Eating Disorder Recovery Quotes To Welcome In The New Year

I'm not beautiful like you. I'm beautiful like me.

Joydrop

One of the secrets of life is to make stepping stones out of stumbling blocks.
Jack Penn

Everyone who got where he is has had to begin where he was.
Robert Louis Stevenson

Tomorrow is always fresh, with no mistakes in it.
Lucy Maud Montgomery

We're still not where we're going, but we're not where we were.
Natash Jasefowitz

Success is a state of mind. If you want success, start thinking of yourself as a success.
Dr. Joyce Brothers

We must be willing to let go of the life we have planned, so as to have the life that is waiting for us.
E.M. Forster

The world is round, and the place which may seem like the end may also be only the beginning.
Ivy Baker

Life's problems wouldn't be called "hurdles" if there wasn't a way to get over them.
Unknown

Don't be discouraged. It's often the last key in the bunch that opens the lock.
Unknown

Whenever you see darkness, there is extraordinary opportunity for the light to burn brighter.
Bono

Once I started seeing through the eyes of my heart, instead of a socially conditioned lens, things started to transform dramatically.
Jonathan Mead

Success isn't a result of spontaneous combustion. You must set yourself on fire.
Arnold H. Glasow

For the past 33 years, I have looked in the mirror every morning and asked myself: ‘If today were the last day of my life, would I want to do what I am about to do today?’ And whenever the answer has been ‘No’ for too many days in a row, I know I need to change something.
Steve Jobs

If one dream should fall and break into a thousand pieces, never be afraid to pick one of those pieces up and begin again.
Flavia Weedn

There are no shortcuts to any place worth going.
Beverly Sills

A dead end is just an opportunity to take a different direction.
Terry McManus

You must take personal responsibility. You cannot change the circumstances, the seasons, or the wind, but you can change yourself. That is something you have charge of.
Jim Rohn

All of us have at least one great voice deep inside. People are products of their environment. A lucky few are born into situations in which positive messages abound. Others grow up hearing messages of fear and failure, which they must block out so the positive can be heard. But the positive and courageous voice will always emerge, somewhere, sometime, for all of us. Listen for it, and your breakthroughs will come.
Pat Riley

When the world says, "Give up," Hope whispers, "Try it one more time."
Unknown

The question isn't who is going to let me; it's who is going to stop me.
Ayn Rand

The rung of a ladder was never meant to rest upon, but only to hold a man's foot long enough to enable him to put the other somewhat higher.
Thomas Henry

The best angle from which to approach any problem is the try-angle.
Unknown

There will be a time when you believe everything is finished. That will be the beginning.
Louis L'Amour

The distance is nothing; it is only the first step that is difficult.
Marie de Vichy-Chamrond

Though no one can go back and make a brand new start, anyone can start now and make a brand new ending.
Carl Bard

The road leading to a goal does not separate you from the destination; it is essentially a part of it.
Charles DeLint

Sometimes the path you're on is not as important as the direction you're heading.
Kevin Smith

Faith sees the invisible, feels the intangible, and achieves the impossible.
Unknown

Optimism is a cheerful frame of mind that enables a tea kettle to sing though it's in hot water up to its nose.
Unknown

Hope is the thing with feathers that perches in the soul, and sings the tunes without the words and never stops at all.
Emily Dickinson

It is easier to go down a hill than up, but the view is best from the top.
Arnold Bennett

On the road to life there are many paths... some twist, some turn, some dip, some curve. As long as you keep your focus, your destination is obtainable.
Brenda Good

The highest reward for a man's toil is not what he gets for it, but what he becomes by it.
John Ruskin

Turn your face to the sun, and the shadows fall behind you.
Maori Proverb

Resolve to be thyself; and know that he who finds himself loses his misery.
Matthew Arnold

The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and conveniences, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

I love living. I have some problems with my life, but living is the best thing they've come up with so far.
Neil Simon

Motivation is when your dreams put on work clothes.
Unknown

If you have built castles in the air, your work need not be lost; that is where they should be. Now put the foundations under them.
Henry David Thoreau

Though my soul may set in darkness, it will rise in perfect light; I have loved the stars too fondly to be fearful of the night.
Sarah Williams

To dream, big beautiful dreams, is to realize the dawn of our limitless horizons beaming within the depths of our eternal souls to the heights of our infinite spirit.
Song Park

Great occasions do not make heroes or cowards; they simply unveil them to the eyes of men. Silently and imperceptibly, as we wake or sleep, we grow stong or weak; and at last some crisis shows what we have become.
Brooke Foss Westcott

There is nothing so useless as doing efficiently that which should not be done at all.
Peter Drucker

If you look closely enough, amid the merciless and the bitter, there is always the chance that you may find comfort and the promise of something good.
Bob Greene

When solving problems, dig at the roots instead of just hacking at the leaves.
Anthony J. D'Angelo

All glory comes from daring to begin.
Eugene F. Ware

Everyone's a star and deserves the right to twinkle.
Marilyn Monroe

Out of the strain of the doing,
Into the peace of the done.
Julia Woodruff

No river can return to its source, yet all rivers must have a beginning.
Proverb

You may have a fresh start any moment you choose for this thing we call 'failure' is not the falling down, but the staying down.
Mary Pickford

When there is a start to be made, don't step over! Start where you are."
Edgar Cayce

When I was a Boy Scout, we played a game when new Scouts joined the troop. We lined up chairs in a pattern, creating an obstacle course through which the new Scouts, blindfolded, were supposed to maneuver. The Scoutmaster gave them a few moments to study the pattern before our adventure began. But as soon as the victims were blindfolded, the rest of us quietly removed the chairs. I think life is like this game. Perhaps we spend our lives avoiding obstacles we have created for ourselves and in reality exist only in our minds. We're afraid to apply for that job, take violin lessons, learn a foreign language, call an old friend, write our Congressman - whatever it is that we would really like to do but don't because of personal obstacles. Don't avoid any chairs until you run smack into one. And if you do, at least you'll have a place to sit down.
Pierce Vincent Eckhart

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Eating Disorders: In The News December 2009

Eating Disorder Organizations Join Forces To Urge Focus On Health And Lifestyle Rather Than Weight

Medical News Today

In an unprecedented show of concern, The Academy for Eating Disorders (AED), Binge Eating Disorder Association (BEDA), Eating Disorder Coalition (EDC), International Association for Eating Disorder Professionals (IADEP), and National Eating Disorder Association (NEDA) have joined forces and are urging focus on health and lifestyle rather than weight as a measurement of well-being.

In late November, media stories reported that an American university implemented a new strategy for combating rising weights by requiring students to be weighed during their freshman year. Those with a Body Mass Index (BMI) of 30 or over are required either to lose weight or pass an extra course focused on physical fitness. In response to this, and other similar strategies within the global "war against obesity", national and international eating disorder organizations have joined forces to urge school administrators, employers, and health policy makers to focus more on health and lifestyle for all populations rather than on weight alone. Eating disorder groups assert that this well-intended, but under-informed and unproven strategy of focusing on BMI fuels weight-prejudice and neglects groups which may be in equal need of improving their health and lifestyle. There is concern that, in some cases, the programs contribute to negative self-esteem, body dissatisfaction and eating disordered behaviors among young people. Neither the scale nor BMI calculation provide the full picture most relevant to health status, such as lifestyle and activity patterns, and physical and mental health measures. Thus, assuming ill health based on weight alone is not only inappropriate but harmful and discriminatory, and should be discontinued.

"There is concern that we have lost sight of avoiding harm in the process of addressing obesity." AED President Susan Paxton, PhD, FAED states. "Further, we cannot ignore the opportunity to create a healthier environment, where people of all sizes are given the opportunity to lead healthy and productive lives, instead of singling out individual groups for reform based on weight alone".

Read in full here.

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New Eating Disorder Specialist Library Launched To Help Eating Disorder Sufferers, Family, Friends, And Health Providers Find Help

Earth Times

Finding treatment for eating disorders is an overwhelming task for those suffering from eating disorders and the loved ones trying to help them. To solve this problem, Eating Disorder Hope launched the Eating Disorder Specialist Library, to provide a comprehensive resource for exploring and comparing treatment options, providers, treatment approaches and philosophy. All accessible in one library, saving hours of searching the web for options. (PRWEB) November 15, 2009 -- Many eating disorder sufferers and families find that reviewing the online ‘virtual brochures’ offered in the http://www.eatingdisorderhope.com/eating-disorder-specialist-library-index.html greatly simplifies their search and puts them in touch with some of the best treatment centers and providers for their loved one suffering from anorexia, bulimia or binge eating disorder. This new and rapidly expanding eating disorder specialist library is an excellent tool for eating disorder sufferers, families, fri and treatment providers who feel overwhelmed with where to begin in the search for appropriate care for the eating disorder sufferer.

Read in full here.

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New Help For Those Battling Eating Disorders

Fox4kc

KANSAS CITY, MO - It's estimated that five to 10 percent of people in the Kansas City area have an eating disorder. Girls ages eight to 25 are most at risk, but certainly not the only ones affected. But now, there's a new way to get help.

Fourteen-year-old Alexis Gick is one of those seeking a solution.

"All I wanted was just help from this," she said. "I didn't want to be stuck in this."

Gick battles anorexia and bulimia. What little she did eat, she would purge.

"It was out of my control," said Wendy Gick, mother. "I couldn't do anything to help her. I think that was the scariest part."

Wendy turned to a therapist, who referred them to specialists in eating disorders.

"I was very lucky that I had some very good referrals," Wendy said.

But she knows others don't know where to turn.

"They're not even sure what's going on other than maybe their child's a finicky eater or has been losing weight or has been purging and they don't really know what to do with this," said Mary Beth Blackwell with Jewish Family Services. "Sometimes they've never even heard of an eating disorder."

Jewish Family Services is now launching an Eating Disorder Resource Center for the Kansas City area with a phone number people can call with questions about eating disorders.

Read in full here.

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How To Help Your Kids Avoid Eating Disorders

Newsday

Know anyone with food issues? Chances are, you know many - and maybe you're one of them. In today's world of fast and convenient food, many people have disordered eating. The evidence of obesity, anorexia, bulimia, binge eating and a national obsession with dieting is proof we aren't eating healthfully. The problem is that many of the people with unhealthy relationships to food are parents, and that makes them - wittingly or not - role models for their children.

Research shows parents are the biggest influences of their children's behavior, so that means what parents do, not what they say, is often emulated by their fiercely observant offspring. And though most parents hope to raise healthy eaters, many are blind to how their own harmful attitudes and behaviors are affecting their children.

Here are five tips from Edward Abramson, a psychologist who works closely with children and adults with eating issues and author of "Emotional Eating."

1. Avoid diets Parents who want to foster a healthy relationship with food should never put their children on a diet, which usually becomes counterproductive and actually increases the likelihood of future weight gain and subsequent emotional issues. "The focus should always be on improving health and not on weight," Abramson notes. Parents should implement healthier family habits, such as eating reasonable portions and even cooking together.

Read in full here.

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Researchers Find Clues To Why Some Continue To Eat When Full

Medical News Today

The premise that hunger makes food look more appealing is a widely held belief just ask those who cruise grocery store aisles on an empty stomach, only to go home with a full basket and an empty wallet.

Prior research studies have suggested that the so-called hunger hormone ghrelin, which the body produces when it's hungry, might act on the brain to trigger this behavior. New research in mice by UT Southwestern Medical Center scientists suggest that ghrelin might also work in the brain to make some people keep eating "pleasurable" foods when they're already full.

Read in full here.

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Food Apps For Mobile Devices May Fuel Eating Disorders

News Channel 6

The smart phone applications that help find restaurants, identify songs, and even read bar codes, may be fueling eating disorders.

Read in full here.

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas Everyone!!


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The Christmas Song

Enjoy.



Sung by: Airto

Recovery Quote Of The Week: December 22nd, 2009

Kindness is like snow~ it beautifies everything it covers.
Author Unknown

*click image to see larger version.


picture source:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/dougbrown47/ / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Snow: The Value Of Listening To Your Heart

Snow
The value of listening to your heart.... ...rather than an eating disordered head.

If I hadn’t ignored my head then I wouldn’t have seen the snow, shimmering and sparkling in the early morning sunlight.

And if I had, as it commanded, stuck to the weekly regime and gone swimming; then I would have missed being the first to walk through the unmarked snowfall, spraying glitter in my wake and leaving a dance of footprints behind me.

If I had given in to the demand to justify and earn every mouthful, then I would have been lapping up and down an empty pool while the sun was working its magic over the snowswept fields; and, against the diamond white backdrop, the colours and shadows became breathtaking.

And, if I had listened to my often overpowering head – rather than my often overpowered heart; then I might not have noticed how beautiful the world can be, and how much fun there is in the smallest pleasures –

Like a twirling whirling flake of snow.

Written by: Finding Melissa

She says: "An eating disorder is a gradual erosion. It’s a chip chip chipping away. A slow, insidious takeover that removes all traces of an individual, erases all suggestion of an identity, dominates thoughts, actions, feelings….and articulates one devastating message: 'without me, you are nothing'…..It is a lie. You’ve just got a bit lost along the way.

Be sure to visit Melissa's wonderful site: Finding Melissa

*See sidebar menu for more ED poetry and writings

*Click here to have your Eating Disorders/Body Image poetry/writings featured on Weighing The Facts


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Eating Disorder Recovery Quotes: Forgiveness

Whether it's the wrongs we have done (to others or ourselves), or the wrongs that others have committed against us, forgiveness is necessary in order to move forward with our lives, to be happy, and to recover.

Forgiveness is a gift we give ourselves. It's not a magic eraser, or a way to excuse or justify offending behavior (or to allow it to continue). It's a way of letting go of our anger, resentment, embarrassment, and pain. It empowers us, allowing us to regain peace and begin healing.

Forgiveness isn't always easy. It's usually very challenging. It takes practice, just like any other worthwhile skill.

________

Many people are afraid to forgive because they feel they must remember the wrong or they will not learn from it. The opposite is true. Through forgiveness, the wrong is released from its emotional stranglehold on us so that we can learn from it. Through the power and intelligence of the heart, the release of forgiveness brings expanded intelligence to work with the situation more effectively.
~David McArthur & Bruce McArthur

When you hold resentment toward another, you are bound to that person or condition by an emotional link that is stronger than steel. Forgiveness is the only way to dissolve that link and get free.
~Catherine Ponder

Forgiveness is giving up the possibility of a better past.
~Unknown

Forgive or Relive.
~Unknown

It is very easy to forgive others their mistakes; it takes more grit and gumption to forgive them for having witnessed your own.
~Jessamyn West

To forgive is to set a prisoner free and discover that the prisoner was you.
~Lewis B. Smedes

We achieve inner health only through forgiveness - the forgiveness not only of others but also of ourselves.
~ Joshua Loth Liebman

Forgiveness is the fragrance that the violet sheds on the heel that has crushed it.
~Mark Twain

There is no love without forgiveness, and there is no forgiveness without love.
~Bryant H. McGill

To forgive is the highest, most beautiful form of love. In return, you will receive untold peace and happiness.
~Robert Muller

Sincere forgiveness isn't colored with expectations that the other person apologize or change. Don't worry whether or not they finally understand you. Love them and release them. Life feeds back truth to people in its own way and time.
~Sara Paddison

Always forgive your enemies - nothing annoys them so much.
~Oscar Wilde

When a deep injury is done us, we never recover until we forgive.
~Alan Paton

Life is an adventure in forgiveness.
~Norman Cousins

Forgiveness is the giving, and so the receiving, of life.
~George MacDonald

Forgiveness is the economy of the heart... forgiveness saves the expense of anger, the cost of hatred, the waste of spirits.
~Hannah Moore

People find it far easier to forgive others for being wrong than for being right.
~JK Rowling

Most of us can forgive and forget; we just don't want the other person to forget that we forgave.
~Ivern Ball

Forgiveness means that you've decided not to let it keep festering inside even if it only comes up once in awhile.
~Doc Childre and Howard Martin

Never forget the three powerful resources you always have available to you: love, prayer, and forgiveness.
~ H. Jackson Brown, Jr.

Forgiveness does not change the past, but it does enlarge the future.
~Paul Boese

Forgiveness means letting go of the past.
~Gerald Jampolsky

Without forgiveness, there's no future.
~Desmond Tutu

True forgiveness is not an action after the fact, it is an attitude with which you enter each moment.
~David Ridge

Forgiveness is a funny thing. It warms the heart and cools the sting.
~William Arthur Ward

We are full of weakness and errors; let us mutually pardon each other our follies.
~Voltaire

Anger makes us smaller, while forgiveness forces you to grow beyond what you were.
~Cherie Carter Scott

He who cannot forgive breaks the bridge over which he himself must pass.
~George Herbert

Resentment is like a glass of poison that a man drinks; then he sits down and waits for his enemy to die.
~George Herbert

Forgiveness is me giving up my right to hurt you for hurting me.
~Anonymous

Never does the human soul appear so strong as when it forgoes revenge, and dares forgive an injury.
~E. H. Chapin

Forgiveness is choosing to love. It is the first skill of self-giving love.
~Mahatma Gandhi

Forgiveness is a virtue of the brave.
~Indira Gandhi

The ineffable joy of forgiving and being forgiven forms an ecstasy that might well arouse the envy of the gods.
~Elbert Hubbard

*more Recovery Quotes and Quotes of the Week can be found in the sidebar drop down menus.

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http://www.flickr.com/photos/adebond1/ / CC BY-NC-SA 2.0

Recovery Quote Of The Week: December 15th, 2009

"Life is not about waiting for the storm to pass, it's about dancing in the rain."
Tiffany Wilson



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Eating Disorders: A Look At What Some ED Bloggers Are Talking About

The Paradox Of Choice
ED Bites: Carrie Arnold

On my move, I had lots of time in the car in which to listen to music, think, and try to ignore Aria's backseat yowling. To help pass the time and keep me awake, I downloaded a bunch of TED Talks onto my iPod. They were an eclectic mix, from anthropology to physics, but they kept me awake and alert for many hours.

One that left a lingering impression in my brain was a talk by Barry Schwartz, author of the book "The Paradox of Choice." I've blogged on the book before, but there was a brief phrase in the talk that really caught my attention. Schwartz was talking about buying jeans, and how many years ago there was only one style of jeans, and they fit very badly. More recently, Schwartz went out to buy a new pair of jeans because his old ones had worn out, and he found a mind-boggling array of jeans from which to choose. Ultimately, he did find a pair that fit better than before, but with such variety available, any issues with how his jeans fit was his problem, not the jeans'.

Let me try to explain this better.

Read The Paradox Of Choice in full here.
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A Factor Of Starvation
Are You "Eating With Your Anorexic?": Laura Collins

Years ago I spent time in an airport waiting area with a mom and her young son with autism. The silent young man, she said with both chagrin and bravado, lives on a diet of fresh MacDonald's french fries, milk shakes, and megavitamins. At the time I appreciated both her honesty and her predicament, though I think I probably had some smug disapproval going at the same time. These were his boundaries, and this mom was not catering to whims, she was loving him and taking care of him from where he was. I did not know that some day I would understand this mom's nurturing in a very personal way, and that I would continue to wish that I could go back and really hear her and make sure she felt supported and understood, if only from a stranger.

When you spend time in the ED world you cannot help but notice how often you see certain traits in patients, many former patients, and often in family members. Things like difficulty with 'set shifting,' a blinding focus on detail, and difficulties with correctly interpreting the emotions of others. There is a lot of talk now about a connection between autism and anorexia.

Read A Factor Of Starvation in full here.
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Join The Online Boycott Of Ralph Lauren
The-F-Word: Rachel

Remember the Ralph Lauren shrinky-dink hack job of already underweight supermodel Filippa Hamilton? Followed by them firing the same underweight supermodel for being too fat? Now the producers of America the Beautiful are waging an online boycott of the unrepentant fashion house.

On behalf of all the girls who feel ugly, overweight, and just not-good-enough;

On behalf of the parents who worry, cry, strive to help their daughters, and shell out $20,000 a month and above for eating disorder treatment centers;

On behalf of all the Mothers, Daughters, Sisters, Aunts, women everywhere who have ever been made to feel insecure by the magazines, billboards, ads, and television commercials;

We are calling for the Boycott of Ralph Lauren products.

Read Join The Online Boycott Of Ralph Lauren in full here.

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Dealing With Your Eating Disorder And Parents As An Adult

Actively Arielle: Arielle Becker Bair

This week's video is in two parts, because what I had to say took a bit longer than 10 minutes. :) The topic of the video is: Dealing with your eating disorder & your parents as an ADULT --'cause let's face it, they affect us even when we're grown or we carry issues with us.

Click here for Arielle's Blog and Links to the Videos

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13 Years Old And Anorexic: Kourtney's Story

Medusa

Kourtney's story...

"It all began when I was a mere 13 years old. Almost exactly one year ago. I was running cross country, having fun with friends, and getting into fashion and clothes. Life was great, I was happy and healthy, and everything seemed "perfect."

First, came the OCD. It hit like a brick to the face. I started feeling anxious about running and times. I started calculating times of 3.5 miles in my head, obsessively. All of the sudden, nothing seemed to trigger it.

The OCD caused me to isolate from friends because I was so trapped in my head, all of the time. So habitual, so compulsive. I stopped going shopping with my best friend over the weekend, and all I would do between classes was look at the school record times, calculating how I could obtain them with my current times. All of the isolation led to depression.

Once the depression hit, I stopped eating, but just a little bit.

13 Years Old and Anorexic in full here.

Recovery Quote Of The Week: December 5th, 2009

If the wind will not serve, take the oars.
~Latin Proverb

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