Terry's Philosophies about Well-Being

The Body

You are born with only one body. So take care of it, accept it and love it. You rely on your body for mobility,  to get from point A to point B. The greatest thing that you can do for yourself, then, is to fuel your body well, listen to it when it tells you that you are tired and need rest, and keep it healthy and disease-free.
Bodies come in different shapes and sizes. The three basic body types are: 1) Endomorph, 2) Ectomorph, and 3) Mesomorph. The definitions for these body types are given below. They are from the website http://www.fitnesszone.com/features/archives/body-types.html (also listed below as an active link).
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Endomorph

soft body
underdeveloped muscles
round shaped
over-developed digestive system
trouble losing weight
generally gains muscle easily.
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ECTOMORPH 

thin 
flat chest 
delicate build 
young appearance 
tall 
lightly muscled 
stoop-shouldered 
large brain 
Has trouble gaining weight.
Muscle growth takes longer. 
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Mesomorph

hard, muscular body
overly mature appearance
rectangular shaped
thick skin
upright posture
gains or loses weight easily
grows muscle quickly.

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Philosophy about Nutrition
Never diet! Dieting is a word that communicates severe self restraint and self-deprivation. Many people fail to stick to diets because dieting has nothing to do with an individual's daily rituals around food. Junk food and comfort food do serve a purpose, i.e. enjoyment or a psychological coping mechanism for stress and depression.
    The philosophy to abide by then is moderation combined with physical activity. Eat a variety of foods, healthy as well as "junk", but in moderation. You should also make sure you eat a balanced diet--diet here meaning food choices. Make sure that your diet is rich in vitamins and minerals, and that you consume adequate protein and carbohydrates for cell rejuvenation, energy and for fighting off antibodies.
    Regular physical activity ensures that you are expending calories in a way that would prevent high cholesterol, hypertension and obesity. Cigarettes and alcohol should be cut from lifestyle patterns. A great reference on nutrition and lifestyle is Frances Sizer and Eleanor Whitney's Nutrition: Concepts and Controversies, 8th edition (US: Thomson Learning 2000).

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           Philosophy about Breast Augmentation
In western cultures, many women are having their bustline augmented at an alarming rate--some even as young as 17! Big breasts are in the media as the feminine ideal, and as a consequence, numerous women are feeling the social pressure or buying into the ideology that bigger is better.
 
My personal stance is; one totally against any unnatural prosthetic enhancement that serves for cosmetic reasons. The body has enough foreign microbes to fight off in the external world without having to deal with internal artificial devices. In The Beauty myth of 1990, Naomi Wolf stated that: "A current trend in the United States is for graduating daughters to get breast implant surgery while boys get the traditional grand tour of Europe" (210). Not only female students, women athletes also experience social pressure to appear feminine while training at a  high-performance level which lowers overall body fat, including breast fat.

In bodybuilding, female bodybuilders are appearing super-lean or striated in magazine photos, but with a sudden 5 or 6 inches added to their bustline. Certain bodybuilders who have taken steroids and/or had breast implants have said that their physique is from natural development and "hard training." Their "look", however, seems to be anything but natural. Rachel McLish (below), on the first pioneering female bodybuilders of the 1980s was praised for her feminine curves.

 In this photography of 1996, she appears much more endowed than her earlier bodybuilding photographs. But seeing that breast augmentation is a personal choice, a woman should do her own research on doctors, surgical procedures and post-operative care so she has no tragic surprises when she eventually decides to have surgery. Resistance training, calisthenics and breast self-examination should be integrated as a part of post-operative care. 
                                                                              Rachel McLish (above) c.1996
                                                                   Photograph by Per Bernal

Works Cited

Wolf, Naomi. The Beauty Myth. Toronto: Vintage Books, 1990.

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