Swimsuit Anxiety and Breast Implants

It's almost summer, and rising temperatures aren't the only reason some women are sweating.

According to a study in Fitness Magazine, 50 percent of women have turned down invitations that required wearing a swimsuit, and 45 percent would never walk around the beach or pool without covering up first, according to the study. Fitness, in partnership with Lands' End, polled 500 women, ages 18-49, to understand how women's behavior, anxiety level, and self-confidence are affected when wearing a swimsuit. The results point to a discouraging trend.

Concurrently, breast augmentation overtook liposuction for the first time in recent history as the most popular cosmetic surgical procedure, according to the 2008 statistics from the American Society for Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ASAPS). In 2008, there were 355,671 breast augmentation surgeries performed in the United States, compared with 341,144 liposuction procedures.

It's a disturbing trend, according to Dr. Sherrill Sellman (www.whatwomenmustknow.com), a naturopath and author who specializes in women's health issues.

"It's bad enough that the media encourages the national obsession with a woman's bra size, but to know that hundreds or thousands of women every year are having risky elective surgery because of that cultural eccentricity is alarming," said Dr. Sellman. "According to the National Institute of Medicine, 25 to 40 percent of people who get breast implants end up needing another operation to correct something wrong with the first one, adding to that risk. It's unconscionable."

Dr. Sellman said that the secrets to natural breast enhancement reside in either fat deposits or the lobes that regulate lactation. The woman's breast is mostly made up of breast (connective) tissue, fat, lobes (milk glands) and ducts, she explained. Breast tissue and ducts do not change after puberty.

"Up to now, women wanting breast enhancement could increase the breast volume by surgical implants or by increasing body fat, which for some women, (if their body stores most of the fat in the breasts) may increase the fat in the breast and increase breast size," she said. "If their body stores most fat in the hips or evenly throughout then the increase may not be as noticeable. Naturally exercise works against these products because it burns fat away."

She added that new methods of breast enhancement now take advantage of the lobes' ability to increase breasts size by activating the milk glands.

"Mother Nature made breasts on women and all other female mammals to feed its infants," she said. "During pregnancy the lobes grow and get ready to produce milk, but usually it isn't until the baby is born and milk is being demanded that milk production occurs. This natural phenomenon has been dissected and it has been determined how to mimic it without having to get pregnant, without using pills, hormones, creams or surgery."

One such process that Dr. Sellman feels is safe and effective is the Grow Yours system (www.growyours.com) which focuses on exercises that stimulate the lobes to grow in the same way they grow during pregnancy, without actually lactating.

"The process works best and fastest on women who have been previously pregnant, and has been proven in private testing to produce results of bustline increases of two inches or more," she said. "Since the process does not involve fat retention, women can exercise all they want. Exercising promotes a healthier lifestyle and can flatten the tummy which usually makes the breasts stand out even more."

Sherrill Sellman, N.D. is an educator, women's natural health expert, and journalist in the field of women's health. She is also a Naturopathic Doctor, a much sought after international lecturer, radio host, senior editor and contributing writer to numerous health publications. Dr. Sellman is the best-selling author of "Hormone Heresy: What Women MUST Know" and " What Women MUST Know to Protect Their Daughters from Breast Cancer". Her website is www.whatwomenmustknow.com