Research on weight loss in adolescents has shown that as many as one-third of adolescents and two-thirds of adults engage in dieting. Unhealthy forms of weight control often begin in adolescence and can persist, or even intensify, in adulthood. Studies have shown that dieting is a trigger for the development of eating disorders and popular weight loss trends associated with dieting force individuals to be consumed with calorie counting, weight loss, exercise, and food restriction. The National Eating Disorders Association reports that 35% of “normal dieters” progress to pathological dieting and that 20-25% of those individuals develop eating disorders. Both men and women engage in weight loss behaviors in adolescence, and these behaviors increase over time for both genders.
Underlying triggers for dieting in teenagers
Although teenagers may have many reasons for dieting, body image dissatisfaction, and a desire to be thinner are the usual motivating factors. Weight loss in adolescents are propelled due to adolescents, primarily females, are also targeted by unrealistically thin images in the media that they wrongly equate with beauty, health, and personal success. Because society places a high value on youth and physical beauty, adolescents try to imitate those images in the media. As a result, adolescents often engage in unhealthy, unnecessary, and unsupervised attempts to lose weight. To lose weight, many teenagers engage in a series of behavioral changes and alterations in their eating habits such as fad dieting, fasting, skipping meals, using laxatives, practicing self-provoked vomiting, and using dangerous supplements or drugs. Eating disorders in adolescents can increase in adulthood if these underlying triggers are not recognized and addressed early on.
Dieting in the United States
In 1980 the dieting industry was a 10 billion dollar industry. In 1991 it was reported to be a 50 billion dollar industry and has continuously grown over the years. There are many different types of diets and studies have shown that nearly 50 percent of all American adults are currently dieting and 90 percent of individuals who diet will regain their weight within five years. Food restriction can be viewed as a diet subtype; whether you are reducing your caloric intake, burning more calories through exercise or eliminating specific food groups, it is merely the same thing as dieting. Many individuals view restricting food as eliminating food however this is not true. Eliminating fats, sugars, or carbohydrates are all different forms of “restrictive” diets that can trigger the development of an eating disorder or worsen the binge eating disorder at hand.
Diet Pills
From Hydroxycut, green tea extract, garcinia cambogia, raspberry ketones, caffeine, Orlistat, glucomannan to forskolin and conjugated linoleic acid, these “lose weight quick” remedies can lead an individual down a slippery slope to an eating disorder. Most diet pills and laxatives are sold over the counter and work to either suppress appetite or to prevent the body from fully absorbing nutrients, promising weight loss, a boost in metabolism and increased energy when in reality, you are starving your body through depriving it of nutrients and calories. Despite how accessible they are to the public, it is essential to know that over-the-counter weight loss pills are not regulated by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA).
To prevent youngsters from following dangerous dieting practices, parents and teachers should teach teenagers the difference between “healthy weight” and “cosmetically desirable weight.” Teenagers should be encouraged to accept a realistic weight for themselves to prevent future dangerous weight loss practices in adulthood.
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