As you watch tv, you see these little skinny people which has become the ideal body, which is not true. Most of these people are below their ideal body weight, which brings on a whole new perspective to problems, but that is another story. With these pictures in mind, many people, especially women feel that they have to look like a skinny person, so they do many drastic measures to loose weight. Many of these drastic, extreme diets cut out dairy products and many other products that give us the daily requirements of vitamins and minerals. Thus leading to less calcium in the diet, causing more bone loss.
The american journal of clinical nutrition put out a study that found women who were frequent dieters had a 16% lower bone mineral content than women that do not.
I am not saying losing weight is bad, especially in the cases where it is critical for quality of life issues, but the best thing to do is to eat a variety of foods, but in moderation. Also, exercise is important to help lose weight properly and to keep it off. It is important to develop a healthy lifestyle….not just “yo-yo dieting” every few months. Also remember, skinny in some cases is unhealthy– depending on your height, their is an ideal weight for you to be at.
I am doing my externship at a hospital and went around with the respiratory therapist for a day and it was very interesting. I learned a bit, but something that I wanted to mention is that they use community inhalers with spacers. Now, there are studies that say this is perfectly ok, but would you want your loved one sharing an inhaler for 6 other people? Different hospitals have different policies, but remember the patient can always request their own inhaler.