Karlie Bussell

ENGLISH 2010

February 1, 2021

Notebook 1 Week 3 February 5th - 5g

“On Teen Dieting”

Many or majority of teens suffer from low self-esteem issues, which can lead them to try

new things to help improve their body image. One of the most popular ways to improve your

looks and self-esteem is to diet. Many people live by a very strict diet only allowing them to eat

or drink a certain amount of calories a day, exercise for long periods of time, no sugar, and some

go as far as depriving themselves of food.

Why is teen dieting an issue? This is a major issue because it could be very life

threatening, not allowing yourself to eat and enjoy food can cause irreversible damage to your

body as well as your mental health. Restricting your body from nutrients, vitamins, and fuel will

ruin your health. We see social media posts all day of people's bodies and compare them to our

own, wishing that we could lose a couple pounds or look like them. Dieting is not the solution,

it’s too restrictive and can cause stress and anxiety about “messing up my diet”. Being on a diet

could cause you to miss out on making memories with your friends because you aren’t allowing

yourself to go grab dinner or a treat with them, which can cause more mental health issues as

well.

Many people that use social media assume that the posts that they see are realistic and

that something is wrong with their body. But those posts aren’t accurate. They are posing,

sucking in, using photoshop, and editing the photos to make themselves look better. We assume

that if we don’t look like the people we see on social media that we are gross and ugly. But that
is far from true! Everyone’s body is unique and special. We need to start appreciating our bodies

and treating them with respect. Restricting yourself from food that you enjoy is not going to

make you look like an instagram model, because the truth is that they allow themselves to have

some unhealthy food too.