Size Zero in western culture dictates a size “successful” which is seen as skinny and small. Posh is thin. Expensive shops only tend to sell clothes in small sizes and even charity shops in rich areas tend to sell clothes in small sizes. Size is linked to wealth with everyone aspiring to the #weightgoal of size 0. Yet, what is the reality of size 0? It’s promoting the “the anorexic look” which is not attractive at all and is biologically bonkers.
The “perfect” look, the “look of success” for men and women is stealing from their bodies the very means to be a man and a women.
Women aspire to be a size that reduces their body fat percentage to the point where they don’t have enough fat on them to produce Oestrogen and Progesterone, the steroid (made from lipids, fats from diet) hormones (chemical messengers carried in the blood) that promote the female sexual characteristics. The fashion industry and social media promote a culture that is unsustainable and unhealthy and that makes women, often young women, menopausal as they deprive their bodies (thinking they are achieving success or winning) the fat needed to make their sex hormones. The world has gone insane as women are striving to reach a body fat percentage that stops them being women.
Oestrogen is needed for:
- Promoting the development of the ovaries, controlling the menstrual cycle and for pregnancy. Anorexia and athletes triad (a condition where very fit female athletes get too low a body fat percentage) cause amenorrhea when your periods stop. This affects libido and fertility (the ability to have babies) and can only be reversed with weight gain/restoration.
- Concentration and memory
- Continence- Oestrogen supports the pelvic floor.
- Balance and co-ordination
- Mood- fluctuations in Oestrogen can cause depression and anxiety, which are often co-morbid symptoms with anorexia and often blamed for the anorexia. Anorexia is far more complicated than that. Anorexia isn’t all about wanting to be size zero, size zero is a consequence of anorexia. What is wrong is that the “anorexic look” is promoted as an ideal in society. A lack of oestrogen makes it harder to fight anorexia as it affects your mood.
- Health of blood vessels
- Lubrication of the vagina (which is why sex is harder/ less pleasurable for women with anorexia)
- Skin elasticity- it keeps your skin looking youthful. Size 0 ages you prematurely.
- Bone remineralisation. Oestrogen helps support bone density and without it your bones stop re-forming. This is why women who are underweight (not necessarily anorexic) often get Osteopenia and Osteoporosis (a condition where your bones break easily). This condition makes you unable to run, jump, ski, dance, ski, ice skate or any other condition where falls are likely. The only solution is weight restoration and weight gain to get the Oestrogen and Progesterone back.
Progesterone is needed in women for:
- Encouraging deep restful sleep. This is why insomnia is often seen in anorexia.
- Building bone tissue (without it sufferers are more likely to get Osteoporosis and Osteopenia).
- The menstrual cycle
- Reducing stress and depression and regulating mood swings (which is why mood swings are often seen in anorexia).
- Helping your thyroid hormone, which is your body heat and energy regulator
- Stabilising blood-sugar levels which help our body use and eliminate fat
- Increasing our metabolic rate so that you burn more calories when resting
- Bringing about a sense of wellbeing
The medical ‘solution’ for this is often to “put underweight women on the combined oestrogen and progesterone contraceptive pill” as they believe that they are artificially giving women the hormones they need. However this pill is missing the key IGF-1 growth factor for supporting bones and so many “I don’t have an eating disorder, I am just naturally skinny” women out there who live on the contraceptive pill are unknowingly giving themselves osteoporosis. Often parents of anorexic teenagers or autonomous adult anorexics delude themselves that they or their child are “now healthy” by artificially taking oestrogen with the pill. They think they are saving their bones, but without this IGF-1 there is no bone support and so osteoporosis is inevitable. Oestrogen and Progesterone play and essential role in women’s health and denying our bodies it to “feel attractive” by the societal acceptance of what is “pretty” and “successful” is quite simply ridiculous.
The real size zero is an ugly look. The face that looks back at you in the mirror is not attractive but scary looking. It also makes your hair fall out as, without enough protein in your diet, you lose your hair. It makes your teeth yellow as without enough calcium your teeth yellow. It makes your bones brittle and your shoulders round as your vertebra are weak and so a condition called “kyphosis” or “Dowagers hump” exists where women become round shouldered and hunchbacked. It makes you incontinent and at risk of vaginal prolapse as you don’t have enough oestrogen to support your pelvic floor. It makes your eyes worse as you don’t have enough vitamin A for your eyes and your heart slow as you don’t have enough carbohydrates to provide energy for your heart muscle (your heart shrinks) or protein to support muscle growth so your muscles waste away and you are weak. It reduces body fat to a point where you don’t have enough dietary fat to absorb fat-soluble vitamin A (eyes), vitamin D (supports calcium absorption for bones), vitamin E (clotting wounds and hair) or Vitamin B (immune system, our defence against micro-organisms). Size zero and our “wealthy, posh and successful is thin” culture is making people cold as they don’t have the body fat to stay warm. THIS IS THE UGLY REALITY. IT IS COLD AND UGLY. SIZE ZERO IS A HEALTH NIGHTMARE.
Yet the same thing happens in men.
The fashion for men in skinny jeans results in a low body fat percentage in men which reduces Testosterone, the male steroid hormone, formation. Men therefore lose the hormone that promotes male sexual characteristics. Men become infertile, impotent, lose hair, bones and lose muscle. Men stop being men.
Testosterone is needed for:
- Promoting the formation of sperm from the Testes
- Promoting the growth of the Testes and scrotum
- Promoting body hair and facial hair growth
- Deepening the voice
- Widening the shoulders
- Protecting against osteoporosis (as it promotes bone mineralisation)
- Promoting a feeling of wellbeing in a man (the absence of testosterone can cause anxiety and depression).
- Platelet (needed to clot the blood) formation
- Glycaemic (blood sugar control)
- Helping women orgasm in sex
So extremely skinny men lose their testosterone. Additionally, with a low body fat and low fat diet, they too lose the ability to absorb fat soluble vitamin A, E, D and B and so they too worsen their eyesight, ability to fight infection and lose their hair and bones and yellow their teeth. Just what every guy is aiming for right?
The “anabolic steroid body builder muscle man” look in men has them bulking up at the gym with excessive amounts of protein shakes that convert so much fat to muscle that (even though they are very big in size) men do not have enough body fat (as they reduce their body fat: muscle ratio sufficiently) to produce Testosterone and so these huge muscle men also become infertile and impotent. The use of steroids also seen in this culture also causes impotence. The “low carb,” “high protein” diets promoted and trending on social media widely can cause keto-acidosis. This is because in the absence of carbohydrate (needed in respiration to make energy for all life processes so carb free diets are ridiculous) in the diet, our bodies respire proteins in a process called deamination and transamination. The deamination produces ketone bodies which, if in excess KILL YOU. So all the protein shakes and powders if in excess kill people, greeaaatttt. Bulk up guys!!
The world has quite literally gone insane.
Food and diet and weight extremism is dictated by culture. How people “feel about themselves,” their sense of self, self-worth, their attractiveness to the opposite sex, their value and place in society and their self-confidence is dictated by culture. Our cultures have to change as this is not sustainable and currently is causing misery, stealing health and stealing self-love and dictating an “attractive” social memetic which is in reality, away from the pretty photos and memes and Tinder profiles, really ugly.
Copyright Laura Campbell 2020
The Food Anti Extremist 