Children and size 0

No matter your size, shape or (the most misinterpreted term) weight, please listen to my rant.  Last night I was watching the "Lifestyle You" channel on foxtel because it usually has programs about nutrition and such (which you obviously all know by now that i LOVE).  There was this show on called "Extraordinary weight stories" and both episodes I watched were based around annorexia, one for adults and one for children.  Adult annorexia I have seen before, as with teenagers but seeing CHILDREN as young as 9 counting calories and working out on gym equipment really made me emotional.  I shall proceed with my rant after I fill in a few blanks.

First of all size matters but only to an extent.  Perfection however does most certainly NOT!  People think that being obese will eventually kill you and yes it will hold you back from so many opportunities and have terrible effects on your body and your health BUT being too thin is far far worse.  If your body doesnt have enough fat to burn it will burn muscle and once it runs low on that fainting occurs, organs start to fail and life slowly falls right apart.  For fu*ks sake EAT because food is not the enemy here.  YOU are in control of what you put in your mouth and eating air (so to speak) is no fun at all.  You are screwing with your body's metabolism, with growth, with the endocrine system and if your body is malnourished it will NOT function correctly!!!  Look at these women below.  They are all beautiful but all are completely different shapes and sizes yet the main thing is that they all appear healthy!!! Health = priority. 

Now that that is cleared up I shall address my main concern - Children with weight issues.  Eight year olds on diets, 10 year olds using their parents gym equipment, 12 year olds starving themselves.  One 10 year old would not eat avocardo from a salad because it was too "fatty".  Its a shame she didnt know that it lowers cholestrol and helps brain functioning!!!!  Children are constantly growing and developing until (and throughout) adolescence.  Many exercise machines are unhealthy for a child's growth (as they can stunt it), as are certain low fat foods (as they lack essential fats and nutrients necessary).  Adolescence is where your body works itself out and hopefully by the time you're about 17-19 your body has established natural shape.

I don't know where i'm really going with all of this but strive to be healthy - not fat, not thin, NOT PERFECT.  Just be healthy and keep your body happy and if you hear children counting calories and moaning about how fat they are tell them that their body NEEDS FAT so that they can get their period, so that they can develop shape and so that they can grow in general.  What shocked me most is that none of the parents of these young children really saw anything wrong with their young young children being weight conscious at their age.  Goes to show that parents really are powerful role models.  The focus is HEALTH and whatever size comes with that.