DDalmost7 has the opposite problem. As a newborn she was a Michelin Baby, and she has sort of "stretched" each time she grew, where she becomes a bit taller and leaner, but she still has something of a belly. She's also got a LOT of muscle for her age/gender, so BMI is misleading in her case. That's why, when a particular doctor used the word "obese," my wife wanted to hit him. We're always walking the tightrope with DD, trying to help her achieve a healthy weight and body image, because as a gifted perfectionist she's a high risk for an eating disorder. Like most kids her age she's prone to eating too much junk food if we allow it, but otherwise she's doing very well... she's active, she stops eating when she's full, and she eats a MUCH healthier variety of foods than many of her peers do. Most importantly, she views her body favorably. For now.
Obviously media images are a HUGE part of the problem with kids and body image, but I think a bigger problem is the poor quality of dieting information being foisted upon these kids. The health industry and the media have grossly dumbed-down the information on what it takes to maintain a healthy weight. They went for the low-lying fruit by picking on fat. Yes, the typical diet of an obese adult contains more fat than necessary, and since it's the most concentrated form of calories, reducing fat intake will reduce caloric intake, which promotes healthier weight.
But as usual, the truth is more nuanced than that. Fat is a vital nutrient, though when the media talks about it in terms of nutritional value it uses the term "fatty acids," confusing the fact that they're basically one and the same. Also, a number of our other vital nutrients are fat soluble, and the only way our bodies can break them down and absorb them is if they were consumed with some dietary fat. As a result, someone who thinks they're doing their body a favor by drinking fat-free milk is literally flushing away most of the nutrients they thought they were ingesting... including vitamin D and calcium.
So there's an opportunity for another talking point, which gives us:
- Media images of beauty are distorted (mentioned by others earlier)
- BMI is a distorted statistic
- Information about healthy diet is distorted
Between these three things, there's no wonder so many people have a distorted view of their own bodies.
