Once upon a time, when I was 16, I gorged on chocolate ice cream and then tried to make myself throw up behind a shed attached to the back of our garage. It didn't take. No matter how I tried, my fingers would not stay down my throat. I could not throw up.
~
Since I couldn't seem to stop eating compulsively, the next time it happened, I took a few swigs of ipecac syrup and thought I would die from the vomiting it induced.
~TFBS for a 16 year old girl to hate herself so much. I wasn't a bad kid. I'd never been a bit of trouble. What was to hate?
~A new anthology titled Feed Me! is out. In it, writers "dish about food, eating, weight, and body image." I've read several essays from the book and it stirs up a range of emotions in me. Writer Lisa Romeo has a piece in Feed Me! about the time she was featured in a maj*O*r national magazine. The article spoke of coming to terms with yo-yo dieting and emotional eating and her essay made me angry at it's depiction of how overweight people are invisible in our society.
~Caroline Leavitt's piece about an ex-boyfriend who preferred her to be rail thin and monitored what she ate had me fuming. Been there, done that, with more than one guy.
~
As much as I'd love to go back and blame the boyfriends, none were ever as harsh as the terrorist inside my own head.
~Putting a ban on our own negative self talk is the first step toward helping our daughters avoid the same traps.
~Zero tolerance.
~Love yourselves.
~Love, period.
~
*Harriet Brown is editor of Feed Me! She blogs about food, eating, body image, and weight, at http://harrietbrown.blogspot.com/.
11 comments:
Thanks for the love, Michelle.
I'd like to invite your readers to try to win a copy of the book which I'm giving away at my blog.
Of course, I'd rather everyone go right out right now and buy several copies of the book, but just in case that doesn't happen...
http://tinyurl.com/apvdrq
Michelle, your blog gets better and better all the time, and I love reading it.
This book is ready and waiting for me to read when I get home as part of an article I'm working on...anthologies are so great the way the unite so many voices on a topic.
Oy..oy.. oy...
You did it again....
Being among the overweight (and now middle aged), I can tell you how invisible I am. I can be mid sentence and people will start talking right over me as if I am not there.
This book sounds wonderful...and I don't think I can read it. I am not sure my blood pressure can handle it. I have known more than one female (at least one in my extended family) who turned to an eating disorder to please (or try to) her dad's idea of what a woman should look like. It makes me angry just writing this.
Thanks for bringing this into awareness.
You know, I've read something recently about Asperger's in girls and eating disorders, suggesting that among girls with eating disorders, Aspies may be over-represented. Just some "food for thought".
even in my "this is me take it or leave it" mind I'm still trying to lose weight, get fitter and look better in that dress. In most things I am able to speak my mind, donate my 2p in any kind of company but I still can't be happy with my body. In honesty, not entirely.
It's a great collection! I know Caroline-super writer! What a small world:) BTW I comment here from time to time. Found you thru Carrie:)
Lo
Interesting stuff. I'm going to check out this book. Here's hoping I find at least a couple of males in the mix.
Have seen how the media is treating Jessica Simpson since she became heavy? It's not just what's in our heads that gets to us.
Me? It was a sleeve of Oreos. But I used exercise to work it off. Not unhealthy exercise - but I was actutely aware of my body image.
Isn't everyone? What tips someone toward having it become a problem? And how can we help those people.
It's a important topic. That's for sure. Great post.
yes. we all need to love love love our beautiful selves!
God, I love you.
As a mother of a teenage girl, I couldn't agree more with the TFBS-ness of this! I do think whatever our own attitudes are about food, body image, etc., are highly contagious to everyone around us, but especially our children.
Thank you for helping to stop the contagion!
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