Boys hit by diet crisis

AdelaideNow... Boys hit by diet crisis: "Support group facilitator Esther Zazzaro said a cocktail of factors including bullying, Australia's obession with obesity, and media images of buff idols, could be behind the rise in younger boys focusing unhealthily on body image."

This is awful. Little boys who have anorexia. We are so busy working we haven't time to care for the little ones. Much of life's negative messaging can be cleared up on the home front where you have friends and family to straighten you out. If media images are stronger than family ties then we need to stop and think. I know some families who have just changed the habits of their children and distracted them into outdoor activities to combat the onslaught of media manipulation. We need to redevelop communities, get the slow life and the slow living going. One anorexic girl recently alerted me to a reason for anorexia that I had never even thought of. She came from an abusive home and by the time I talked to her she had worked out most of her issues. What she said though, and it really made me think, was that they controlled everything she did. They told her what to do and punished her severely if she didn't do it. They were constantly on her back...but the one thing they couldn't control was her food intake. She could control that. It was very crooked thinking, but I had never thought of anorexia in that way. It's a pretty tough form of self preservation to the nth degree when you look at it like that.