The skinny affair

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Though the fad for size zero seems to have faded away, it has left behind a scarred Gen X, touchy about weight and size and unsure of the physical image they present. Incredibly, size often polarises Gen X, with almost no middle ground. According to a recent study conducted by Assocham survey on teen anorexia, India, about 10 per cent of teenagers have eschewed all meat. While, for a few, it’s about turning vegetarian or vegan, for most it’s in order to fit into the skinniest of jeans. Are we headed into a scrawny future?
Many teens have families worried about their weird diet plans. “My 14-year-old daughter isn’t a hogger, but she’s always been big on flavour and meat. But recently, just two weeks before a big gig at her school, she went on an all-juice diet for two days, followed by a diet of just boiled veggies and pulses sans salt or pepper. Though the determination is laudable, it worries me,” says Victoria Cecil, mother of 15-year -old Jemi.
“The bottomline is both obvious and indisputable: teens of today are socially persecuted if they’re overweight. Society celebrates size zero and denigrates the fat kid. Because of this dynamic, weight-loss programmes target their advertising more aggressively towards teens,” says nutritionist Dr Sona Netwal.
“I think my cousins, friends and I talk about weight more than any other single topic,” says 16-year-old Samantha George. “Obese kids are usually outcast everywhere and, if I want to stay popular, it is necessary to keep a check on what and how much I eat. I’ve tried every possible diet, including the popcorn-and-juice diet, and it has always worked our for me.”
Whatever the latest fad is, the crazy diets would take a toll on their body in a long run. Teens need to starting loving themselves and their bodies. At an age when they should be completely at ease with themselves, teens are already facing the stifling effects of stereotypes of the perfect bod. Fast-tracked through youth, they are losing the confidence of a strong, healthy body, free of obsession with the scales.