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(U-WIRE) PROVO, Utah -- Some women are willing to do anything to look good. If starving, throwing up or going on fad diets will help a woman become thinner, these options, although detrimental, seem enticing.
"You have to be really thin to fit in to society," said Ellie Hansen, a Brigham Young University freshman from Hillsboro, Ore., studying visual arts.
This idea of having to look thin and be fit has been fixed in men and women's minds for generations. However, the trend in the past few years has moved in the direction of women going to dangerous lengths for a thin body.
"They [women] feel pressured, like they have to be a certain way," Hansen said.
Unfortunately, this trend even thrives on BYU campus, according to a "man on the street" dieting survey conducted by The Daily Universe among 100 BYU women about different diets and trends they have tried in the past and ones they are currently trying.
Results showed that 66 percent of those women are currently trying some type of diet or weight loss technique. Of those women, 83 percent have tried some type of weight loss technique in the past.
These numbers are much higher than national statistics, which show 33 percent of U.S. adults (71 million people) are currently dieting, according to the Calorie Control Council Web site.
In answering questions on the BYU survey, women admitted to eating less, skipping meals and even purging after meals in order to stay thin.
A lot of these women know what they're doing is unhealthy, and even deadly in some cases, but statistics show they're willing to do whatever it takes to look like the women on magazine covers.
"It's sad how girls don't even care about how fit they are," said Dani Johnson, a BYU cheerleader. "It's all about how skinny they look."
A positive aspect of the survey showed that many women are currently participating in what Kim Mohoman, a personal trainer at 24 Hour Fitness, calls lifestyle changes. Things like working out, eating smaller portions and eating more nutritiously. They reflect a way of healthy living as opposed to a marketed diet trends.
The survey also showed that in the past, marketed health trends, otherwise known as fad diets, were more popular than lifestyle changes. The fad diet craze was more prevalent among women 21 to 25. Some women have even tried up to four or five fad diets within the past few years.
Mohoman recommended the healthy lifestyle change approach to weight loss as opposed to the fad diet.
"Try and eat frequently throughout the day," Mohoman said. "It'll help speed up your metabolism. Try and be active. Try and do something active every single day. If people did those couple of things, they'd see a huge difference in how they were feeling."
(C) 2006 The Daily Universe via U-WIRE
