I recently wrote a post about body image. I wrote it not to attract traffic, to say wonderful things about myself or to beg other people to say nice things about me. I said it because it's something I literally think about every day of my life. I think about what the scale said that morning or how eating these crackers are going to make me feel later. It's something I've been doing for a very long time, since puberty, and it's a very large and sensitive topic.
A sensitive topic we're going to get in to here.
A while back I confessed to having an eating disorder in college. Oh, who are we kidding? Most people had an eating disorder in college. Except they didn't. None of my roommates felt about food the way I did. None of them counted calories or exercised to ease guilt. But we all struggled in our own way.
I'm sure we can all relate on some level.
There are a lot of wonderful resources on this topic: Women's Health, Science Daily, even our very own Blogher. But the most resourceful avenue we have is each other. We can talk about it. We can laugh about it. We can look in the mirror and jiggle our muffin tops and beat the media. We can write letters. We can refuse products made for the sickly thin. We can take action.
But by far, the most important thing we can do is love ourselves for the next generation of little girls learning by watching us step on the scale. Maybe then, in another ten years, there will be a better message in the media as our children grow up surrounded by fitness and health.
This post also appears in Mrs. Flinger's Mom Friendly Fitness article on The Seattle Mom Blogs. Contribute in our forums and be a part of a movement toward a healthier generation.
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I appreciate your openness about this topic. I too struggled for years with an eating disorder and have talked a bit about it on my blog, though it's not easy to think back on those days. Sometimes I think I am better, but I know that I probably place too much emphasis on how I look. I eat healthy, I exercise and am blessed with superb jeans and am often told to eat a Big Mac. I am who I am and I think because of my past, those who know about what I went through often still think I struggle with it. It's a hard demon to eliminate altogether, but with a goal of health in mind and a strong body, it can be overcome. I think the best thing that happened to me was having a daughter who I don't want to ever feel the things I did that made me go through that. I can guide her and teach her inner beauty each day and hopefully she'll see that self esteem and image are more than size. Health is about more than a number on a scale.
In the last year I have gained over 30 pounds. I have been taking a medication that makes me eat more. Especially at night. I often wish I could unzip my fat suit and walk out thin like I was
~ I know it will come off eventually… This has caused me to be a lot more simpathetic to people who struggle to lose weight… I am glad you are talking about it…
I have struggled with this my entire life. Although I feel that I am in "remission" from this disease, I will also have that voice in the back of my head. I think if I would not have had children, I would not be so deliberate in trying to care for myself and project a positive body image even though it goes against the way my brain thinks.
Excellent post!