The Beauty of A Brain
For this blog, I wanted to share with you some details about my academic career. Both my bachelors and masters degrees are in health and wellness, which is a pretty broad category. I have had classes in every type of health there is (i.e. family, community, psychological, epidemiology, consumer…etc.). Throughout having all of these classes, most people find an area of study that interests them the most. This is usually the topic they choose to use for their thesis. Okay, enough with the background. I want to talk to you all about what my thesis is about.
I feel as though there are two different types of people in this world, people who are all about the numbers, and people who are all about the “feels”. For almost every part of my life, I am all about the numbers. Give me facts, evidence, science, research, and no excuses. There are a few exceptions to this rule. 1. Being my relationship with God, because there are all kinds of feels there 2. People’s relationship with their body.
Everyone I know is always talking about what they hate about themselves, or how they are having a “funeral for their fat”. I find it really sad that hardly anyone I know chooses to exercise and eat healthy because they love their body. I’m not going to act like I am above this, because I am not. It may be why I have so much compassion for people who deal with these very real psychological struggles on a day to day basis. Throughout my health journey, I have had times where I hated my body (for different reasons than most), its not because of the way it looks, but because I feel so powerless over it sometimes. It is the reason I have such a love for exercise. It makes me feel proud, strong, and able in my body. Anyway, I’m getting off topic.
I see so many young girls starving themselves or hating their body and it breaks my heart. It is scary to think about being a mother one day, and trying to convince your children that they are beautifully and wonderfully made. We live in a world where even the models on magazines don’t look the models on the magazine; it is just very easy to forget that sometimes.
The question I am asking in my thesis is this: Does a high school aged female’s knowledge of nutrition have a relationship with their dieting habits and body image? This interests me for so many reasons. As someone who loves to learn the science behind everything, and also someone who is very critical of most information it has always baffled me that people buy in to all of these crazy food fads or dieting myths. **It is important to note that the students names will be completely confidential and not be mentioned in the research (along with any other information that could lend to their personal identity), and consent forms will be signed** For my research I am going to first give the participants 2 short surveys, one being a version of the Eating Attitudes Test and the other being a short survey on their knowledge of nutrition. After they take the survey, I am going to do personal interview with a number of questions related to their knowledge of nutrition, how they feel about their body, where they get their health information, etc.
This research is important to me because we will see if there is a correlation between what a student knows about nutrition, and what their behaviors are. Do they understand why they are restricting their diet? Is their information coming from a reputable source? Why are they on a diet (are they even over a healthy weight/body fat?). When the survey and interview is over, I am going to make a point to give them good nutrition information and talk to them about having a healthy body image.
I know this is a random blog post, but this is a blog about being healthy in all areas of our life, and as a strong women, I want young women to look up to me for loving my body and treating it with respect. This is a problem that really pulls at my heart, and is a lot more serious than people realize. Anorexia is the most fatal psychological disorder, and its not something that goes away with a blink of an eye. It deserves compassion and support. Last month was eating disorders awareness month, so I thought this post was even more appropriate. I challenge you to compliment random people you don’t know, and tell people you think they look pretty, and reach out to people who are having a bad day! Be the friend who people can come to, and love them through their problems! You never know how much something so small can mean to person!
With so much love,
-B