Sarah Maria

Growing up is difficult, very difficult. Children are constantly subject to the message that they need to do more, be more, and have more in order to be successful. Media messages teach young girls that their bodies should be unreasonably thin and blemish-free.

In addition to having the perfect body, our girls must excel academically, be socially active, participate in sports, engage in extra-curricular activities and give back to their communities.

Is your daughter's weight the result of her social network?

A recent study authored by Adina Lemeshow claims that feeling unpopular can actually lead to weight gain in girls 12 to 18 years old. The study showed that girls who perceived themselves as "unpopular" were 69 percent more likely to gain two points on the body mass index scale in the subsequent years following the original survey.

So you're not anorexic, you're not bulimic, and you don't binge eat . . . most of the time. But do you love your body? According to the latest statistics, the answer is probably "no".

If you don't love your body, you may be stifling your creativity, draining your energy, and limiting your potential. You may be flirting subtly - and not so subtly - with body loathing, a condition which, if left unchecked, can turn into a serious disorder.

Every woman living in today's culture knows the standard for beauty: you must be thin, young, and toned, and the thinner the better. Of course, having large breasts is a bonus. This is the message projected by the media, and it's a message most women have listened to, putting them at war with their own bodies and creating feelings of shame, guilt, inadequacy, and dissatisfaction.

Have you ever spend endless hours in thought, pondering an important decision and felt a consistent pain in your stomach? Do you ever notice yourself having critical thoughts and feel a corresponding tightness in your chest? When you've been happy, excited, or thinking positive thoughts, have you noticed how your whole body felt relaxed?

The average person has between 12,000 and 50,000 thoughts per day.