Role models and teens' body image
Our expert Azmina Govindji discusses Celebrity fad diets and Med eating - fact or fiction?
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Transcript
Presenter - Of course, it can be serious for some people. Teenagers, for instance, especially teenage girls, are really affected by seeing all these incredibly skinny celebrities - is it more dangerous for them to follow these faddy diets than for, say, you or I?
Azmina - It would definitely be more dangerous. This is a period of rapid growth for teens when they're actually forming, and if you're going to disturb that process, you're going to have long-term effects. They need a lot of calories, a lot of protein, especially during puberty. And it's usually at puberty, when girls are getting a bit rounded - which is just their body preparing them for pregnancy in later life - that they think, -oh my God I'm fat!-. They open up a magazine and see a gorgeous figure, and think, -I want to eat what she eats and look like she looks-. But it's not the real world, is it?
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