Nobody knows better than a top cyclist the pressure to be as light as possible, but while Joanna Rowsell has coaches and nutritionists to make sure she stays healthy, she’s concerned that many people, especially young girls, are bombarded with messages about what they should and shouldn’t eat, and how thin they should aspire to be.
The subject came up in an interview with Gabrielle Fagan of the Belfast Telegraph.
Rowsell said: “I often come across those ads on the internet for the latest diet or whatever, and there's a ‘before' and ‘after' photo saying, ‘Do you want to go from this to this?'. And often in the ‘before' picture, the woman's not even fat! There's nothing wrong with her!
“Wanting to lose weight for your own personal reason is one thing, but why are we having an image that's implying you are overweight when you're not?”
Unhealthy messages
As a young woman in the public eye, even Rowsell’s not immune to comments about her diet.
“I might tweet that I'm treating myself to a bar of chocolate, and then you'll get people saying, ‘You're a role model, you shouldn't be eating those foods'. I'll eat whatever I want to eat! I've done enough training, it's no big deal whether I've had a bar of chocolate.”
There are too many “unhealthy” messages out there, she says, about what people should and shouldn't be eating in order to be skinny.
“It annoys me,” she said. “Being as skinny as possible isn't necessarily the healthiest way to live.”
Alopecia not easy to handle
As an alopecia sufferer, Rowsell has had her own appearance issues and has said it “wasn’t easy” to deal with losing all her hair. But when she found herself standing on an Olympic podium, she realised that her condition made it easier for people to relate to her.
“I think a lot of people relate to the alopecia, and not just other people with alopecia but anybody with body confidence issues and stuff,” she said. “And I sort of realised that when I was standing on that podium.”
Nevertheless, suddenly being cast as a role model and poster girl for body image issues was a bit overwhelming.
"I don't have all the answers!"
Rowsell said: “At the time, I sort of felt everyone was looking up to me like I was this inspirational role model, and assumed I had all the answers. Everyone was asking me, ‘How do you deal with it, what advice would you give?', and I felt a bit like, ‘I don't have all the answers!' But I hope I did an okay job.”
What would she advise as a way to overcome body image issues? Exercise.
She said: “Sports has been a massive confidence-booster in my own life, and I'd advise everybody that that's a good way to do it. Any issues you have with your body, or any general confidence issues, I think that can really help.”
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33 comments
I see what you're saying, and in some respects I agree but I think articles like this do help.
I started writing a blog after going from a size 16, bmi of 29 etc to a size 8 from just cycling - the blog was my thoughts on generally how easy it is to turn your life around. I've had comments from many women and men following these early blog posts telling me that the articles have inspired them to start making positive steps to losing weight.
There is, as you say, a bit too much normalisation around larger weights. Yes, the public should not be so judgemental or harsh, but this isn't an excuse to allow oneself to gain weight through gluttony or laziness.
However, I think the general outlook on excersise and sports has changed in recent years, especially since the Olympics. When I was younger (and much fatter) there was a clear boundary between "sporty people" and everyone else. Nowdays sports is a bit more accepted culturally, across many more groups. This is encouraging for people who want to lose weight, and articles such as this do help as more young people are beginning to view sports as a trend rather than a chore.
Demographically it's acutally my generation that is the biggest problem, people who were brought up in the 80s and 90s were brought up on rubbish, we've carried this forward and unfortunately for some that's meant bad habits haven't died.
I'm not sure how we could combat this, to be honest. Without having supermarkets and media on board it's impossible. Shit food is too cheaply and easily accessible, and my generation are too damn lazy to cook from scratch.
Positive encouragement is great, bullying isn't - if people feel good about themselves they continue that trend, but if someone who likes food is being treated negatively the first thing they're going to do is reach for the comfort food.
And when does encouragement become bullying, very easy to encourage a bit too much, if that makes sense.
Absolutely, it's very hard to tell sometimes - some people get offended by the use of the word "fat" - others are more open to such use of language.
I think it's hard to define a balance to suit the sensitivies of all, especially with women. Attempting to retain a degree of sympathy (I know for some that might be hard) when touching on the subject... after all, for some, weight problems can stem from underlying health and mental health problems.
Being accepting and liberal about it, without being derogatory, is possibly the best way to go...darrenelroy's previous comment there being a prime example of the latter. We can't keep everyone happy, and we certainly can't dance around a very important subject such as national health.
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