Dr. Deb

Well I got a girl named Boney Maroni
& She’s as Skinny as a Stick of Macaroni!

Hard to believe but that was the song that my Dad sang to me when I was a child. That quickly changed with puberty and estrogen transformed my body from straight to curvy then quite round. Common wisdom at the time was starvation diets from the Scarsdale to fasting liquid protein. Those helped me to lose weight quickly, only to pack it back on plus more until I ballooned to over 200 lbs.

We’ve learned a lot about healthy ways to lose weight but our society has abandoned many healthy habits that kept us thin to begin with. More than 30% of children in the United States are now overweight or obese.

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“Spring Break 85’..We’re just here to have fun.” That was our motto and fun we had, spending most of our time frying on the beach. Sure I hit the tanning bed before I left so I wouldn’t burn, but burn I did. The tops of my hands blistered, yet I stayed out in the sun. Now I have freckles and scars on the tops of my hands to remind me of my youthful transgression but younger people are still not getting the message of the real dangers of tanning.

We now know that excess UV radiation causes wrinkles and skin cancer yet 30 million Americans visit tanning salons each year. Many will become extreme tanorexics or tan addicts. Paleness or a fading tan becomes the obsession. I recently witnessed this when I went to a salon and saw a very tan girl checking in. She said to the receptionist, “I wish that I could stop but I have a date this weekend so I have to tan.” Her whole psyche revolved around her tan. Some studies have shown that 26-53% of beach goers have a tanning dependency.

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