Eating Disorders Blog

According to a March 29 article by Kathy Chu of USA Today, Asian women are coming under intense pressure to remain thin, which has led to an increasing prevalence of extreme dieting in many Asian nations:

In most developed parts of the world, women feel pressure to be thin. But such pressure is especially intense in Asia  in places like Hong Kong, Seoul and Tokyo  where scores of skinny women seem always to be looking for ways to get even skinnier.

Experts say dieting in Asia tends to be more extreme than in the West because of cultural perceptions of beauty.

"The magic number is to be below 100 pounds, no matter your height or your weight," says Philippa Yu, a clinical psychologist at the Hong Kong Eating Disorders Association.

In Asia, women want to stay skinny without exercising because muscles aren't considered a feminine feature, says Sing Lee, director of the Hong Kong Eating Disorders Center at Chinese University.

Extreme diets and other types of rapid or drastic weight loss measures are far from healthy behaviors, and have been associated with a wide range of physical and emotional problems.

Labels: extreme diets, pressures, body image

Posted By: Aspen/CRC