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Home > Healthy Eating > Body image > Body image and self esteem

Body image and self esteem

Body image, self-esteem and food behaviour plays an important role in young people’s development. In Western society, the ideal body image for girls is to be slim, while for boys it is to be strong and muscular. Many young people feel immense pressure to fit these body stereotypes and dieting, body building and abnormal eating patterns are common amongst young people today. Of particular concern is the extremes some young people will go to achieve the ideal body image, for example severe dieting and the use of steroids.

Body image
Body image can be described as the perception people have of their own body and the feelings they experience as a result of that perception. The way young people perceive their body can be influenced by many things including comments from others, family, friends, socio-cultural values and the media.

Research tells us that very few females are happy with their body shape and will try to lose weight, even if they are already a healthy weight. Males usually have a desire for a more muscular shape and height and will often spend hours in the gym in an effort to bulk up, engage in restrictive dieting patterns and often use protein supplements and some may even use steroids.

Self-esteem
Self-esteem can be described as one’s feelings towards themselves. These feelings can be high or low self and impacts on a person’s own self worth can be determined by how much someone likes, accepts and respects themselves as a person. Someone with positive self-esteem will focus on the things they like about themselves, learn to accept the things that aren’t so great and will also treat themselves (body and mind) with respect. Body image, how positively someone feels about their body shape and appearance, is closely connected to their self-esteem A person's body shape is largely determined by genetics, but a person's lifestyle will also contribute to one's overall shape. It is hard to change your body type with exercise and healthy eating patterns, it is possible to re-shape it slightly, but regardless of a person's genetic shape everybody can be healthy and strong by maintaining a healthy, balanced lifestyle. These shapes are no longer referred to when identifying body types and shapes as bodies come in many different shapes and sizes, and in an effort to help people feel good about their body there is no need to pigeon hole them into one type.

Suggestions on how to improve body image and self-esteem:

Treat your body with respect and love.
Make a list of your assets, talents and contributions.
Relax and enjoy the unique characteristics you have to offer.
Make friends with the person you see in the mirror.
Learn to appreciate the many different sizes and shapes that human beings naturally come in.
See that there is beauty and strength in all bodies.
Wear clothes you enjoy and feel comfortable in.
Go through your wardrobe and give away everything that doesn’t fit.
Appreciate what your body does for you — thank your legs for carrying you around and your arms for being able to embrace someone.
Experience the joy of moving your body freely.
Find physical activities you love doing, for example, dancing, gardening, walking or sports.
Acknowledge your emotional needs and your right to have these met.
Challenge negative comments about your body.
Be critical of messages that tell you that to be happy and successful, women need to be thin and men need to be muscular.
Stand tall: watch your posture.
Prepare assertive responses to negative comments from others.
Pick something you’ve been putting off until you are ‘perfect’ and do it now!
Be patient. Healing your relationship with your body takes time.

Appreciate yourself and your body - you only have one, and it’s your home for your whole life.

Healthy food and lifestyle tips
Food
Young people should be encouraged to:

Eat a variety of foods.
Eat regular meals and snacks.
Eat food they like, when they like it.
Plan meals ahead of time.
Eat in moderation.
Remember - there are no good or bad foods.

Body messages
Young people can be encouraged to eat with awareness. The message is:

Eat when you feel hungry.
Listen to your hunger mid-morning and afternoon.
Listen to your body signals of comfortable fullness after eating.
Eat slowly and really taste each bite of food.
Say, ‘no thank you’ when you have eaten enough.
Eat a little more if you are still hungry after a meal.
Be aware of when you eat for reasons other than hunger and don’t feel guilty.
Diets are dangerous and do not work long term. All they do is wreck havoc with your body and mind.

Physical activity
Ask yourself these questions to stimulate you to make choices about exercise:

What type of physical activity do you like?
What type of physical activity are you already doing?
What type of physical activity would you like to try?
Who do you like to exercise with?
Remember to do activities you enjoy and that fit in with your lifestyle.

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Acknowledgement

This information has been sourced from The Butterfly Foundation.

Last updated: 09/01/2009

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