About Girls and Exercise

Helping our girls understand what is happening with their bodies as they enter puberty may prevent them from developing poor body images, and the potential for eating disorders that may accompany a poor body image.
For our prehistoric ancestors, food was a sometime thing. As eating became sporadic with the seasons, our fat stores fuelled our bodies. As women we are built to procreate. During the hard times of prehistoric days, a woman's body needed to protect its unborn, and therefore required a higher percentage of body fat then men did. This can be seen as boys and girls reach puberty. Pre-puberty boys and girls that are normally active, average 15 percent body fat. As hormones begin to flow, boys drop to as low as 10 percent and girls' fat levels climb toward 22 percent.
As you can imagine, jumping seven percent body fat over a short number of years can make a young girl think that she must be eating too much because she is getting "fat." As this sets them up for disordered thinking, we should be stressing what their bodies can do rather than how they look. Exercise is a wonderful way to empower our girls, allowing them to feel accomplished, included and in control of their bodies. So the next time you head out the door on your daily run, ask your daughter to join you.