Women's Health Affected by Dieting at a Young Age

It’s a common issue for women to take on dieting at a young age and then experience negative consequences. Though we may tend to think of dieting as a smart way of learning to manage the way that we eat, the reality is that it can work against us. Women suffer from so many mental and emotional issues related to body image and unnecessary dieting, and this can even carry through into physical symptoms. So if you find yourself wondering if it can hurt to focus on dieting early in life, realize that there are some really solid reasons as to why dieting can be damaging at a young age. Though you may well have good intentions, it could be essential to change up your approach.

When a woman, in particular, takes on dieting at a young age, she is causing the body to undergo extremes in eating, and this can be very taxing. Most diets that a young woman will take on have a lot to do with deprivation on various levels. You are either going to cut your calories drastically, cut out food groups, skip meals, or take on some fad or trend that is not based on good health. The end result is that you will end up eating far more than you should when you get too hungry. The fad diets become the start of a yo-yo dieting cycle that teaches bad habits and ensures that long-term weight loss is not at all obtainable.

Teaching Good Habits

When a woman turns to dieting at a young age, it not only teaches her the wrong habits, but also ensures that she has a bad self-image. She tells herself that she has to diet to lose weight or she won’t look good. She views this as a measure of self-worth and begins to feel bad about herself. So not only can fad diets hurt the physical health but they can also add to emotional stress. This also teaches her unhealthy patterns that may affect her long-term health in negative ways. Therefore, learning good eating habits is where it’s at; the fad diets will only ever create problems!

It is usually advisable for a young woman to avoid dieting at a young age in order to protect her health in every sense of the word. Eating right, learning portion control, and understanding what makes up proper nutrition is the better way to go. Teaching her good self-image and why a healthy lifestyle matters is always the best approach. Though dieting may seem like the right answer, it has negative implications in the short- and long-term. It can hurt her health now and well into the future.

Good health is all about learning proper habits and making a healthy lifestyle, not dieting, the focus. Teaching the right approach early in a woman’s life will benefit everyone involved!