Take this quiz on body image and find out if you know enough about things like eating disorders and steroids. Answers are at the bottom

Body image is a significant problem for many people today. It is important to understand what kind of problems people are having, and why they are having them. To truly understand body image, you have to understand these 14 terms.

Eating Disorders

Any disorder characterized by severe disturbances in eating habits (such as overeating, skipping meals, not eating for an extended period of time, etc…) Many people associate eating disorders with teenage girls or women in general, while in fact a significant number of men suffer from eating disorders.

Anorexia

is also known as anorexia nervosa, is the loss of appetite or the refusal to eat in the attempt to lose weight.

Osteoporosis

is a disorder where your bones become extremely porous and brittle. While osteoporosis is associated with calcium deficiency, anorexia greatly contributes to the likelihood of a person having osteoporosis. This disorder can lead to severe pain, shrinking a few inches and other skeletal deformities.

Bulimia

is also known as binge-purge syndrome, is characterized by binge eating followed by tremendous guilt and/or depression and self induced vomiting.

Fitness

is described in the dictionary as the “capability of the body to distribute oxygen inhaled to muscles during increased physical effort”. This basically means the ability to maintain hard exercise such as running for a significant period of time. If you can’t run for at least 5 minutes, you’re probably not very fit.

Anabolic Steroids

are performance enhancing drugs related to the male hormone, testosterone. Steroids increase a process known as protein synthesis within the cells, especially in muscles, causing them to grow significantly. Many bodybuilders will utilize steroids to gain muscle quickly, but steroids are barred from all major professional sports.

Creatine

is an organic acid naturally occurring in the body’s vertebrae cells that sends energy to muscle cells. Creatine causes muscles to retain water, making them appear larger, and allow athletes to work out harder and longer. While creatine helps athletes gain muscle quickly, it is not yet banned from athletic associations.

Lactic Acid

is responsible for the pain you feel near the end of and after an especially intense workout. Lactic acid is released as a product of a muscle contraction (during exercise) and a significant buildup results in that “burning sensation” and cramping pains.

Compulsive Exercise

is when an athlete feels absolutely committed to his or her workout, and is unable to postpone or skip a session. Compulsive exercise is generally associated with addiction and obsession, and an athlete who suffers from compulsive behavior usually becomes angry and irritable after missing a workout. If you have a friend who absolutely refuses to skip a workout and gets very frustrated or angry if he or she does, your friend is probably a compulsive exerciser.

Proteins

are essential components of all living cells, any number of organic compounds that are responsible for the growth and repair of living tissue. Protein is vital to weightlifters and athletes trying to build muscle and stay healthy. It is found naturally in products such as meat, fish and dairy products.

Carbohydrates

are a group of organic compounds such as starches, sugars and cellulose that provide a vital energy source for all living things. Carbohydrates are a huge energy source for human beings, and provide the fuel for endurance activities such as running a marathon or competing in a soccer match.

Dehydration

is the excessive of loss of water from the body, for example when you’re sweating hard from a long run in the hot sun. Dehydration results in hypernatremia, or a high level of sodium in the blood. When you sweat a significant amount and become dehydrated, shock becomes a serious risk.

Hyponatremia

is more or less the opposite of dehydration, so it is basically when you drink too much water (also know as, believe it or not, “water intoxication”). Hyponatremia is when the sodium levels in your blood are too low.

Electrolytes

are substances composed of free ions vital to a person’s hydration. Many popular sports drinks boast “Electrolytes!” on their labels, because after a period of hard exercise, you need electrolytes to maintain proper nerve and muscle function.

Sources

http://www.dictionary.com

Curiosity about Creatine: A High School Athlete's Experience
Will Simpson

As a junior in high school, one of the most powerful influences in my life is my athletic career, which almost single-handedly dictates my entire schedule 365 days a year. I complete homework and projects around daily practices and workouts; I sacrifice my weekends for away games, and devote countless hours to icing and mending various injuries sustained during sports. I literally devote my sweat, blood and tears to my football and lacrosse teams, spending hours on end running sprints on the field, lifting in the weight room or memorizing plays late at night. Being a varsity football player in a school with a prestigious record (not to mention defending 2006 State Champs), I feel like it is my duty to quite literally, “be all I can be” athletically. In my pursuit of greatness (and another State Champ ring) I have developed a love for lifting weights. For almost two years now I have lifted weights religiously, skipping homework and setting my social life aside while I focused only on getting bigger, faster, stronger. It was this passion that would eventually lead me to creatine.

I began with the basics, a bench press and a jar of peanut butter, consuming as much protein as I could right after my workout. In the beginning I would lift for maybe a half an hour, do some ab work and call it a day. As I began to see results, I became obsessed with the possibilities weight lifting held for me. I went out and bought heavier weights, and consulted experts about bigger, better workouts that would yield even greater results. I extended my workout from a mere half an hour of bicep curls and calf raises to a solid hour and a half of deadlifts, bench presses and squats. This insatiable desire for bigger results, faster, eventually led me down the path so many high school athletes are following today: creatine use. I started hearing friends mention the product around the weight room, and after a few cautious inquiries, I believed it sounded perfect for me. I investigated further and found that creatine is an organic acid that occurs naturally in the human body that directs energy to muscle cells. I also learned that creatine supposedly increases ones size and muscle mass quickly and effectively. Of course, I ran out to the nearest store and bought what was supposed to be the safest, yet most productive creatine supplement on the market; CellTech. On my first workout with CellTech, I became nauseous, dizzy and lightheaded a mere 45 minutes into my lift. I struggled to finish and could not imagine repeating the dreadful experience. Later that night I was treated to unbearable stomach pains, which I was told were common side effects of the product.

The next few workouts on CellTech were similar, and I was beginning to lose faith in creatine. To compound my doubt, I had conducted further research, only to learn that many researchers believe that creatine can and will lead to future heart and kidney problems. I finished the container of CellTech in the following weeks and found that all creatine really did for me was make my muscles retain more water, giving them a bulging, swollen appearance while actually doing very little. I gained almost no weight, although I was promised by “creatine experts” that I would gain 6 to 10 pounds in the first few weeks. After finishing the CellTech, I returned to the same store and asked for something natural, and this time, truly effective. I purchased a whey protein shake called CytoGainer, a substance promising me 54 grams of proteins and complex proteins proven to work. This time my supplement contained only 3 grams of creatine. I also went to the strength training coach at my high school and went over better, more effective workouts that would yield obvious, yet healthy results. I have now increased my workout to two hours in length with the new shake, I’ve gained 10 pounds, my bench press has increased 40 pounds, my deadlift a full 100 pounds, and my squat has increased 60 pounds and counting.

So, while I have no doubt that creatine works for some people (I have seen the results some of my friends and fellow lifters have gotten), I personally have found no benefit, and have been much more satisfied with all natural protein supplements.
Many of my fellow athletes, especially the naturally smaller guys, have turned to creatine as kind of a last resort. Athletes who cannot gain weight, or keep muscle mass on, turn to creatine as an answer, a supplement that is sure to work for them. Especially in high school, many athletes work out daily with hardly noticeable results, due largely to the fact that their bodies are still growing and developing. Many turn to creatine in frustration, determined to get bigger and better. In addition, many athletes who are already working out successfully feel they need to become even bigger to please coaches, play on the starting team, appeal to college scouts, etc. There is an entirely different class of creatine user as well - the vain lifter who works out only for appearance.

While all may have different motivations for working out, the bottom line is that many young athletes today are driven to use creatine. Personally having experimented with creatine, I do not feel that the minor benefits one may see are worth the potential future risk. Yes, your muscles might swell up for a few weeks and you might be able to bench press a few more pounds, but is that really worth heart and kidney trouble a few years down the road? Heart and kidney problems might not even be the worst of it, researchers still have years of study to do before we can positively identify the negative impacts of creatine. In the end, hard work and natural proteins are without a doubt a safer alternative to creatine.

Get more info on creatine

Guys deal with body image issues everyday too. While it is great that issues around body image are being talked about more, often times the entire conversation is focused on females. Just think: ads with super skinny women make girls feel the pressure, and the ads with pictures of men are no different!

Guys often feel that they must look big and strong. Much like compulsive exercise there are often serious pressures for athletes especially to bulk up. Because of these pressures to attain a certain build, guys might think about using performance-enhancers.

But it’s not just guys turning to steroids. It turns out that girls are using them as well. Sometimes it is for the same reasons, to become bigger for sports, but they also can be used by girls (often hand-in-hand with an eating disorder) to lose weight and get the “toned look.”

There are better, healthier, ways to boost performance including strength training (see our fitness page) and eating healthy (check out the healthy eating cause!).

Steroids are not the only way athletes try to train harder and gain muscle mass. A relatively new supplement on the market, creatine is a naturally produced organic acid in the body that directs energy to muscle cells. Creatine has become one of the most fiercely debated topics in high school and college weight rooms today.

Athletes who want to add significant muscle mass in a relatively short period of time have started utilizing creatine supplements such as NO-Xplode and CellTech during their workouts. While we know creatine is effective for its immediate purposes (bodybuilding, weight gaining), researchers have been unable to guarantee the long-term safety of the supplement.

While all high school and college coaches want their athletes to be in the best shape possible, many are reluctant to recommend or even condone the use of creatine. Many agree that creatine is too new, and while size and power are important to a successful athlete, the possible future health problems are not worth the immediate benefits of the supplement.

A safer, natural alternative to creatine supplements is a diet rich in meat, fish, and milk, all of which contain significant amounts of naturally occurring creatine. Many weightlifters also stick to high amounts of protein for increasing muscle mass, eating lots of peanut butter and meat.

The immediate benefits of creatine:

• more energy during work outs (due to greater ATP regeneration)
• enhanced strength
• decreased effects of lactic acid (the burn you feel after heavy exercise)
• quick weight gain
• greater water retention in muscles, resulting in a "swelling" of the muscles
• delays fatigue, allows for shorter workout recovery period

The problems with creatine:

• potential for kidney stones
• no long term studies have been conducted; many researchers see the possibility of heart and kidney problems
• greater susceptibility to injury during contact sports
• causes muscles to develop faster than the tendons that support them resulting in tears and other injury
• greater risk of renal disease
• unknown effects on the blood stream

Some of the serious, long-term effects of anabolic steroid use are:

• premature balding or hair loss
• dizziness
• mood swings, including anger, aggression, and depression
• seeing or hearing things that aren't there (hallucinations)
• extreme feelings of mistrust or fear (paranoia)
• problems sleeping
• nausea and vomiting
• trembling
• high blood pressure that can damage the heart or blood vessels over time
• aching joints
• greater chance of injuring muscles and tendons
• jaundice or yellowing of the skin; liver damage
• urinary problems
• shortening of final adult height
• increased risk of developing heart disease, stroke, and some types of cancer

4 specific risks for girls:

1. increased facial hair growth
2. development of masculine traits, such as deepening of the voice, and loss of feminine body characteristics, such as shrinking of the breasts
3. enlargement of the clitoris
4. menstrual cycle changes

5 specific risks for guys:

1. testicular shrinkage
2. pain when urinating
3. breast development
4. impotence (inability to get an erection)
5. sterility (inability to have children)

Other risks:

Steroids can also have serious psychological side effects. Some users become aggressive or combative, developing "roid rage" — extreme, uncontrolled bouts of anger caused by long-term steroid use.

Steroid users who inject the drugs with a needle are at risk for infection with HIV (human immunodeficiency virus), the virus that causes AIDS, if they share needles with other users. People who use dirty needles are also at greater risk for contracting hepatitis, a disease of the liver, or bacterial endocarditis, an infection of the inner lining of the heart.

If you, or someone you know, needs help now go to our hotline page for numbers to call for help.

Sources:

kidshealth.org
USA.Today
www.creatinemonohydrate.net
www.bodybuildingforyou.com