The ‘health’ and beauty
industries are highly lucrative, and the market for their products is vast. So,
by presenting the consumer with an ideal of eternal youth and beauty that’s
realistically impossible to achieve, they’re tapping into an inexhaustible
source of income.
The average woman will never
be able to achieve the ideal she’s bombarded with. And the chances are that if
you offer her assistance in the form of ever-more innovative lotions and
potions, she’s likely to bite your hand off.
Magazines will always push
these products with images of perfection, as long as the industry is willing to
pay heavily for the privilege of their prime positions. These marketing ploys have
thousands of women lamenting the way they look, but this will never change
unless members of the industry alter their branding, and our purchasing power
changes.
Of course, family and friends
can also negatively affect the way we feel about ourselves. But fundamentally,
this resentment of our own reflection can only really be re-examined and
re-adjusted by ourselves.
It’s important to try and
remember that while being thin and youthful in appearance is often associated
with being healthy, this isn’t realistically the case.
Bodies of all shapes and
sizes can be healthy, so by embracing a healthy lifestyle and tweaking the way
you think about your image, you’ll find your self-esteem and feelings of well-being
improve in line with your health and fitness. You’ll learn to love and
appreciate all the things your body can do, and before you know it, you’ll be
singing your own praises in your plus-size swimwear or applauding your athletic limbs.
If it’s not enough motivation
to alter your thinking for yourself, then do it for your children. After all,
children learn from their parents, and if they constantly see you monitoring
the latest miracle diet or moaning about your muffin-top, the chances are that
they’ll follow suit.
Children need their parents
to guide them towards making healthy choices, rather than following a quick fix
in the form of a restrictive diet. It’s important to dissuade young minds from
thinking that body shape should be their top priority. Comfort in their own
skin should be their core concern.
***THIS HAS BEEN A GUEST POST***
Hope you are doing lovely and staying cool in the heat!!!
