Thinking Thin In Hong Kong

A survey of 600 women (aged above 16) conducted in Hong Kong by the Eating Disorder Association discovered that 85% of women had tried to lose weight to fit into off-the-peg clothes, 66% were sensitive about other people looking at them because they could not find a size to fit and 4% contemplated suicide because they could not find clothes that fit.

About half of the participants confessed that they were often too big for shop sizes, despite being a medium size. Of these, about seven out of 10 blamed limited sizes in shops, which often used ultra-thin models and displayed only extra-small sizes.

The results show how unhealthy the trend for thinking thin has become in Hong Kong, said Eating Disorder Association executive officer Philippa Yu.

"The overwhelming slimming advertisements have pushed many women to lose weight blindly to wear small clothes," said Yu. "They feel guilty or ashamed for wearing a large size. This can increase the risk of developing eating disorder." Yu blamed the fashion industry for making smaller sizes, so that even normal-sized women find large sizes too tight.

The association is urging manufacturers to provide a wider range in sizes and to follow the lead of countries like Italy and Spain, which have banned the use of too-thin models with a body mass below average. Hong Kong, like many developed countries, has seen its people become fatter in recent decades, largely as a result of more sedentary lifestyles and a switch from the traditional Chinese diet to more Western-influenced eating, with higher fat and more fast food. However, fashion stores still stock sizes for the traditional slender Asian frame, rarely stocking anything about a US size 10 or medium (UK 12 and European size 40).

Source: http://www.playfuls.com/

Courtney Love sets a great example for her daughter.

I think Courtney Love has body image issues:

1) She claims to have shed 44 pounds, due to a combo of a mainly veggies & fish diet and yoga. She reportedly wants to lose another 10 pounds. In a recent post on her website she exclaims, "and I'll fit in that dammed couture!"

2)Also in a post on her website, she says of her current nose, "I love it because it just looks like my 'self' in'93... I hated that nosejobby nose, it was like a little beak." Love likes it because it is wider and, "looks like the one God gave me. So I'm happy not to have crazy lips and a crazy teensy unnatural little nose."

3) Regarding her body image, she writes ""All I care about is that my self-esteem is limitless and intact, and that nothing and no situation effects my self-esteem in anyway, and creates negativity chaos or loss." I sure hope so.

I have to wonder, what about Frances Bean's self-esteem? Back in October, Courtney said that Frances Bean stumbled upon some gossip sites that showed some pictures of her on horseback, read some comments calling her was fat and started throwing out all of the food in their fridge.

A mother's obsession with her body image and weight tends to rub off on her own children...

The "longevity" of Anna Nicole Smith.

Anna Nicole Smith's Monday autopsy results indicated some issues for Trim-Spa and its users:

a) the effects of Trim-Spa on Anna may have been atypical, unless you're on a variety pack of nine other medications

b) a container of Slim Fast was on her nightstand, and

c) she was shooting human growth hormone, known to rev up the metabolism

Trimspa has announced that Howard K. Stern clarified that Anna had been taking HGH for "longevity" purposes, not weight loss.

How did her friends and family who KNEW she was on so many meds turn a blind eye to this?

L'Nose twins? (Anagrams rock!)

I'm not sure that I believe this one...

In Touch Weekly magazine reports that the Olsen twins had plastic surgery for matching nose jobs. An insider reports that the twins consulted Beverly Hills surgeon Dr. Raj Kanodia in January, claiming "Ashley has always thought her nose was a little too big, so she wanted to get it done... When she talked to her sister about it, she loved the idea."

In Touch reports the surgery has already been completed while MSNBC reports that the girls simply had a consultation.

"Experts" suggest that both sisters had the bridges of their noses thinned and the tip refined to create a more mature look.

Well if they did... their noses look more subtle than Ashlee Simpson's.

The girls in November 2006:

In December 2006:

In January 2007:

In March 2007:

Anorexia Versace

Allegra Versace (daughter of Donnatella Versace) has been hospitalized for anorexia in a medical and psychiatric facility. Weighing in at an astonishing 70 pounds, Allegra has been forced to undergo treatment and be fed through a naso-gastric tube.

A Versace family employee states to Woman's Day: "It was the most sad and traumatic experience of my life," he said. "Her arms are like candlesticks. Her skin is this unnatural colour I've never seen before."

Force-Feeding the Anorexic

Scotland's Mental Welfare Commission has issued Doctors new guidelines for taking care of anorexic patients close to death. If two doctors have reason to believe that an anorexic patient is mentally ill and close to death, the patient may be sedated and tube-fed against their will. This applies to severely underweight children as well and can be done against a parent's wishes.

Dr Flora Sinclair, medical officer for the Mental Welfare Commission said "Doctors would only be able to resort to something like this without the patient's consent if there were very serious concerns that they may die. It's not just if they are refusing food and getting thinner, it's where there's a real physical risk that they may collapse and die. It's basically to save their life."
Sinclair added, "We thought it was important to have practice guidelines for people thinking about giving artificial nutrition without patient's consent. We are trying to ensure that if people are going to use these provisions they are going to do it properly. This makes it clearer and introduces specific safeguards that have to be put in place. This is not to make it more attractive as a treatment option."

Read more: http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/index.cfm?id=462432007

The Bulimia Bunch

Maureen McCormick, the actress best known as Marcia from The Brady Bunch has disclosed to People magazine that she battled bulimia and cocaine addicition at the height of her fame.

She would binge eat ice cream only to vomit it up hours later. “It seemed ideal,” she said. “Once I started, it was hard to stop." Her boyfriend later introduced her to cocaine. "He was friends with people who did drugs. I have a very addictive personality. I know that now" she said. "Being able to quit drugs and finding belief in a higher power gave me the tools to end the bulimia."

She claims that therapy and her faith helped her kick her cocaine habit and adopt a healthier lifestyle.

Anorexia Jolie?

Angelina Jolie's brother James Haven Voight has voiced concern over Angelina's diminishing stature:

Angie has become very thin because she's grieving," he admits. "It's even difficult for her to eat. I keep saying to her, 'Don't forget to eat'.

"But you know she doesn't pay much attention to food anyway and she's been going through a process of grief like me. She has not wanted to eat, nor has she been able to."

More: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/pages/live/articles/showbiz/showbiznews.html?in_article_id=444390&in_page_id=1773&in_a_source

Metamucil's sad campaign

Obviously trying to play on young women's "insecurities" about body image, Procter & Gamble is pitching its product as a kind of colon cosmetic, with attractive young models sending home the message that "less-than-glam insides (can) reach supermodel status" by incorporating fibre supplements into a "diva-conscious diet."

Read it: http://www.canada.com/topics/bodyandhealth/story.html?id=d873485a-ccca-455e-ad1d-16603ef14d9a&k=43

The "Blonde Hair Makes Her Look Skinny" Epic Continues.

Tuesday March 20, 2007, Neil George Salon, Beverly Hills: Mary-Kate Olsen dies her hair - AGAIN - a shade warmer than the platinum she's been sporting lately.

Christina Ricci: The newest bobblehead on the block

Christina Ricci has openly discussed her own negative body image in the past:

"I did get all my tips from a Tracey Gold Lifetime movie on anorexia. It taught me what to do."

"There was also [a film] on HBO starring Calista Flockheart when she was really young. She was bulimic and anorexic. She'd vomit into Tupperware containers and keep them in her closet. It was so crazy to me that for some reason it was appealing."

"It's lemon juice, water, maple syrup and cayenne pepper. I'm on a liquid fast. When I'm done I'll feel cracked out." (when asked what was in her water bottle)

"I'm a short 21-year-old girl who's not skinny. I don't have a sunny disposition, but I'm not gothic either. I don't have a gimmick. So I shouldn't really be successful. I tried hard to be pretty and be what I thought I was supposed to be and I couldn't do that."

She certainly seems to be at the lower end of her weight fluctuations these days...

Before:

After:

Sienna Miller is 'fat', Guy Pearce is an asshat.

I used to like Guy Pearce. Memento is one of my all time favorite movies. Then I read he was calling Sienna Miller fat throughout the shooting of "Factory Girl"...

Sienna was cast to play Edie Sedgwick (Andy Warhol's muse) and the producers gave her a goal weight to slim down to for the role. She didn't reach the goal weight, so Guy Pearce nicknamed her “Little Fatty Edie.”

"The awful thing was he was really disciplined about losing the weight and I wasn't,” Miller says. "I didn't want to. I love my food. I'm an energetic person but I don't work out and I do eat a lot. It's quite funny that Andy was skinnier.”

"The New Beautiful"

The fascination with glamour skeletons/celebrity stick insects has prompted a so-called “backlash” and instead “curvaceous” (a politically correct/anatomically incorrect way to call people fat these days) celebrities are touted as The New Beautiful, yet appear on very few magazine covers. North America is still captivated and preferential to gawking at the sticks and bones. The more we tell our youth and our women that voluptuous is beautiful, the more it sounds like the old adage “true beauty is on the inside” - something usually reserved for “unattractive” people. It is heard as “fat is okay” but implicit in that statement is that you are fat. (But it’s okay, so don’t worry.) This often has the opposite and very much unintended effect. You’ll be more conscious of your fat and try to change.
The more we continue to talk about how dreadful the skelebrities are, the more unattainable their bodies are, the more we exoticize and continue to talk about them, the more it becomes something to aspire to for many women. Who wants to be part of the pitied “we still love you anyway” Fat Club? I don’t think there is enough of a backlash to label it as such. There has been little shift in mass public perception rof beautiful female celebrities.

So we hate our bodies and fanatically diet, exercise, and starve until we attain it.