UYEN DINH (Left to right) Gerald Lamb,
Natalie Jarrett, and Susan Jensen
discuss body image at a CURVES meeting.
By Marjorie Hernandez
Daily Bruin Contributor
Fifth-year theater student Natalie Leon found it difficult
living in the dormitories her freshman year. But it wasn’t
because of the cramped spaces or homesickness.
It was living with other women and the constant discussion of
weight.
The myth of the “freshman 15″ resonated throughout
the residential halls, and Leon saw many of her peers dissatisfied
with their bodies. Â
“Living with women can be extremely tough,” Leon
said. “They can make one comment and then you question
yourself.”
About 75 percent of college women consider themselves
overweight, while one out of every two women are on diets at any
given time, said Sheri Albert, registered nutritionist at the
Arthur Ashe Student Health and Wellness Center.
But the quest for the ideal body has crossed gender lines as
well. According to a 1997 survey from the science magazine
“Psychology Today,” 53 percent of college men are
dissatisfied with their weight while 43percent are unhappy with
their overall appearance.
Men in general, but particularly gay men, are more body
conscious than thirty years ago, said Dr.Dennis Kelly of UCLA
Men’s Health Clinic.
Young gay men are two to five times more likely to have eating
disorders than heterosexual men, Kelly said.
“The trend towards body building, weight control and focus
on body image are far more common today than in the
seventies,” Kelly said. “I think this is accented by
all of the muscle-building magazines which now have models that are
buff and well-built,” Kelly said.
He attributed this growing obsession to the media, which he said
tends to focus more on body image today than it has in the
past.
Dissatisfaction with body image can have adverse effects,
leading to eating disorder such as bulimia and anorexia.
Aside from eating disorders, other nutrition problems, such as
obesity, eating disorders and weight prejudice are rapidly rising
in the country and especially at the UCLA campus, Albert said.
College students find their lives restricted by negative body
image due to increased academic and social pressures as well as
living with peers obsessed with weight and body shape. College life
provides a breeding ground for stress eating, dieting and weight
preoccupation, she continued.
The only nutritionist on campus, Albert saw the need for active
change.
“I was frustrated seeing so many students struggling with
eating issues and feeling like there wasn’t enough of me to
go around to help everybody,” she said.
To combat these issues, Albert and representatives from the
Center for Women and Men, the Ashe Center, Student Psychological
Services, recreation services, faculty and students have teamed to
form the Eating and Activity Task Force, a group dedicated to
promote nutrition, fitness and healthy living on and off
campus.
The EAT Force hopes to shed light on the negative effects on
dieting and to dispel the myth of thinness as the indicator of a
person’s fitness level, according to their mission.
Restriction of calories in dieting slows down metabolism rates
and causes loss of lean muscle instead of fat, Albert said.
Dieting can also lead to preoccupation with food and can cause
irritability due to starvation.
“Diets work, in the short run, but they fail ultimately
because they are too restrictive,” Albert said. “People
are doing it just for the sake of losing weight and they have
unrealistic ideals when they are trying to achieve a weight they
physiologically can never be at because it’s not realistic
for their body type.”
Unsuccessful with their weight loss, people may turn to binge
eating, which begins the roller coaster of unhealthy fluctuations
in weight.
Last Friday, EAT Force members discussed future projects, which
will tackle student issues with weight and body image.
Their attempt to deal with these issues resulted in the
formation of Challenging UnRealistic Views about Eating and
Size.
Co-sponsored by the Center for Women and Men and the Ashe
Center, CURVES organizers hope to challenge the ultra-thin image of
women and the pumped body ideals of men by promoting all levels of
fitness, according to Albert, who started the program.
Members also want to dispel the popular diet myths and provide
healthier eating and more active environments on campus.
The group will launch a Web site next year that will provide an
encyclopedia of health and nutrition information, from alcohol to
stress management and weight loss.
The site will also include profiles of students each week and
how they cope with their busy college life and their fitness
routines. Students featured will consist of various levels of size,
shape and fitness levels.
But with a name like CURVES, some fear that men may alienate
themselves from joining the group, and currently the group is
holding a contest for a name for the Web site that will attract
both men and women, according to Albert. She said she expects more
women than men will likely seek help with weight or disordered
eating because these issues are considered more of what she termed
a “woman’s disease.”
But today, they also affect men.
According to “The Adonis Complex,” a new book by
Harrison Pope Jr., Katherine Phillips and Roberto Olivardia that
explores the rise of male body obsession, the combination of
taunting during childhood and not being accepted in society can
lead to “internalized homophobia.” This, according to
the book, may prompt gay men to value a hypermasculine body.
“Young gay men are not really well accepted in
society,” said Kelly, of the Men’s Health Clinic.
“When they are growing up they are made to believe they are
deficient. They may be teased about being too skinny or being
weak.
“In order to compensate for the internalized rejection,
one tends to become hypermasculine,” he continued. “If
a young gay man is a body builder, then he’s fitting the
image of what a male stereotypically is.”
According to the book, when researchers asked gay men why they
exercise or body build, they generally answered to improve
appearance. Heterosexual men who were asked the same question,
however, responded they exercise for health or enjoyment.
“The Adonis Complex” also reports that on the
average, college men want a body 30 pounds more muscular than their
own, when what women prefer is 15 to 20 pounds less than what men
think they prefer.
To remedy the growing problem of male body obsession and to help
them become more open with their problems, the CURVES Web site will
provide a special forum where men can ask questions on sexuality,
health or relationship that will be answered by trained
professionals, according to Albert.
Albert and other EAT Force organizers hope that their combined
efforts will forge a healthier environment on campus.
“We are really trying to focus our energies on doing
unified message and doing projects that will reach the most
students possible,” Albert said. “We want to come up
with ways to reach out to a whole lot of students and maximize our
message.”
Physical effects
- Decreased basal metabolic rate – which increases risk of weight
gain even when calories are fairly modest - Loss of lean body mass and increased risk of regaining weight
as fat - Changes in brain chemistry that increase appetite and food
cravings – which increases risk of binge eating - Amenorrhea (no menses) – which causes bone loss
- Constipation and gastrointestinal upset
- Sleep disturbance.
- Weakness
- Hypothermia (feeling cold all the time)
- Decreased sexual interest
Effects on attitudes and behaviors toward
food
- Food preoccupation
- Collection of recipes, cookbooks,and menus
- Unusual eating habits
- Increased consumption of coffee,tea, and diet sodas
- Dichotomous thinking about food (i.e. "good food, bad food
mentality) – which increases risk of binge eating on the "bad" - Loss of body’s natural mechanisms for regulating hunger and
fullness – which increases risk of overeating - Binge eating
Cognitive effects
- Decreased concentration
- Poor judgment
- Apathy
Emotional and social effects
- Depression
- Anxiety
- Irritability and anger
- Lability (ever-changing mood)
- Psychotic episodes
- Personality changes
- Social withdrawal
SOURCE: Arthur Ashe Student Health and Wellness Center
Original by TERESA WOO Web Adaptation by MONICA KWONG/Daily
Briun Senior Staff