut.
A 2006 University of Minnesota found that more than 20% of 19-year-old girls confess to using diet pills. “These numbers are startling, and they tell us we need to do a better job of helping our daughters feel better about themselves and avoid unhealthy weight control behaviors,” University of Minnesota professor and study researcher Dianne Neumark-Sztainer said. (Neumark-Sztainer is also the author of the popular book, “I’m, Like, So Fat!“.)
Diet pills are ineffective and in many cases, extremely dangerous, even to the point of being linked to death in users. The study also found that more than 62% of teenage girls use unhealthy weight control behaviors, including the use of diet pills, laxatives, vomiting or skipping meals to control their weight. The study found that teenage males had rates that were less than half of the females. So, clearly, there is a problem facing our girls.
What can we do to help our daughters avoid these unhealthy actions? (more…)
