The baseball season is here and
game’s greatest players are in news. They have hit headlines not for their prowess on field, but for alleged steroid abuse in locker room. Baseball’s greatest stars could have taken a body building lesson from a former out-of-shape 135 pound weakling.Today’s kids are learning a tough lesson. They are watching baseball heroes suffer through some of effects of steroid abuse. Those huge, powerful muscles Jose Canseco and other baseball greats developed to play game are coming at a terrific price. That price includes public humiliation, loss of prestige and reputation, and probable financial loss.
What these kids are not seeing is future health problems these baseball legends will almost certainly experience because of steroid abuse. These can include heart disease; several forms of cancers, impaired immune systems and other problems that will likely have devastating medical effects.
The problem is that many of these kids are themselves being pressured to “be better” at games – baseball, track, soccer or other sports – they play. This is to say nothing of those kids who are simply too skinny and underweight to be good at sports or picked for teams.
Anthony Ellis, a fitness consultant, was one of these skinny kids. He spent a lifetime trying to gain weight. He couldn’t stand to look at himself in mirror. He tried to hide his thin physique with baggy clothes. He wouldn’t think of going to beach and letting his friends see how skinny he really was. He was repeatedly rejected for sports teams because he was underweight and likely to be hurt. Baseball was out of question.
“The news these days, it seems, is filled with stories about obesity and how people are overweight. I am trying to help people gain weight. What media doesn’t talk about is that segment of population, people like me, who have trouble gaining weight. This is group that suffers frustration and low self-esteem because they are underweight. They read body building magazines and watch sports heroes pack on muscle. They turn to fad diets, unregulated diet supplements and steroids to gain weight.”
