One in Five Korean Women Undernourished

[ashiva.livejournal.com]

Almost two in every 10 women suffer from undernourishment, with intentional starvation being the main cause, according to the latest survey by the Ministry for Health, Welfare and Family Affairs.

A prime example of this phenomenon is 30-year-old Cho, who, by her own admission, has tried almost every diet regiment that has hit the market since she turned 20.

"You name it. I've done it. From eating only one type of food such as bananas to the Danish macrobiotic diet, I have tried them all," said Cho. "Some worked but some didn't. The bottom line is that you should not eat."

Cho is not alone in believing firmly that not eating is the best method to shed pounds or remain slim. The 21st century has become the age of "Looks are everything" and "Being slim is the proof of beauty." The statistics support this ideology.

In its latest report, 19.2 percent of women were found to be undernourished. The figure is high for a developed country, the ministry said. About 11.6 percent of men are also not properly nourished.

Wanting to be "beautiful" was the key reason.

In the 2007 report, 48.7 percent of teenagers were on a diet, with 65.3 percent of females restricting their eating.

About 88.3 percent of the females were doing so to make their appearance better. This year, the trend has not significantly changed.

In this year's report, the number of females suffering from osteoporosis was five times higher than males

"There are various reasons causing the bone-weakening disease such as women giving birth or experiencing menstruation. The large gap between the sexes is one of many signs that an unhealthy diet is even more prevalent among women," ministry official Oh Sang-yoon said.

Experts warned that females could face even more severe health problems, if they do not maintain a balanced diet. Conditions from hair loss and depression to bulimia, constipation and anorexia are often seen among women who diet, Seo Jung-wan of the Korean Pediatric Society said.

Prof. Noh Dong-young of Seoul National University hospital says that underweight women have a higher chance of getting breast cancer than those of normal weight.

Source: The Korea Times

Comments

[babybluedream.livejournal.com]

The bottom line is that you should not eat.

what.

[iamcanvas.livejournal.com]

THIS! guess we know who will be the perfect idol for south koreans! KATE MOSS,IM LOOKING AT YOU! lmfao :|

their diet plans sure have TONS of holes in it!HAHA

[no-mercy-again.livejournal.com]

it sucks. I'm like that when I have my 1st love and lost 9kg/month . but it's stupid. cuz when you lose weight , your boob 'll be the 1st lose fat . it'll be smaller . and gizl, you know ? men ( and boy,too) never like gizl doesn't have boob .
it's my lesson .
now I'm fatter but I'm happy with my beautiful boob. plus, you'll be cute if you're chubby <3
have a healthy and happy life . and love your body . what kind of "beauty" can kill you like that :-ss

[sayitisso.livejournal.com]

what how are boobs relevant?
saying guys don't like girls with flat chests is the same as saying they don't like fat girls

[mylittlebambi.livejournal.com]

lovely. and nice gif there :P

btw that reminds me of my brother's question: who was behind the scenes of catwalk models/supermodels skinniness = beauty?

[no-mercy-again.livejournal.com]

oh yeah , that's really scary. Fashion like skinny model but it can kill people . what kind of beauty when you doesn't have boob, butt and ... no men'll love you :-ss but a lots of people think that's "beauty" . but we should love our-self 1st , and make people love you , by your heart.not this way :-ss it's scary >"

[whisperingtunes.livejournal.com]

Underweight women have a higher chance of getting breast cancer than those of normal weight.

Scary.

[jaded-skys.livejournal.com]

along with a crapload more problems, like lowered immune systems, higher chances of organ malfunctions, not even looking at how effed up your digestion track will be. I don't understand how people can look at the risks and go "...naw, bring skinny's worth it." :/

[froggster.livejournal.com]

seems like their brains died along with their 'fat'.

not eating to lose weight is dumb, because the moment you eat you gain weight like whoa.
The body thinks: OMG FOOOOOOD, I have to stockpile before this crazy person starts starving herself again.

[pixifaerithingy.livejournal.com]

Seriously.....you can lose brain mass if you're anorexic.Super scary.

[berrycherry.livejournal.com]

And since when is that news? :/
sometimes I am so glad I am not from korea. My eating disorder wouldn've killed me there.

[xcherryblossomx.livejournal.com]

MTE, MTE

[niara-honey.livejournal.com]

A diet= watching what you eat
figuratively, not literally.
Ugh. I can't stand hearing about people deliberately starving themselves (for image and not political reasons).
Starvation has a negative connotation for a reason. jeez man.

[niara-honey.livejournal.com]

ps. if you've done all you can to try to lose weight, and it's not coming off, here's a lil memo: [usually that's because] YOUR BODY IS AT THE WEIGHT IT NEEDS/WANTS TO BE AT.

ughh arrghh i'm out =_=

[violentiak.livejournal.com]

That is pretty fucked up.

[froggster.livejournal.com]

OMG CAN'T UNSEE D:
geez that's scary

[pandatablo.livejournal.com]

I tried to go on a diet once ...it lasted for about 3 months . thenmy birthday came and I pretty much was like : Fuck this ! Cake !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Point is eat healthy, exercise . Don't cut down on food, try and be more active. I've noticed that Korea isn't big on exercise though . They always advertise these teas or foods and'll make you loose weight, instead on making a point out of the fact that without exercise YOU WON'T LOSE WEIGHT !

[xkimchi-ninja.livejournal.com]

Fuck this ! Cake !!!!!!!!!!!!!!

my thoughts when I look at any food pretty much xD

[filmsession.livejournal.com]

I'm sure the idols' ridiculous height/weight proportions don't help either.

[xkimchi-ninja.livejournal.com]

I'm looking at you Yoon Hwa!
5'9, at 114 pounds is not cool.

[luckyfreelife.livejournal.com]

Being healthy is beautiful. Being happy is beautiful. Being confident is beautiful.

Being anorexic, depressed and physically destroyed is not.

[berrycherry.livejournal.com]

♥

[adliboverplay.livejournal.com]

my mum keeps telling me to move my ass to exercise. cause yours truly dies after running 4 rounds around the track.
then i tell her i'll be anorexic then.
she bursts out laughing. saying that day will never arrive.
and she's right.

although in general, it is not right to diet. i wonder how these girls have the willpower to not eat. i guess the goal to look stick thin and malnourished is strong.

i only think about being anorexic when im watching victoria secret's fashion show. their abs are to die for. THEIR LEGS are to die for.

[risabet.livejournal.com]

Being anorexic means being very, very sick to the point when it's life-threatening. Both the body and the mind suffer greatly.

Exercise is good when it's something you enjoy doing and it makes you feel good. Being healthy is good. But being healthy also requires the person to eat good, nourishing food regularly. Eating is not a sin; it's a necessity of life.

I bet you're beautiful just the way you are. Victoria's secret isn't the only type of beauty out there.

[tablo.livejournal.com]

i want to know about the men too, 11.6% is still a pretty big amount even if it's not as much compared to 19.2%

[sabaku-no-leti.livejournal.com]

skeleton = not beautiful :(

Visual examples:

[crypticbluerose.livejournal.com]

yeah i hated they were always talk shyt about solbi's body, i'm like well excuse her for have a body to look at

[pixifaerithingy.livejournal.com]

I'm still recovering from an eating disorder, and when I started dating my Korean boyfriend, I thought I needed to lose weight because I thought he'd compare me to super skinny Korean girls. I almost relapsed before I talked to him about it and he was like "wtf I've never dated a Korean girl because THEY CRAZY." and boyyyyyy he right I guess.

"underweight" sounds scarier than it actually is though, I'm technically "underweight" according to BMI and I'm still a size 4. Definitely not on my deathbed.

[evil-zucchini.livejournal.com]

LOL your boyfriend's funny. XD

[nudrive.livejournal.com]

Looks mean nothing if you're dead.

lol this

[xanderave.livejournal.com]

The CARNIVOROUS diet (http://community.livejournal.com/aramatheydidnt/390207.html) is better.

[distortedinpink.livejournal.com]

That's.... not healthy =\

[minyquai.livejournal.com]

UNDERNOURISHED KOREAN WOMEN? WHAT ARE YOU TALKING ABOUT!



With magazines and celebrities promoting so much shit about weight this is no surprise. Oh this reminds me... one sec...

[tablo.livejournal.com]

ot sorta but THIS IS DRIVING ME NUTS BECAUSE I'VE SEEN HER SOMEWHERE AND I CAN'T REMEMBER GOD DAMN EVERYTHING IT IS TOO EARLY

[nudrive.livejournal.com]

ah you're not dw :DDD

[diorbaby.livejournal.com]

this reminds me of what kate moss said a little while ago. "nothing tastes as good as being skinny feels." on one hand i sort of understand where these girls are coming from. to this day, 4 years post-treatment, struggle with my food issues a lot, but when it comes down to it being chubby > being dead. everyone needs to come to this conclusion on their own though, and having been there, there's no point in trying to force this connection. first of all, they know deep down, even if they're not willing to admit it, that what they're doing isn't right, that it'll eventually kill them, etc. but until they have that scary, scary moment of actual enlightenment, nothing anyone says is going to change anything.

[sayitisso.livejournal.com]

yes, this. i posted her quote on my site the other day and it was a huge fight between people who thought she was a 'crazy anorexic bitch' with no logic and those who agreed with her. in the end, eating disorders are so much more complicated than what people make them out to be...and it's not that easy to fix them. especially when they're a social problem and it happens to this many people.

[dokidokidaichi.livejournal.com]

There are various reasons causing the bone-weakening disease such as women giving birth or experiencing menstruation.

i think i must be reading this completely wrong
experiencing menstruation (lol as if you can avoid it?) gives you osteoporosis? wat?
i do know that women are more likely to develop osteoporosis than men, but is that really the reason? that is a weird reason.

[sballet06.livejournal.com]

That sentence confused me too.

I know irregular or nonexistent periods can lead to irreversible bone loss and osteoporosis. Your period can stop if you're below a certain point of body fat so maybe they're trying to say these girls starving themselves can lead to osteoporosis?

[minyquai.livejournal.com]

This is from the August '08 issue of Céci magazine:

They questioned men at which weight they would consider their girl fat:



As you can see they had three choices: 45 kg, 50 kg and 55 kg. 60 kg is just insanity.

No, honestly. Every Korean magazine has shittons of ads for plastic surgery at the end. Oh God I could really....

[yuki-yang.livejournal.com]

i'm 45kg!! I am NOT fat...ugh those 14.5% of korean men can die!! >_

[yuki-yang.livejournal.com]

Korean women often hear things like BREAKING NEWS: Go Hara has a 20cm waist!!!

That's why some Korean women stop eating. They are under self-pressure to look like their idols. They refused to understand that Goo Hara is probably overworked and undernourished...that's why she has a 20cm waist.

[shadowfax.livejournal.com]

correction

Underweight women have a higher chance of getting breast cancer any disease than those of normal weight.