Category Archives: eating disorders
ashley judd 1, the media 0.
You may have already stumbled across the piece that actress Ashley Judd wrote in response to the media criticizing her “puffy face” and making the public assertion that she’d had “work done.” However, if you haven’t, I highly suggest you take the time to read it. It’s definitely worth it.
While I’m usually the first person to be up in arms over the media saying preposterous, body-policing things like this (much like the recent accusations that Jennifer Lawrence is “too big” to play Katniss Everdeen) I usually forget to even consider how the celebrity in question feels. Even worse than that, sometimes I even find myself flippantly making damning comments like this one. Ugh. Shame on me. Continue reading
Filed under commentaries, eating disorders, psychology, rants, the media
tuesday tip — finding your sexy when you’re ______.
Who gets to be sexy? Is it me?
I’ve kind of touched on the subject before here and here but, sadly, I feel like I’m one of those people who doesn’t “get” to be sexy. My husband and I have had several conversations recently (even creating a document about the mental blocks I have and the steps I need to take to overcome them) to try and get to the root of this problem (including, but are not limited to: my past, including my ex who sexually abused me, my history with my eating disorder, etc.) and yes, there are a lot of reasons why I can’t ever look at myself as sexy. Continue reading
Filed under commentaries, eating disorders, life, pregnancy, psychology, rants, the media, transformation
overly photoshopped and blatantly untrue diet advertisements in japan.
All that to say, a good friend of mine sent me a link to this article about diet advertisements in Japan. Yes. You heard me right. Diet. Advertisements. In. Japan.
When was the last time you looked at a Japanese woman and was like, “Dang, that girl needs to lose some WEIGHT?”
I don’t know about you, but I honestly have never uttered those words. Maybe I’ve just been uncharacteristically lucky enough to only lay eyes on super thin Japanese people (I mean that in the nicest I hate you for being so naturally small but not really I actually love you way possible) but I honestly feel as though the Japanese are just, on average, a thinner group of people than we Americans.
Ugh. I keep feeling like Im going to get a slew of, “You’re a big fat racist!” comments. I swear I’m not! I voted for Obama!
Anyway. None of this is the point. Continue reading
Filed under eating disorders, life, Photoshop, rants, the media
tuesday tip — self-fulfilling prophecies.
Over the past week, my husband Dan and I have been in an argument. Don’t worry — it’s not a really bad one, and we’re not going to divorce over it, but it’s one that bears talking about on my blog, I guess, despite being extremely embarrassing for me.
Dan: “You’re sexy.”
Me: “No, I’m not. I’m awkward and weird.”
Dan: “You’re only awkward and weird because you say you’re awkward and weird. If you said you were sexy, you’d believe it, too.”
Me: “No, because I’m not. I’m awkward and weird. End of story.”
Disclaimer: I apologize to those of you (my mom, my pastors, etc.) who read this blog and are now barfing in your mouths over my husband calling me sexy. Just use your mind to change the word to “awesome” or something in order to ease your discomfort. Continue reading
Filed under commentaries, eating disorders, life, lindsay vs. food, psychology, reasons my husband rocks
body love.
If you ever want a good, interesting read about women’s issues, check out Rachel Hills’ blog, Musings of an Inappropriate Woman. She writes a lot of really hit-the-nail-on-the-head articles that make me pump my fist in the air and say, “YES! GO GIRL! GO US!”
Today she posted a guest article that, while not written by her, offers up the same feelings. As a matter of fact, I’m pretty sure I’ve uttered most of the words written here before. Continue reading
Filed under commentaries, eating disorders, life, psychology, rants, the media
the reality is…
Because Dan and I will be parents one day, I’ve started really thinking about the types of media we consume. Not only reality television, but all the TV we choose to watch. And the movies. And the music we listen to. The video games we play. The magazines we read. Everything. Could it possibly be harmful to us? Or, an even more disturbing thought, could us consuming this stuff be harmful to our children? (Of course not in a “drinking a bottle of wine each night when you’re pregnant” way, but in a “Sorry sweetie, Mommy can’t tuck you in tonight because the finale for ANTM is on and I’m pretty sure there are going to be girls crying and fighting and cussing at the producers, yippee!” way.)
But wait! Some good news! A close friend of mine sent me this article from the Discovery Channel which states that, according to a recent study, reality TV isn’t as harmful to people, particularly to young girls, as I had previously thought. Here are some interesting nuggets from the article: Continue reading
Filed under commentaries, eating disorders, life, psychology, the media
tuesday tip — mirrors don’t know you.
Today, one of my friends messaged me needing help and encouragement after a run-in with a nasty, lying mirror. You know the kind. We’ve all had our own encounters with these unforgiving monsters. From afar, they look like normal mirrors. But when you get up close to it, it’s too late — you’ve been lied to by this sad excuse for a reflection. The mirror distorts your body into weird shapes (shapes, people!) that don’t so much as halfway resemble the way you believe your body actually looks.
I’m almost one hundred percent positive these mirrors are manufactured solely for two arenas: dance studios and Hollister dressing rooms. Regardless, they unfortunately seem to be more prevalent than that.
So. What do you do when you come in contact with one of these nasty little contraptions? Remember that mirrors don’t know you. Continue reading
Filed under commentaries, eating disorders, life, psychology, rants
secrets, secrets are no fun. secrets, secrets hurt someone.
Well. You all know how I feel about Victoria’s Secret, and you also know how I try to avoid anything that triggers me to hate my body. So it should come as no surprise to you that I took a pass on the Victoria’s Secret fashion show.
It’s not that I didn’t want to watch it. Every bone in my body wanted to. Though I didn’t outwardly verbalize my desire to spend my evening staring at lingerie models and secretly plotting my next eating disorder relapse, lest my husband consequently decide domestic abuse is now how we do things, I kept rationalizing the idea to myself. Continue reading
Filed under commentaries, eating disorders, life, the media
fighting childhood obesity without fighting children.
A couple months ago, a good friend of mine and mother of three emailed me about childhood obesity. She’s passionate on the subject (as it should be) but is concerned about keeping her kids healthy, in shape, and making smart choices about food in a way that doesn’t encourage disordered eating in the future. (By the way, as someone who plans on having children at some point, this notion TERRIFIES me to death. If I do ANYTHING that breaks my kids to the point of disordered eating, I probably will never forgive myself. I’m even hesitant to tell them about my struggles lest it gives them any ideas.)
This subject is a touchy one so I’ve done my best to avoid writing on it until now. But this afternoon, this article popped up in my Google reader about children and diets. That, plus Michelle Obama’s “Let’s Move” campaign, has convinced me that it’s time. Continue reading
Filed under commentaries, eating disorders, food bytes, life, psychology, the media, transformation
beauty and torture.
Why do we do such strange things to ourselves in the name of beauty?
Today I stumbled across something on the Internet that takes the torture-for-beauty cake (and doesn’t eat it, apparently): Continue reading →
2 Comments
Filed under commentaries, eating disorders, food bytes, life, lindsay vs. food, psychology, rants
Tagged as beauty, body image, eating disorders, fashion, food, life, self-esteem, self-image, thin, weight, weight loss, women