The Body Scoop for Girls: A Straight-Talk Guide to a Healthy, Beautiful You - Softcover

Ashton, Jennifer; Rojo, Christine

Softcover

ISBN 10: 158333369X ISBN 13: 9781583333693

Publisher: Avery, 2009

Synopsis

Rare book

About this title

About the Author:

Jennifer Ashton, M.D.,, Ob-Gyn is a board-certified ob-gyn who speacializes in adolescent gynecology. As CBS News Medical Correspondent, she regularly contributes to The Early Show and CBS Evening News with Katie Couric. She has also been featured on such broadcast venues as XM Radio's Oprah and Friends.

Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.:

WHAT TO EXPECTWHEN YOU'RE ADOLESCENT

NOT YOUR MOTHER'SGYNECOLOGIST

You're a New Kind of Girl—You Deserve a New Kind of Medicine

Casey,1 fifteen, a slender redhead with a sprinkle of freckles on her nose,was sitting next to my desk, twisting a strand of long, straight hair when Iwalked into my office. I could tell she was nervous.

"Hi, I'm Dr. Ashton," I said, sitting down at my desk. Since this wasCasey's first visit, we were meeting in my cheerful office, not in an examroom. (After all, do you want to meet your doctor for the very first time in an exam room withyour clothes off? I wouldn't either. So my patients meet me in their clothes, at my desk.)Casey looked startled when I introduced myself. "Really? No way," she burst out. Thenshe blushed. "Sorry, it's just...; you don't look like a doctor."I laughed. I hear this all the time. Is it my blond hair? My leopard-print skirt and ToryBurch boots? Lucky for me, I didn't have to check my fashion sense at the door when theywere handing out degrees at Columbia Med School. Or my sense of humor, either.

And it's a good thing, too. Without a sincere appreciation for a witty comment or thelatest color in Uggs, my job wouldn't be nearly so much fun. I love the humor, the sass, thestreet sense, and the totally exhilarating energy of my teenage patients. Although I do treatadult women, too (often the mothers of my teen patients), I spend most of my time everyday talking with, laughing with, and treating girls from their early teens to early twenties.That's what Casey and I did—talk and laugh. After a good chuckle overher confusion, we found ourselves talking about pretty much everything—why she'd come (bad cramps), her overall health (pretty good), and her lifein general (crazy busy, with dance team practice, SAT prep courses, collegevisits, and a long-time boyfriend). The more we talked about her incrediblyfull life, the more Casey reminded me of something—the single most importantthing I've learned from my patients. It's this:

It is much, much harder to be a teenage girl now than ever before.

Yeah, I know, the lonely-zitty-anxious-harassed teen years have neverexactly been an all-expense-paid vacation to Hawaii. But it's tougher todaythan ever. Even tougher than when I was a teen (and that wasn't so longago—really!). And also tougher, at least in some ways, than when your parentswere teens. Sure, you've got your iPod, your cell phone, your computer.You can text your best friend about tomorrow's math test and checkyour new crush's Facebook page at the same time with one hand tied behindyour back. You're smarter, more sophisticated, and way more connectedthan your parents were (or are). But you're also under phenomenalpressure—academic, social, physical, and sexual.

"You're supposed to get perfect grades, but even straight A's aren'tenough to get you into a good college," Casey told me. "You're supposedto volunteer, play sports, and be a genius at something, like violin or math."Don't forget being pretty, popular, and fun. And talk about social pressure—who knows what your so-called friends might be texting about you at anygiven moment? Sure, social pressure's been around forever. But today it'snonstop, always-on, 24-7.

I asked Casey if she was sexually active. "No," she said. "But at schoolthere's definitely pressure to dress sexy and act like you're having sex."Where does all this extra sexual pressure come from? Everywhere. Onestudy showed that teens today may be exposed to twice as much sexualcontent on TV as they were even ten years ago. Another shows that themore sexy shows a teen watches, the more likely she is at risk of gettingpregnant. Then there's music, movies, videos, and social networking sites—not to mention the fact that it just takes one click of the mouse for someoneto e-mail a naked picture of you to a thousand of your closest friends.

On top of all that social pressure, there's this physical fact of life. Notonly are girls dressing older and acting older but their bodies actually areolder, in some ways, than they used to be. Just a decade or so ago doctorswouldn't have expected your breasts to start developing until age ten. Nowwe know that your breasts might start budding as early as age seven oreight.2 Meanwhile, if you're white, you're likely to get your first periodabout three months earlier than girls did forty years ago, and if you'reblack, it will come a good five to six months earlier than it did in the late1960s. And two centuries ago girls hit puberty a good four or more yearslater than they do now.

We don't really understand all the reasons for the shift, but we do knowthat better nutrition and general health play a big role.

So with all this added pressure on you, are you getting lots of new informationand new resources to help you deal with it all? Or a new levelof respect for handling stress that previous generations just didn't face?

Yeah, right. In your dreams.

That's why I wrote the book. A new kind of teen—that's you—needs anew kind of doctor. That's me.

R-E-S-P-E-C-T

The way health, sex, and physical information is handled by schools,teachers, doctors, and even some parents, you'd think today's girls wereliving in a time warp. Sex ed is still taught exactly the way it was thirtyyears ago (often it's all-abstinence-all-the-time). Most parents still have atough time talking with their daughters about their bodies: Many parentsdon't even know the right words for the female anatomy. (Not that I blamethem—their parents never talked to them about their bodies.) Even doctorsdon't seem to want to talk straight with girls. Old-school doctors alwaysseem to fall into two groups: the "Just-Say-No" group (as in "Can we talkabout safe sex?" "No.") and the "Free Love" group ("Whatever you do isbeautiful. Just use condoms.").

Come on, people! This is the information age!

If you ask me, both these approaches are disrespectful to girls. I believein giving you all the information you need, at the right age, so you canmake smart choices for your body and your emotional health. That doesn't mean I'd tell you it's OK to have sex at a young age: In fact, I'll tell you allthe medical reasons why that's not a good idea. But I'll also expect you touse your own best judgment and I'll treat you accordingly, with respect forthe choices you make.

To make those choices, you need the very latest research and informationpresented in a straight-up way. That's why I wrote this book. I'm notgoing to take sides or preach one school of thought over another. You'resmart. You know how to get information and you know how to think. I'mgoing to give you the right information at the right time and let you makethe choices that are right for you.

LESSONS FROM THE RUNWAY

If there's one thing Project Runway has taught us, it's that one size or styledoes not fit all. I trust you. And I know you can make the decisions that fityou—your physical and emotional development.

To help you do that, I'm giving you all the facts, in a straight-as-an-arrowway, about pretty much everything your body will encounter through yourteens and early twenties. In Section One you'll read about what to expectfrom your body in puberty—how to deal with period problems, infections,injuries, and hormonal issues. You'll also learn how to care for your breastsand bones for the rest of your life. In Section Two I'll give you the latestresearch and thinking on sex—what it means medically for your body,brain, and emotional health when you decide to hook up or have sex atearly and later ages. I'll also explain the very strong medical evidence suggestingyou should wait until at least eighteen for sex. Meanwhile, I'll tellyou exactly how to protect and take care of yourself whenever you domake your decision about becoming sexually active. Finally, in SectionThree, I'll tell you how to build a body that will last for the rest of yourlife—through healthy eating, risk control, exercise, and learning to handlemood problems.

To sum it all up, I'm basically offering you a free virtual visit to my office.I can't meet you and show you around like my actual patients. But I do want to welcome you to your new body and teach you everything you needto know to take care of it, love it, and enjoy it. I want you to own your body,because only you can care for it.

WANT A LATTE?

"Care for a chai? Some herbal tea? A latte?" my receptionist asks newpatients when they arrive. They find her sitting at her glass desk in frontof a curved wooden wall in the reception area of my office.

The beverage menu and the reception area are usually a surprise fornew patients like Casey. "It looks like a spa," Casey told me. There's no bigwhite counter or glass window to check in at. No ugly institutional graycarpet. Everything's done in cream, chocolate, and pale blue, with splashyred end tables and softly glowing wall sconces instead of the usual harshoffice lights.

If you were a new patient, my receptionist would serve you your beverageof choice and snap a digital photo for your record—I like to "see" my patientswhen I'm reviewing their records or talking to them on the phone. Then,beverage in hand, you and, if you wanted, your parents would be escortedto my office, where you'd find fresh flowers on my desk. Later, if you neededan exam, you could slip into a comfy spa robe (not one of those flimsy paperor polyester gowns) in the exam room and watch TV on a plasma screen,check your e-mail on a Mac, or make calls while waiting for me.And by the way, did I mention that everything's eco-friendly? I want torespect the planet, too.

The robes and the TV may all sound a bit much. It's not that I'm allNew-Agey or that I'm trying to be some kind of Beverly Hills doctor to thestars. The truth is, it was just really fun dreaming up an office my patientswould like. I mean, nobody rolls out the red carpet for teen girls, treatingthem like young women who deserve to be pampered and cared for. Onlylater, after we'd designed the new office and opened for business, did Irealize just how much all the little details would mean to my patients. Thedetails practically shout "I care about you. I want you to have a nice experience here. I want everything you see, hear, and touch while you're hereto be respectful, soothing, caring."After all, you have enough stress in your life. I should be helping easeit, not making it worse.

DOCTORS ARE A GIRL'S BEST FRIEND

OK, so not every doctor's office is going to offer you a latte. I'm not tellingyou to pick your doctor based on her taste in end tables. But I do want youto find a doctor who makes you feel respected, well cared for, and, yes,maybe even a little pampered.

That's especially important these days, now that girls are seeing gynecologistsat a younger age. The American College of Obstetricians andGynecologists—the huge national association that looks at data and makesrecommendations for doctors like me—says that you should start seeing agynecologist in your early teens, specifically between ages thirteen andfifteen. That's a surprise to most parents—especially moms, who probablydidn't see a gynecologist until their senior year of high school or later.

If you're between thirteen and fifteen and haven't seen a gynecologist,you should (see the box on pages 13–15 on how to talk your parents into it).At the very least you need to see a gynecologist before you start having sex,so you understand all the medical consequences of your choices. For a lotof medical reasons I'll explain later, I think it's a really good idea for you towait until you're at least eighteen to have sex. But if you decide to becomeactive before that, it's my job to help you handle it in a smart way.

PRIVATES PRACTICE: MORETHAN JUST VAGINAS

Before they meet me, most of my patients think they're coming to see a"vagina doctor." But actually, "gynecologist" means the study of women—inmy case, young women in particular. It's my job to be familiar with every health issue that might affect you as a member of the female sex. Sure, I cantell you if that funny bump or itch down there is something to worry about.(And, by the way, I don't want you ever to be embarrassed to bring stuff likethat up. I have the same parts as you, and I do this all day long. To me examininga vagina is like examining an ear or nose—no big deal.) But I can alsohelp you learn how to take care of your breasts, your bones, your weight,and your mental state—not to mention treating period problems and hormonalimbalances. My job as a gynecologist specializing in young women isto take care of the whole package and help you understand this new bodyyou got when you reached puberty. Isn't that cool? I love my job.

It makes me sad that many girls never get to see a gynecologist untilthey're leaving for college—that's like studying for the SATs after you'vetaken the test. It's so much better to learn everything you need to know inyour early teens, before you start running into the challenges you'll face later. Plus, a gynecologist like me probably will be the one doctor you seemore of than any other medical profession later in life. The sooner you findsomeone you trust and can confide in, the better.

DR. ASHTON'S PLAYLISTS

Over the years I've found myself repeating the same thingsOver...; and over...; and over...; to all my patients. These arethings I really want them to remember, so I say them again andagain. Sort of my personal playlist of advice. I've gathered upthese lists and put them in boxes throughout the book, stressingthe things I really want you to remember. Forgive me if I repeatinformation you've already heard, but these really are my greatesthits. Here are a few I share with my new patients:

• A new kind of teen needs a new kind of doctor.
• I respect my patients and care about their experiences—bothin their lives and in my office.
• I don't take sides: I give my patients all the information so they(and their parents) can make good decisions. It's not my job tomake choices for you.

TRUE OR FALSE?

You should go see a gynecologist for the first time whenyou're between ages thirteen and fifteen.

TRUE.

You need both a pediatrician and a gynecologist whenyou're in junior high and high school.

TRUE.

You always need a pelvic exam when you go to the gynecologist.

FALSE. You don't usually need a pelvic exam unless you're sexually active.

HOW TO TALK TO YOUR DOCTOR

Jessica and her mother first came to see me about a year ago. Jessica wasthirteen, a flute player with a friendly face and short, glossy dark hair.Later I learned she had a radiant smile, too...; but she definitely wasn'tsmiling when I walked into my office. She and her mother were sittingrigidly in front of my desk, waiting to talk to me about Jessica's painfulcramps. They both looked like they'd rather be having their teeth drilled...

About this edition

• Publisher: Avery
• Publication date: 2009
• ISBN 10: 158333369X
• ISBN 13: 9781583333693
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 304