Food on the Brain

My weight has always been an issue with my family. My father has always found me overweight and has tried to control what I ate so that it would help me to lose weight. My dad would constantly ask me why I was so heavy but still active in colorguard and would ask why my face was so broken out. This eventually lead me to believe that everything my dad was telling me was true. That I was fat and lazy and I looked terrible. Throughout high school I developed  body issues and was constantly worried about how I looked.

During high school my dad would always tell me that I was overweight and that I would never have a boyfriend due to the way I looked. After several years of this I started to believe everything he was saying and it made me feel terrible about myself. My father started to restrict the type of food that he would buy and bring to the house. Everything became low fat, no fat, or diet. Nothing was fried, there was very little oil or cheese on anything. This made me feel terrible, and made me constantly crave things that my dad would no longer allow me to have. Due to my cravings I started sneaking food. I would buy snacks and hide them in my room, or wait for my dad to go out and then I'd get in my car and go buy something from McDonalds or Sonic and get back to my house and eat it in the privacy of my room. After these changes my dad made to our diets he noticed I wasn't losing any weight he started putting me down more about eating "crap" when I was at school and whenever I was out with friends. With all of the negative spiels I was getting from my dad I started to restrict what I was eating and often binge eat. I would sometimes purge after because all I could think about is what my dad would say if he found out everything that I ate.

After a while of binging and purging 3 or 4 times a month I told one of my friends how I felt about my dad and she made me feel like it was okay to be who I was. That it was okay to have a cookie and pizza and other foods. She told me that eating is something we need and it should be something we enjoy, not something we should use as a form of punishment. After hearing someone give me positive feedback on how I was living my life, it became easier for me to ignore what my dad was saying about my body. I was finally coming to terms with how I looked and I didn't try to sneak food anymore. I started to become more confident and accept myself for who I was. To this day it still hurts to hear my dad talk about how I could be so much prettier if I went on a diet, but I know that I have people who love me just the way I am and I don't have to change anything about myself and they would still love me the same. I still have body image issues because for half my life my dad was telling me that I wasn't pretty enough or skinny enough, and that eventually sinks in and stays with you. But ultimately all I want is to be at a healthy weight and to maintain that healthy lifestyle and not hat myself because I want a cookie.

Let's talk about SEX

I love having the sex talk with teenagers, it's absolutely hilarious. I remember when I was talking to my boyfriends 17 year old brother about sex, and how he needs to use protection if he's going to have sex. He comes from a strict catholic mother that says "Don't do it until you're married". While that works for some people it didn't work for him. So I decided to talk to him and let him know that I want him to be protected whenever he decides to have sex. I took him to Raising Canes in Lewisville and we had dinner and I asked about his sexual experiences. He was hesitant at first but eventually opened up. After we talked for a long time, I took him to Walmart and bought him condoms. This was the fun part, I embarrassed him so much! I was just saying things like, well do you want "her pleasure" or "ultra thin". It was fun to address it this way, and I felt like it took some of the pressure off of him. There were times where I was serious though and said that I wanted him to share an experience like sex with someone he truly cared about, however it was his decision to decide who he has sex with. I told him that I would always be here to help him out but that I would't be raising his child, so if he and his partner decided to have sex without a condom and got pregnant, that he would have to take responsibility for his actions. I asked him if he had any questions for me, and surprisingly he did. He asked what happens if he couldn't get "excited" at the right time, and why I had decided to hold of on having sex with anyone. I told him I couldn't really help him with the getting excited part, but that his body would know what to do when the time is right and that if he wasn't getting excited that there was some reason for that. Now for the reason why I haven't had sex, it was because I wanted it to be with someone I really knew I loved. That it means more to me than just having sex. I don't try to push that on anyone but I know that more than enough women attach sex to love and they can't separate the two, and I'm sure I'd be one of those women. So instead of just having sex and creating some allusion of love for someone I probably wouldn't have feelings for otherwise, I've just decided to wait until I know I've found that person I want to share that experience with.

I feel like I'd have a very similar situation if it were my pre-teen that I was having this discussion with. I'd take them out to a restaurant or to get ice cream and just tell them the facts about sex. That it's a natural part of life and that as a growing (boy or girl) that it's a natural desire to want to explore these feelings. That sex with someone else can be very pleasing but that it can also be very dangerous and that you need to use some sort of protection to prevent an STI or pregnancy. I would tell my child that having sex is normal and to not feel embarrassed about wanting to do it or pressured by someone else to have it. Since we had that contraceptive lesson the other day, I feel like I know more about barrier methods than I would like. But I'd explain all the contraceptive options out there and advise what to use. I'd then take them out to buy condoms or whatever type of contraceptive they decided to use, and demonstrate the correct way to use it. I'd also tell them what I told my boyfriends brother, that I would hope that they would wait to have sex with someone they truly cared about, but no matter what happens I'll always love them. That they need to be safe about having sex because I do not need to be a grandmother too early, and that if they have a baby that they are responsible for taking care of it. I'd then encourage them to ask questions if they ever had any, and that they shouldn't feel scared to ever come to me to talk about sex.

I feel that I am very open when it comes to talking about sex. I can't wait to be able to talk about this with my children to see how it really turns out in life, and what they might ask.

Adolescents and Drinking

I sincerely feel that healthy behavior in adolescents have been going downhill for quite some time. I know that this decline has started way before the 1990’s but the area that I am most concerned about has grown since the mid ‘90’s; the increases in media adolescents are exposed to. I remember reading a post on Facebook from a friend saying her younger brother who just turned 16 said “I drive extremely well in Grand Theft Auto while drunk, how hard can it be in real life?”. This is a brand new driver who thinks that because he has become skilled at driving drunk on a video game he’ll be just as skilled driving drunk in a real car. I’m not sure about everyone else, but this kids’ lack of awareness scares me. There are so many ways to educate kids about the effects of drunk driving, but has this kid been exposed to them? I talked to my friend about what her younger brother has been educated on in regards to drinking and driving, and she said none.

One of the ways my high school educated us about drunk driving is by putting on a program called “Fatal Choices, Shattered Dreams”. At the start of the morning classes and 15 minute intervals, since that is how often someone in this country dies in a drunk driving accident, a crash sounded and then a heartbeat sound came across the intercom followed by the flat line sound. The grim reaper, police and ambulance attendants enter a classroom, they touch a student and wheel them out on a gurney covered by a sheet. Their obituary is read to the class. The student changes into a black shirt, has their face painted white and becomes the living dead. No interaction with anyone for the rest of the day. Parents of this student get a call at work, saying their child has been involved in a drunk driving accident and has died. The parents know their child is involved in this activity and that it is not real, but the shock of getting this call still hurts. Each of the “dead” students has a cross with their name on it in the front yard of the school. I was able to be one of the students involved in this activity, and I will never forget how it affected me. Programs like these involve parents, students, educators, and the community. There was a “drunk driving” scene acted out in the parking lot, and it’s covered by the local news and radio stations to educate more than just the students watching and involved.

Programs like these help to educate kids about how life is after high school. I really think this is a good step in how to get adolescents to be on track with how to drink responsibly. This is one area in health that I am really passionate about and was really excited to share.

A Little Bio about Me

Hello Everyone,
My name is Brooke. I am a Psychology major and my minor is in Child Development, however I feel that Social Work is where my heart belongs. I feel that I can do so much as a Social Worker, and hope to work at Child Protective Services someday. I'm a 5th year senior and will be graduating in May...Finally! I am VERY excited about this. I love to read, swim, hang out with friends, and watch funny movies. Some of the areas of health that I am really interested in are Stress, Anorexia/Bulimia, Drug use, and Sleep Deprivation. All of these areas have impacted my life in some way, shape, or form, so I find a great interest in learning about them. I think this class will give great incite onto these areas and much more, and I'm excited to learn about them.

One unique thing about me is that I am a fighter. I refuse to sink under any circumstance, and even when times are hard, I will never give up. One of my favorite quotes states "Anyone can give up, it's the easiest thing in the world to do. But to hold it together when everyone else would understand if you fell apart, that's true strength". I live by this quote daily, and never let myself fall apart. I refuse to give up, I refuse to fall apart, and I refuse to sink.