October 18, 2012
How to Stop Bad-Mouthing Your Body In magazines and throughout our society, there is such a heavy focus on how women look. Because of this, many women have major body image issues. In my book, The Proper Care and Feeding of Husbands, I relay a call from a woman who told me she was short and tubby. You know how some people have six-pack abs? Well, she had a "12-pack" of fat rolls. The thought of being sexual with her husband made her freak out because she was so self-conscious. However, I told her that her husband would rather have her naked up against him than have her body be perfect. She said I was an idiot, but promised to try out my advice anyway. So, she went to a lingerie store and bought something bright red and outrageous with spaces everywhere. It was even a little too small because they really didn't have anything in her size. When she got home, she started changing upstairs while her husband was in the living room. She then stood at the top of the stairs and called for her husband in the garish, red, too-tight lingerie outfit which prominently displayed her rolls of fat. He took one look at her, smiled widely, and ran up the stairs. They had a great night (and by the way, she no longer thinks I'm a complete idiot). In my opinion, women are to blame for this obsession with their bodies. I read a Glamour magazine survey (which obviously only sampled women who are obsessed with glamor) revealing that 97 percent of women are cruel to their bodies on a daily basis. After surveying 300 women of all sizes, the researchers found that, "On average, women have 13 negative body thoughts daily - nearly one for every waking hour. And a disturbing number of women confess to having 35, 50 or even 100 hateful thoughts about their own shapes each day." That is sick stuff. I feel sorry for these women who are more concerned about superficial things than their brain or character. They are not worried about choosing the right men, doing charity work, getting educated, or being aware of what is going on in their community and world. They are not worried about figuring out how to actually raise their own kids instead of just dumping them in day care. No. They are worried about how they look. That is so pathetic. There is something to be said for school uniforms where how you look is irrelevant. There is less distraction that way. I'll admit I'm not too crazy about looking in the mirror and seeing lines and wrinkles. No woman likes that. However, I don't care about new styles of clothes, hair or makeup, and I don't care about creams that make your face appear younger. What I do care about is being strong and fit. I don't want to be spending the last years of my life unable to get around. Everything I do is a preemptive strike on the future. Every day, I get up at 5:30 a.m. and kill myself working out for an hour. I play tennis two to three times a week, and I also kayak, sail and hike. I work my body. Unfortunately, a lot of people don't have very good luck with genetics, or they've been in some kind of accident (e.g. they've got osteoporosis and they're just waiting for a broken hip). However, when you do have control, put in the effort. Don't have 17 different plastic surgeries. Ann Kearney-Cooke, Ph.D., a Cincinnati psychologist who specializes in body image and helped Glamour design the survey, said: "Neuroscience has shown that whatever you focus on shapes your brain. If you're constantly thinking negative thoughts about your body, that neural pathway becomes stronger - and those thoughts become habitual...Imagine a concert pianist. Her brain would have stronger neural pathways that support musicality and dexterity than someone who hadn't spent her life practicing."Interestingly enough, if a man thinks the same things women are thinking about their own bodies, he's considered offensive or abusive. If a man says that a woman's got a big nose, disgusting skin, bags under her eyes or small breasts, it's a "no-no." And yet with women, negative talk is part of how they bond with each other. Women also tend to talk and feel bad about something rather than trying to fix it. Whether it is stress, loneliness, boredom, or a bad day, women go into depression mode rather than being proactive. I've mentioned many times on my program that it's more typical for guys to be proactive about a problem than women. Men want to go fix something. Women want to talk about it over and over and then feel upset about it. It's not easy, but there are some simple things you can do to change your body and feel better:
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