Our society generally assumes that ‘body issues’ spawn from the desire to be thinner. Ioana Spangenberg actually suffers from the opposite. This Romanian born, 30 year old model has been trying to gain weight for the past 15 years. I was skeptical of her weight gaining efforts at first, but in Romania men consider heavier women more attractive, because it is a sign of wealth. It’s no surprise, then, that Ioana found her dating situation less than favorable. I imagine being on the receiving end of gawking disapproval can’t do much for your self esteem. At the time her waist was a mere 15 inches!

Ioana blames her hourglass shape on her small stomach. Despite eating three hefty meals a day, she finds it nearly impossible to gain even a few pounds. Many people are skeptical and believe that her tiny waist is the result of corsets and an eating disorder, but she insists this isn’t true. She was incredibly self conscious about her abnormal figure until she met her husband. She says , “he was the first person to see me as beautiful.” He taught her to love her shape and be totally comfortable in her own skin. Does he have a brother?

While I think Ioana has a very unique situation, I hope that girls do not make achieving this shape a new weight loss goal–this is not attainable for 99% of women. What should be taken from her story is that it is possible to be happy with your body whatever its shape.

What do you think about Ioana’s size? How thin is too thin?

I always hated the day when we would watch movies involving a girl with an eating disorder in middle school and high school. Suddenly people would be leaning back in their chairs and furrowing their brows at me. I could never escape their concerned glances, the way they watched me eat my salad I had packed that day. Sometimes I’d even hear them whisper to each other about how I was unhealthy. Usually I would react by rolling my eyes and getting the greasiest pizza slice the cafeteria had to offer. This wouldn’t stop them from shaking their heads when I headed to the bathroom after lunch.

In middle school I weighed around seventy pounds so people assumed I had an eating disorder. They didn’t realize I was a year younger than most kids in my grade (I’m a September baby) and hadn’t developed as much as the other girls. They also didn’t consider the fact that I had been doing ballet since I was around four years old every day after school. I didn’t have an eating disorder, I just wasn’t growing yet.

As a freshman in high school, I was a size zero and weighed around ninety eight pounds. I had no hips and no boobs to speak of, so I thought I looked normal. Apparently that still wasn’t enough for people. My classmates didn’t understand that I was suffering from low self-esteem, but not enough to make me starve myself or throw up after eating.

To say I have never had low self-esteem would be a lie; I did struggle with my body. When I finally grew from a size zero to a size five in two years because my body finally developed was hard on me. I was only (and still am) one hundred and fifteen pounds, but that was a difficult adjustment for me. No, I was no longer the small girl, and many girls are smaller than me. So for a few years in high school I no longer had people monitoring my every move in the school cafeteria after videos shown in P.E.

Then I got to college, and when I began to work out both in between classes and at night some of my friends became concerned. They watched me eating smaller meals and there came that look again. I wasn’t starving myself; I was just trying to live a healthier lifestyle. Yes, I admittedly went through a period my senior year in high school where I would skip some meals because I felt fat, but my mother quickly noticed and got me back on the right track. It never developed into an eating disorder, and when I told my friends not to worry – that it was a short-lived (as in two weeks) phase – they just wouldn’t let it go. Finally, after my friends in college spent more and more time around me, they began to realize that I didn’t have an eating disorder just because I’m thin.

A thin woman can be just as healthy as a woman with a little meat on her bones, and just because I’m skinny doesn’t mean I have an eating disorder. I am five foot four. I weigh one hundred and fifteen pounds. I eat more than three times a day and I wear extra small tops. I am very confident with my body image. I never count calories, I eat meat, and I will take a bucket of fried chicken and a large sweet tea over salad and water any day. It would be a lie to say I have never had a problem with my body image – what woman doesn’t? – but I’ve never been anorexic or bulimic.

Just as some women naturally have curves, some are just born thin. Both ends of the spectrum are judged constantly. You are either too skinny or too fat, and in both cases everyone watches you while you eat. So my question is: what makes a woman “healthy”? What is it going to take for people to stop worrying about you just because of your weight? Without knowing my lifestyle, it isn’t really fair to make an assumption about my health. Just because I’m thin doesn’t mean I’m not healthy, either, because I do eat healthy for the most part, and I work out every week. This is just who I am and I’m sick of being the subject of whispers between girls.

You may not realize it, but sometimes the “skinny” girls feel just as uncomfortable as those women shunned for their curves. Let’s do everyone a favor and stop focusing so much on weight and let everyone, regardless of their size, just be.

[We're all about celebrating a positive body image here at CollegeCandy and many of our readers claim the same thing. However we've noticed that while many commentors are quick to jump to the defense of curvy women, they're even quicker to accuse skinny women of having an eating disorder. This is one (skinny) CollegeCandy writer's reaction.]

[This post was originally written by Christie- NC State]

But in real life, Barbie isn’t so cute. Actually, Barbie is pretty scary.

At 5’9″, with a 39″ bust, 18″ waist, 33″ hips, and a size 3 shoe, this is what Barbie would look like as an actual person. And the best words to describe real life Barbie would be effing scary severely disproportionate.

Galia Slayen, the creator of the life-size Barbie, manufactured the doll as part of the National Eating Disorder Awareness Week (NEDAW) at her high school. Frustrated with the societal pressures to look a certain way, Slayen decided this was the perfect way to shed light on the eating disorders many girls struggle with because of an unattainable body image propagated by a little girl’s toy, Barbie.

But NEDAW or not, this is down right horrifying. I mean, I knew Barbie’s boobs looked a little large and in charge, but my god!

For more information, frightening statistics and to get Galia’s full story, click here.

I fell in love with the British show, Skins, so like most fans of that series, I was skeptical yet curious when MTV announced that they were premiering their own version of the show. The creator of Skins, Brian Elsley, is responsible for both versions, which explains the almost-identical characters and very similar plot lines.

But, with the possible exception of Tea (MTV’s character is a lesbian; she replaces Maxxie, a homosexual guy from the British version), one character seems to deviate much more from her British counterpart. I’m of course referring to Cadie, who was the focus of this Monday’s episode. In the British Skins, Cadie’s character was named Cassie and was in and out of a hospital for anorexia treatment. Cassie is seen faking her weight for clinicians, obsessively arranging food, and lying her way out of meals.

But rather than using this plot, MTV’s Cadie suffers from anxiety and depression.

In fact, one of Cadie’s first lines of the episode barely even fits into the scene. She asks her therapist: “Can I have one of those bananas?” This line seems to prove only one point: Cadie is not Cassie. Cadie does not have an eating disorder.

So why? The girls share a similar infatuation with one of the male leads, an apparent dependency on pills, a distant family…so why give them different mental disorders? An eating disorder would surely give Cadie more depth than her alleged fear of pigeons. And the more that I thought about it, I really started straining to think of eating disorders on American television at all (with the exception of corny Lifetime movies). Even worse, when an eating disorder is portrayed, a character often suffers for a two-episode arc, and then all is forgotten (see: Degrassi, Gossip Girl).

This is insane when you consider that in America, as many as 10 million females and one million males are currently struggling with an eating disorder. But, with 80% of American women dissatisfied with their appearance, many more are at risk and deserve to see the dangerous consequences of disorders that said dissatisfaction could bring on.

My theory is that television executives fear the use of an ongoing character arc featuring an eating disorder, worried about scaring their audience off by making them uncomfortable. I hope that isn’t the case because I think television viewers in the United States deserve more than what they’re currently getting. And if Skins is all about portraying teens in a realistic way, they shouldn’t avoid the topic if eating disorders, something that realistically affects so many of them.

So tell me what you think. I’d love to hear your thoughts on why they may have removed this storyline from the MTV version and your general thoughts on the portrayal of eating disorders on television. Do we cover the topic enough? Should we cover it more?

Thank you so much for your concern about my supposed “drunkorexia,” which is apparently the deliberate decision to eat less food on days destined for drunken debauchery. Though this is not an official medical term, it has been noted in Colorado as a recent “growing trend” among college women. However, let me assure you, drunkorexia is not actually real, and the things that appear similar to the nonexistent disorder may actually be conscious dieting choices among university realities.

Any college student’s diet is abnormal and worthy of attention on its own. Our campuses are equipped to fight our appetites with buffet-style dining halls filled with low-quality options, and our kitchens are stocked with frozen pizzas, chips and Cup of Noodles, each drenched in unhealthy preservatives and way too much salt. Our meal times are tightly squeezed into our schedule among study sessions, work shifts, volunteer programs and internship hours – meaning we chow down while running out of our apartments and we treat ourselves to late-night breaks in the middle of all-nighters. It may not be an ideal routine for our waistline, but it works out well for our resumés, academic transcripts and graduate school applications.

With that said, extending our workouts and skipping meals may not be our best bets, but announcing, “I’m drinking, therefore I don’t want to eat so much, so I’m going to have a mixed green salad and a Diet Coke,” seems like a sign of sensible maturity. In a nation expanding quickly with actual medical concerns such as obesity and diabetes, maybe a couple calorie swaps – whether we plan to drink or otherwise – are a good idea!

It is true, there are college women – and people in general – who are seriously battling eating disorders and/or abusing substances. However, anorexia nervosa and bulimia are commonly related to a distorted self-image or fear of losing control, while alcoholism is characterized as its uncontrolled consumption and often inspired by personal reasons. These are both serious conditions, related in some cases, but those who are skimping snacks solely to stay under the recommended daily caloric intake after a few shots should not be diagnosed the same. Or with made-up medical terms like drunkorexia. It isn’t fair for those students who actually need the medical attention, and it’s simply annoying to those who don’t.

We’re in college, we’re going to drink, so we might as well be logical and somewhat healthier about it. This isn’t a problem so much as it’s a solution. Come on!

And to the UNC students who keep “seeing their friends drink on an empty stomach, binge on ‘drunk food’…then feel guilty and vomit” – that is not drunk food, that’s affordable food on a college budget that your friend is eating because she only had a bowl of lettuce for dinner and now, 6 hours later, she’s hungry. Plus, people don’t throw up because they feel guilty, it’s because they’re drunk/hungover. So be a friend, hold her hair back, and buy her dinner next time – there’s probably a better chance she’s saving her money instead of her calories for alcohol!

Thank You,
Ashley

[We're all about celebrating a positive body image here at CollegeCandy and many of our readers claim the same thing. However we've noticed that while many commentors are quick to jump to the defense of curvy women, they're even quicker to accuse skinny women of having an eating disorder. This is one (skinny) CollegeCandy writer's reaction.]

I always hated the day when we would watch movies involving a girl with an eating disorder in middle school and high school. Suddenly people would be leaning back in their chairs and furrowing their brows at me. I could never escape their concerned glances, the way they watched me eat my salad I had packed that day. Sometimes I’d even hear them whisper to each other about how I was unhealthy. Usually I would react by rolling my eyes and getting the greasiest pizza slice the cafeteria had to offer. This wouldn’t stop them from shaking their heads when I headed to the bathroom after lunch.

In middle school I weighed around seventy pounds so people assumed I had an eating disorder. They didn’t realize I was a year younger than most kids in my grade (I’m a September baby) and hadn’t developed as much as the other girls. They also didn’t consider the fact that I had been doing ballet since I was around four years old every day after school. I didn’t have an eating disorder, I just wasn’t growing yet.

As a freshman in high school, I was a size zero and weighed around ninety eight pounds. I had no hips and no boobs to speak of, so I thought I looked normal. Apparently that still wasn’t enough for people. My classmates didn’t understand that I was suffering from low self-esteem, but not enough to make me starve myself or throw up after eating.

To say I have never had low self-esteem would be a lie; I did struggle with my body. When I finally grew from a size zero to a size five in two years because my body finally developed was hard on me. I was only (and still am) one hundred and fifteen pounds, but that was a difficult adjustment for me. No, I was no longer the small girl, and many girls are smaller than me. So for a few years in high school I no longer had people monitoring my every move in the school cafeteria after videos shown in P.E.

Then I got to college, and when I began to work out both in between classes and at night some of my friends became concerned. They watched me eating smaller meals and there came that look again. I wasn’t starving myself; I was just trying to live a healthier lifestyle. Yes, I admittedly went through a period my senior year in high school where I would skip some meals because I felt fat, but my mother quickly noticed and got me back on the right track. It never developed into an eating disorder, and when I told my friends not to worry – that it was a short-lived (as in two weeks) phase – they just wouldn’t let it go. Finally, after my friends in college spent more and more time around me, they began to realize that I didn’t have an eating disorder just because I’m thin.

A thin woman can be just as healthy as a woman with a little meat on her bones, and just because I’m skinny doesn’t mean I have an eating disorder. I am five foot four. I weigh one hundred and fifteen pounds. I eat more than three times a day and I wear extra small tops. I am very confident with my body image. I never count calories, I eat meat, and I will take a bucket of fried chicken and a large sweet tea over salad and water any day. It would be a lie to say I have never had a problem with my body image – what woman doesn’t? – but I’ve never been anorexic or bulimic.

Just as some women naturally have curves, some are just born thin. Both ends of the spectrum are judged constantly. You are either too skinny or too fat, and in both cases everyone watches you while you eat.  So my question is: what makes a woman “healthy”? What is it going to take for people to stop worrying about you just because of your weight? Without knowing my lifestyle, it isn’t really fair to make an assumption about my health. Just because I’m thin doesn’t mean I’m not healthy, either, because I do eat healthy for the most part, and I work out every week. This is just who I am and I’m sick of being the subject of whispers between girls.

You may not realize it, but sometimes the “skinny” girls feel just as uncomfortable as those women shunned for their curves. Let’s do everyone a favor and stop focusing so much on weight and let everyone, regardless of their size,  just be.

We’ve spent the last week discussing eating disorders, what triggers them and how they can negatively affect your life.  But we don’t want anyone to think that all weight loss attempts result in disordered eating or full-blow eating disorders.

If you want to lose a few pounds (or a lot of pounds) there are very healthy ways of doing so. Ways that don’t require you to binge on exercising or skip meals. We asked our friend Erin, a health and diet connoisseur for the college female at Student Body, for her advice on dieting the healthy way.

Her advice is below:

If you want to lose weight, there are questions you should ask yourself before devising a plan.

1. Do you think you’ll be happier once you lose ten pounds? All other aspects of your life will be the same; if you think things will be different when the weight is gone, you’re allowing your happiness to be dependent on your weight and shape. Ask yourself what will really change.

2. Do you really need to lose weight? Contrary to what the trainers in the gym tell you, whether or not you need to lose weight can’t be determined by calculating your BMI or consulting a height-weight chart. It’s unlikely that you’ll ever be at a weight that you haven’t been since middle school. Your ideal weight is nothing more than the weight your body naturally goes to when you feed it well, exercise regularly and feel your best. That is different for every single person.

If your happiness is dependent on your weight and shape, and you’re never satisfied with your physical appearance, these are unhealthy attitudes and may signal  disordered eating.

“Disordered eating is when a person’s attitudes about food, weight, and body size lead to very rigid eating and exercise habits that jeopardize one`s health, happiness, and safety,” according to the National Eating Disorders Association. These feelings and behaviors can lead to eating disorders, so it’s best to recognize them and contact a health professional now before things get worse.

If you don’t feel that your happiness depends on your weight, and genuinely want to lose weight, it will require a plan that takes into consideration the unique situation of the college student. It’s not realistic to think that we’re going to be able to prepare three nutritious meals a day while in school. Convenience, time and socializing are all issues that prevent us from always eating healthfully.

I address the challenges of maintaining your weight while in college on my blog, Student Body and have many tips, ideas and advice to do so. Some of them are:

• First, assess why past diets have failed. “Yo-yo dieting” can have long-lasting, negative effects on your metabolism. If you drastically reduce calories, you’re also likely to deprive yourself of essential nutrients. Nutritionists recommend that sedentary women usually need at least 1200-1300 calories a day, but that’s if you’re carefully monitoring nutrient intake.

•Lose it slowly. Instead of a crash diet, reduce your intake by 100-200 calories and eat more filling, high-fiber foods to combat hunger.

•Small changes are most likely to be long-lasting. Trading mayo for mustard, or a side of fries for a side of veggies makes a big difference in the long run.

•Don’t try to make unrealistic, drastic changes. If you absolutely love a certain food, swearing to never eat it again may lead to craving and binges.

•Brush off mistakes. They are unavoidable. Demanding perfection is setting yourself up to fall short.

•Target mindless eating. Are there any high-calorie foods that you consume that you wouldn’t miss? Food shopping once a week and planning your meals out can be a good way to avoid this.  Now its easier than ever with online grocery services that deliver to your doorstep.

•Treat your body well by appreciating the taste and texture of food and the way your body feels after exercise.

•Finally, don’t let yourself miss out on the important things by spending all your time thinking about your weight. Your diet should be one aspect of your life, and it should never require you to turn down a social opportunity, distract you from school or diminish your self-esteem. If it does, those body image issues need to be dealt with before going on any type of diet.

As women, we spend a lot of our time focusing on our flaws. Whether it’s standing in front of a mirror and staring at the cellulite on our thighs, talking about said cellulite with our girls over salads (dressing on the side!), or Googling creams that promise to erase cellulite, we tend to only notice the negatives.

Not the beautiful, strong legs underneath.
Or the killer ass on top of those legs.
Or the perfectly shaped lips that form a beautiful smile in pictures.

This week, National Eating Disorders Awareness Week, we’ve all seen the scary effects this sort of negative thinking can have on people, especially college women like us. It’s really easy to get caught up in it – compare yourself to others, find serious flaws within yourself – but it’s just as easy to think positively. There is no ideal woman. There is no perfect body. Everybody’s got something to be proud of.

So today I asked the CollegeCandy writers to stop thinking about what they hate about their bodies and focus on what they love. What’s your favorite part?

Jasmine – Northern Arizona University: My legs – they’re lean and toned, thanks to hours of dancing to Britney and Beyonce in stilettos.

Caitlin – University of Alabama: I love my broken and crooked nose because it gives me character. And my boobs because they’re like twice the size they should be for my body type.

Arielle – Quinnipiac University: My back dimples!! Even though I can’t actually see them without holding a mirror up to my back… which I don’t do often or anything…

Sarabeth – University of Texas: I love my eyes. They’re an odd mix of grey and blue that’s pretty and hard to find in people.

Alex – Lakehead University: I love my hair. It’s huge, curly and totally fierce. I used to struggle with it, but now that I’ve embraced it, I’m constantly getting compliments. Plus you can see me coming from a mile away!

Melanie – Northeastern University: I’ve got some killer legs that have the strength of a bear trap.

Kelly – University of Iowa: My boobs. It wasn’t until I turned 20 that they shot up four sizes, so maybe they were some sort of gift for surviving the teenage years.

Lauren – University of Michigan: My arms and shoulders. They have such definition from all the work I do in the gym and I just love showing them off.

Rachael – University of Miami: Probably my legs and my eyes. I’m a dancer, so my legs are long, lean, and nicely toned. And my eyes are an olive green rimmed in black and laced through with brown and gold- definitely love them, even when I’m feeling my worst!

Jackie – Delaware: Although I may say I hate them to comfort all my boob-less friends, truthfully I LOVE my set of D cups.

Ricki – University of Michigan: I love my butt!  It’s nice and round but not too Beyonce-like

Samantha – UC Santa Barbara: My entire chest and shoulder area! Got my DD’s from my Italian Nana, and my thin arms and shoulders with pretty a little clavicle from my Momma.

Brittany – University of Saint Thomas: I have to shamelessly admit I am in love with my legs (especially shaved in a pair of pumps).

Jackelyn – San Francisco State University: I love everything about my body! It may sound conceited, but because I work hard to keep myself in amazing shape, there’s no reason for me not to be proud of the end product. Plus, it’s MY body – I carry it around with me wherever I go. I gotta love what’s mine!

Brithny – Duke: I like my feet for some reason. Glammed up with red nail polish.

Zahra – Northwestern University: I was a swimmer for eight years and I love the fact that my body can get through those practices. Being able to swim two hundred laps (sprinting made up half of practice) is something I’m insanely proud of.

Christie – NC State: I like my eyes, because they are a weird golden color that matches my hair. Weird, but true!

Jessica-Delaware: I’m not afraid to say it, I have a nice rack. Although I do worry about how nice it’ll be a couple decades from now…

Meg – University of Delaware: Despite the general consensus that boobs are the best part of my body, I like my hair and eyebrows. Oddly enough I get a lot of compliments on my eyebrows and they have a really great natural shape. I love the color and length of my hair and I’m really lucky that it stays naturally healthy and manageable (most of the time)!

Hannah- Assumption College: I love my shoulders. I have worked hard to gain definition and I am really proud.

Cristina – Michigan State University:  I’m proud of my legs because they work, they’re short and on days when I feel like they’re fat, I catch myself in a reflection somewhere and they’re actually lookin’ pretty good.  They never let me down.

In the U.S. one or two out of every 100 students will have an eating disorder. The most common of these are anorexia nervosa and bulimia nervosa. Sadly, we usually aren’t aware that someone we know has one until it is too late. My friend Tina (not her real name, obviously) suffered alternatively from anorexia and bulimia for years and she agreed to share her story.

Her anorexia began when she was around eleven years old, and continued on and off. When she began to suffer from bulimia, she was fifteen. She used to throw up after every meal, no matter how small it was. On average, that was about three to five times a day. All of this was so that she would reach her ideal weight of eighty to eighty-five pounds, which is the weight she was in 7^th and 8^th grade.

Tina said that before eating a meal, regardless of how hungry she was, she would feel guilty for eating. She would tell herself to go ahead and consume the food, as long as she threw it up afterward. While eating she would feel “disgusted and bloated,” and regret eating at all as soon as she finished. Because of this Tina says, “sometimes I had to force myself to eat.”

“It drove me crazy because I didn’t want to, but I had to or I knew I would go to the hospital. Or if my family was making me, to please them.”

While eating out, so as not to feel as guilty about eating, she would usually order an appetizer or a salad.

“I was always thinking about how fat, stupid, or worthless I was. How imperfect I was. I would look at girls smaller than me and think of ways to get like them. It was a huge mind game for control. I wanted control of my body and how I looked. I hated it but I loved it all the same.”

When asked if she could do things normally, such as play sports and be active with her eating disorder, she admitted that she could, but not for extended periods of time. “I was extremely weak, and often too fatigued to do much of anything.”

Because of constant mood swings and the amount of weight she was losing, people began to take notice of her eating disorder. Still, their reactions were surprising.

“Some people pitied me, and others told me to grow up. Only a handful of people have actually tried to be there for me.”

Eventually, Tina was hospitalized and was given medicine to help her reach a healthy weight. She reached 112 pounds and was released. For all intents and purposes, Tina is better, but it’s a never-ending cycle. “I’m honestly unaware of what I’m doing if I revert back to old habits, which keeps me from seeking the help I need until I’m already considered anorexic or bulimic again.”

But she is on the road to recovery. Tina consciously reminds herself daily of the damage she is doing to her body (her hair would come out in handfuls and her skin was white and pasty), and is attending counseling sessions.

Tina believes that her biggest challenge she faces now would be overcoming her eating disorders completely.

“It is hard to really get past it and stay past it. I slip up quite a bit. Currently, I weigh 98 pounds. Being just 17 and 5 feet 4 inches, I know that is not a healthy weight.”

Tina offers this advice for girls struggling with eating issues:

“My advice would be to get help. No matter how much you don’t want to or how much control you think you have over it, you don’t. I thought I could control it, but I couldn’t. I ended up with hypoglycemia because of it. So please, if you have an eating disorder, don’t be stubborn, get help. To the girls with friends who are struggling, be there for them. Offer to help or be there when they ask for help from their parents, guidance counselors or whoever they feel comfortable asking. Be careful to be gentle with them though and not get frustrated because they don’t listen right away or seem reluctant. Remember, when you have an eating disorder, your mind becomes fragile and you end up hurting everyone around you just as much as you are hurting your own body. There is no such thing as perfection. It is a figment of our imagination. Something far too complex for anyone to be, therefore, unreal.”

Ladies, in honor of National Eating Disorders Awareness Week, it’s time to ask ourselves, “Do I?” and “Am I?” It’s about looking at our own lives, and figuring out what’s healthy and what’s not.

So, ask yourselves “Do I…”

“Weigh myself every day?”

You are not a number! Letting numbers on a scale determine how you feel about yourself is dumb, but also lets your weight control you. The scale doesn’t know you. It doesn’t see what an amazing athlete you are, what great hair you have, how cute your butt looks in booty shorts, or how much your boyfriend drools over your smile (and boobs). The scale is a number. Which means it’s akin to math and science (EWWW). The scale doesn’t say anything about who you are on the inside. They weigh you when you’re at the doctor’s office anyway, so let your doctor tell you if you’re at a healthy weight or not.

“Skip meals?

Soooo many things wrong with this one! For one thing, skipping meals SLOWS down your metabolism. It will also just make you more hungry later! Your BRAIN needs fuel every 2 to 4 hours throughout the day to stay alive! (at night your body takes care of this, so that you can sleep). Skipping meals also makes you fatigued, and makes paying attention in lecture even harder than normal. Oh and here’s a fun fact: 95% of dieters regain their lost weight in one to five years! Eating when you are hungry, choosing nutritious and balanced options, having your favorite treats sometimes, and exercising because it feels good and is good for you, are the ONLY ways to stay at a healthy weight for your body, naturally.

“Count calories or fat grams every day?”

There was a time in my life when I was counting calories. Do you know how hard it is to figure out how many calories are in 4 red cups of beer, 2 jungle juices and 3 half shots? PLUS chaser? Yeah, waste of time AND energy AND an unhealthy state of mind to be in (the calorie counting, and the hangover). Yes, it is wise to check the nutrition labels on what food you’re eating when possible. Serving size is super important to be aware of, as is the amount of fat, sugar, and vitamins that you’re getting from your food choices. But when this become a problem is when you feel nervous or anxious about eating something until you know exactly how many calories or fat grams it contains. It’s feeling antsy until you can count how many calories you had that day. These habits may be moving you closer to a destructive and dangerous eating disorder!

Our bodies need ENERGY to function! Oh and fat? Fat isn’t bad! Our bodies need approximately 20-30% of your calories from fat every day! When possible, try to make your fats healthy fats, like monounsaturated fats found in olive oil and almonds.

“Exercise because I feel like I have to?”

There’s a difference between dragging yourself to the gym because you know it’s good for your body, and dragging yourself to the gym because you feel a nervous compulsion to work out. Working out is great for your body and mind!! In the immortal words of Elle Woods, “Exercise releases endorphins, endorphins make you happy, happy people don’t kill their husbands. They just don’t.” But when your reason for exercising crosses over from knowing that its good for you to feeling like the world will end if you don’t, then we have a problem. When you start skipping spending time with friends, or are always on your way to or from the gym, or feel like your compulsion to exercise is taking over your life, there may be a problem.

“Am I on my way to an eating disorder?”

If any of these above statements sounded like you, please seek help! Eating disorders are SERIOUS mental disorders that can take over your life and health. Think of all the extra time you’d have, and how much happier you’d be, if you weren’t constantly obsessing over every morsel of food that you put in your mouth, or when your next workout is going to be, or how many calories you burned on the elliptical. College can be one of the most fun and enlightening times in our lives – don’t ruin it by isolating yourself with your unhealthy habits. Have fun, be healthy, live life!

Even if none of the above statements apply to you, think about what you can do each day to improve your own, and your friends’, body images. Challenge the diet industry and media. Say no to discussions about weight, shape, or diets!

And remember, YOU ARE BEAUTIFUL!