Spring Break for many girls means bikinis, short-shorts, and midriff baring attire, so you can imagine how that pressure to look good can trigger someone to go to extremes in order to fit in and look hot.
Pal Leslie of The Weighting Game was on the Today Show with Ashley, a young woman who at one time suffered from anorexia and bulimia issues in order to be thin for events like Spring Break. The ladies discuss how Spring Break can trigger eating disordered behavior, and on The Weighting Game, Leslie goes into more detail of her own personal experience with the pressures of Spring Break.
From my own personal experience another phenomena that goes hand in hand with the Spring Break frenzy to be thin is binge drinking. When you get to Spring Break and because you haven't been eating anything or very little for months in order to drop the weight, your body gets a severe shock when you start drinking right away, and the drunk buzz comes on after only one drink. The majority of calories that many girls will only consume during Spring Break comes from booze.
I've seen girls get completely plastered drunk because they see other girls who are thinner and prettier than they are, and so the depression and self-loathing sets in, and they don't want to feel that pain, so it's easy to get drunk and not deal. Besides being destructive to the body, the big danger with this kind of drinking is that this makes the girl more susceptible to young men with ill intentions, so things like rape and sexual assault are not uncommon during Spring Break.
By all means have fun at Spring Break, but take with you some of these pointers:
- Whatever city you are in, first thing, find out where the hospitals, police and fire stations are or where there are police hanging out.
- Always stay with your friends particularly if you are intoxicated.
- Pace yourself with the alcohol because you could risk things like the worst kind of hangover or alcohol poisoning which I have experienced myself and trust me in that it is very painful to recover from.
- Eat some protein, veggies, and a carb like pasta, potato, or rice if you are going to drink. Nothing but booze in your stomach is like torture to the body. Also just eating fruit or chips & salsa with your drinks is not substantial enough.
- Drink lots and lots of water. If you can drink at least one glass of water between drinks, that will help you greatly. Alcohol dehydrates the body which is one cause of that hang over.
- No means no. If your friends or some guy is pressuring you to do something you don't want to, then stick to your guns and say no. In the long run, people will respect you for standing up for yourself even though at the moment they may be egging you on to get you to cave. Yes, it's hard to do, but you and your safety are far more important.
