welcome to the february 28, 2007 edition of carnival of eating disorders. this time around, the majority of our entries are about body image. i particularly like audrey hepburn’s beauty tips – a bit corny, perhaps, but true and beautiful nonetheless.
topic: body image
rt regales us with an interview with erin pavlina, wife of one of my favourite bloggers, steve pavlina. in a supernatural chat with erin pavlina at real women’s fitness, we read:
at real women’s fitness we have been looking more and more at ‘why women exercise’ and have found that there are some pretty terrible motivations like ‘i hate my body’, ‘i am too fat to go out’, ‘i want to look like so and so celebrity’, etc. – especially in young women. do you think these motivations are harmful for the individual and do you think it could indicate a deeper emotional problem?
barbra sundquist tells us why breasts sag at bustwithattitude.com. a very informative article on the anatomy and the wide variety of shapes and forms of these lovely assets. why there is this expectation that all breasts should look the same is beyond me. can you say “bland”?
neelima presents who wants to be size zero? posted at healthy b.p.m, ending her post with a down-to-earth, ” if you think your belly is bigger than it should be, go on a rigorous diet plan; otherwise chill.” i’m putting this post in the section on body image rather than in the one on anorexia. this advice would be lost on most people with anorexia (it would be like telling a chain smoker to stop smoking; that advice doesn’t usually do the trick) – however, it’s a good suggestion for all of us who tend to overanalyze our bodies.
mia from eeperz has some thought provoking ideas in her article the campaign for real beauty. she refers to the famous dove campaign, and i have to agree with her – the women depicted in those campaign are still pretty darn “attractive” in the ordinary sense. mia also makes some interesting comparisons between the concepts of “race” and “beauty” and presents a quote by khalil gibran about beauty.
this is a natural segue into paavan solanki’s audrey hepburn beauty tips in amazing facts – amazing videos, amazing pictures, amazing photos, world amazing facts – as i said, cheesy but beautiful. i wonder whether audrey hepburn ever got to meet khalil gibran …
topic: anorexia
laura collins presents the lost boys posted at are you “eating with your anorexic?”. laura describes herself as a “mom on a mission to dispel the myths associated with anorexia, bulimia, and other eating disorders.” she advocates the idea that eating disorders are neurologically based. in this particular post, she draws attention to the “lost boys” – men with eating disorders.
emily’s story: reframing anorexia, posted at one year of writing and healing, is a fascinating story of a woman whose recovery from anorexia started with … horses.
topic: overeating
john presents do not think about food! posted at ohcash.com. he says, “more and more people are overweight. food is the new drug in america. getting away from food may be an important step in having a healthier life! here’s something that might help you.”
i say, no offence, john, but it really sounds like you don’t have a lot of experience with eating disorders. when a person is struggling with food, they have heard words like this a thousand times:
don’t think about food! simple as that! people are fat because they eat too much, it is not rocket science. most of them, however, don’t like to admit it. they are ashamed of the fact they don’t have the discipline it takes to resist food. they come up with the excuse of genetics, or slow metabolism, adaptation, or god knows what else
i’m including this here because this is actually a good example of what people who have problems with overeating hear day in, day out. i’m not talking about people who are a little overweight and have never dieted before. i’m talking about people who are addicted to food and eating. many of them have tried a gazillion diets, they have told themselves many, many times that they should just buckle up (i.e. have the discipline). for a lot of people that just doesn’t work.
what does work? that’s a question that can only be answered individually. donna kozik seems to have found something. she presents three years without sugar & wheat posted at the 90 day challenge, saying, “don’t be confused. although the 90 day challenge was put forth and accepted to take a leap in weight loss, i’m definitely not about diets. i see myself on my NAFP (non-addictive food plan) until i’m at least 86.”
sacha brings us body hate at her blog that is so queer… she talks about the dieting experience, something that many of my readers will be very familiar with:
a room full of women that got fat, not because they’re stupid, not because they like chocolate and not because they have no willpower. it is a room full of women who are doing everything they can to get through each day. … and sometimes that means 15 oreos.
… and …
i always like to include a video or two. on youtube, patikotek has a presentation on her struggle with eating disorders. living with eating disorders is not pretty; and this 18-year-old person makes that very clear.
finally, deb serani reminds us that february is national eating disorder awareness month (posted at dr. deborah serani). look at her other links on eating disorders; there is some interesting scientific information there.
that’s it for this edition. if you have something to add, please submit your blog article to the next edition of carnival of eating disorders using our carnival submission form. the next edition will come out march 31. past posts can be found on our blog carnival index page.
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