Eating Disorders: Seen Around The Web

Why It’s Time to Change Our Thinking About Weight: A Q&A with Linda Bacon

Margarita Tartakovsky, MS

Fat is vilified in our culture. That, unfortunately, is a fact. We think that weight loss will lead to many a splendid thing, including health and success. We think diet and lots of exercise will help us lose weight and maintain it. We’re always on the lookout for the next secret to weight loss, some pill, supplement, new workout craze, anything that’ll bring us closer to reaching our goal.

But there’s a reality that we rarely hear about that seems overshadowed by shows like The Biggest Loser, which illustrate big losses, and media attention, fear and unhelpful regulations about the obesity epidemic. Schools ban cupcakes while grocery stores reward thinner employees. Our assumption of larger bodies being unhealthy is deeply ingrained.

That’s why I’m so thrilled to present part one of my interview with Linda Bacon, Ph.D, author of Health At Every Size: The Surprising Truth About Your Weight, a book that reveals the reality behind weight loss and dieting. Linda is a nutrition professor and researcher in the Biology Department at City College of San Francisco. She’s also part of a movement called Health At Every Size, which emphasizes health, not weight. It doesn’t demonize fat and it doesn’t encourage weight loss. Instead, it encourages honoring and listening to our bodies, moving our bodies and eating in a flexible way.

Below is part one of my eye-opening interview with Linda, where she presents solid research about the many, many weight-loss misconceptions that we accept every day as facts.

1. Q: Can you talk about some of the biggest misconceptions about weight loss and the so-called obesity epidemic?

Read Q &A in full here.

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Toxic Levels Of Self-Hate

Melissa Groman LCSW /Hope Forward

....There are, I think, a thousand possible causes of eating disorders. And there are a thousand cures. There is no one explanation, and no one path to recovery. We can rage at culture, analyze family dynamics, hang our hopes on genetic markers. Each story is uniquely crafted by biology, experience, environment and development. But this much I know to be true, each person that I have ever worked with who has an eating disorder suffers from toxic levels of self hate. Sometimes its obvious, and sometimes its swimming around like a shark just below the surface.

Read in full here.

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Question #16: Forbidden Foods & What It's Really About

Actively Arielle: A Voice With A Commitment

"In these years of anorexia, I've stopped eating a lot of different foods (most of them, except fruits, vegetables, yogurt and meat), and some of the foods I've stopped eating, they have become some kind of 'forbidden': I still can't eat some of them (such as pizza, ice-cream, hamburgers, wrustel, etc...), while I eat hardly some others... So, I wanted to ask you: have you lived something similar? If yes, have you solved the problem, or are there 'forbidden' food to you, right now? Moreover: how did you solve this problem? How can you resist to put out again some foods from your nutrition?" It may surprise you to know that I have no "forbidden" foods. I also have no "safe" foods. I eat everything, and I do mean everything. I'm not even a picky eater. There are a few foods I naturally dislike like creamed corn, french onion soup, and scallops, but I've disliked them since childhood. Other than those and a very few others, I eat anything and everything. When I was dealing with my anorexia...

Read in full here.

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What The Eating Disorder World Wants Mrs. Obama To Know

Laura Collins Lyster-Mensh /The Huffington Post

In the eating disorders world, putting any child on a diet is not only unacceptable but appalling.

In the eating disorders world, a father referring to his child as "chubby" and commenting on her eating habits is not only frowned upon it is reviled.

In the eating disorder world a mother who felt her children were "perfect" should not be corrected by a doctor who points to the children's weight as altering that.

In the eating disorders world it is well-known and embraced that healthy children rapidly gain weight as they approach puberty.

Read in full here.

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Dove and Diversity: Not Just For Women

Sharon Haywood

Ads for cars, beer, and action movies typically dominate the costly airtime during Super Bowl. But during The Big Game of 2006, it wasn’t another Bud Light commercial that captivated viewers. Instead, the Dove Campaign for Real Beauty reached an estimated 90.7 million football fans via a 45-second spot that promoted Dove’s Self-Esteem Fund. Dove's manufacturer, Unilever, created the hard-hitting video, True Colors, enlightening the audience—many of them parents—to the importance of fostering a positive body image in girls. And this year, they will do it again.

On Sunday, February 7^th Super Bowl XLIV airs another spot that celebrates body diversity. This time, men are the focus:

Read Dove and Diversity in full here.

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Body fat- it's not a bad thing

Carrie Arnold/ ED Bites

A new study confirms previous research that a higher percent body fat is associated with better outcomes for anorexia, and that lower body fat percentages are associated with relapse (Bodell and Mayer, 2010). The research isn't exactly groundbreaking, nor is the science--it's a pretty straightforward statistical analysis--but the results bear repeating. For most of my treatment, I've had clinicians low-ball my weight. They'd use some sort of plug-n-chug formula and tell me what I needed to weigh. Only twice was I asked what I weighed before the eating disorder during these "What should healthy Carrie weigh?" conversations. The second time, I lied because that is what people with eating disorders do when they are terrified of gaining weight and want to avoid it at all costs. Nothing egregiously inaccurate, but still.

Read in full here

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The Strength Is In The Foundation

Elisabeth from Letters To My Body.com

February 26th will mark my 4th year in recovery from my eating disorder. Four YEARS! Can you believe it?

In anticipation of this four year mark, I’ve been very thoughtful lately about my past, where I’ve been, how I arrived there, and how I have come to the place where I am now. And where is this ‘place’ that I’m talking about?

The place is happiness.

The place is peace.

It is a place filled with the knowledge that I don’t need to obsess about every morsel that passes my lips, and the confidence to know the difference between hunger and pain (or hurt or boredom or anxiety).

It is also a place where I trust in my own body to tell me what it needs, and have the ability to forgive myself in advance for any over-indulgences that may occur on occasion.

I no longer live in a state of instability and chaos (inevitably dictated by the number on the scale each morning). Oh, what a total relief THAT is!

Above all, I’m coming from a place of love, kindness, and compassion.

This place was not discovered easily. It took a lot of work, self-doubt and determination. In all truth, much of the time, I faked it till I made it. It’s still not easy at times, and I have my own personal struggles just as anyone with past (or present) disordered eating does. However, the bottom line is this…

Read Foundation in full here.

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Trimming The Budget-Not Just For The Arts & Music Anymore

Tracey Mere /The Givens That Are Our Graces

Albany's governor proposed budget eliminates funding for eating disorders in order to keep the focus on obesity and diseases related to obesity.
"In comparison to obesity and diabetes, eating disorders affect relatively few New Yorkers," said Claudia Hutton, spokeswoman for the state Department of Health.
The governor's budget will end the $1.7 million annual subsidies to the state's three eating disorder centers, including $500,000 to Albany Medical Center. The cut would eliminate Albany Med's entire budget and close the eating disorder program.
"It creates a huge void in the services we've been able to develop," said Dr. Sharon Alger-Mayer, medical director of the Northeast Comprehensive Care Center for Eating Disorders at Albany Med.
The program serves about 2,000 people through outpatient services and 50 people who need to be...

Read in full here.
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BEFORE SIZE ZERO: THE WAY WE WERE...

Medusa

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Unattainable Beauty: The Decades Most Egregious Retouching Scandals

Newsweek

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Girls' favorite cartoon characters get make-overs (not good ones)

feministing.com

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Mom Camps Out To Get Spot In Mental Ward For Son

Newsobserver.com

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picture source:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/kurtxio/ / CC BY 2.0

Eating Disorder Recovery Quotes: Acceptance

Understanding is the first step to acceptance,
and only with acceptance can there be recovery.
~Joanne Kathleen Rowling

There are two primary choices in life: to accept conditions as they exist, or accept the responsibility for changing them.
~Denis Waitley

Accepting does not necessarily mean liking, enjoying, or condoning. I can accept what is—and be determined to evolve from there. It is not acceptance but denial that leaves me stuck.
~Nathaniel Branden

We cannot change anything until we accept it. Condemnation does not liberate, it oppresses.
~Carl Jung

Only by acceptance of the past, can you alter it.
~T.S. Eliot

We must accept life for what it actually is -- a challenge to our quality without which we should never know of what stuff we are made, or grow to our full stature.
~Ida R. Wylie

Acceptance is not submission; it is acknowledgment of the facts of a situation. Then deciding what you're going to do about it.
~Kathleen Casey Theisen

Once we accept our limits, we go beyond them.
~Albert Einstein

The willingness to accept responsibility for one's own life is the source from which self-respect springs.
~Joan Didion

The greatest success, is successful self acceptance.
~Ben Sweet

The only thing that will make you happy is being happy with who you are, and not who people think you are.
~Goldie Hawn

Acceptance and tolerance and forgiveness, those are life-altering lessons.
~Jessica Lange

Happiness can exist only in acceptance.
~George Orwell

Accept everything about yourself -- I mean everything, you are you and that is the beginning and the end -- no apologies, no regrets.
~Henry Kissinger

When you find peace within yourself, you become the kind of person who can live at peace with others.
~Peace Pilgrim

Some people confuse acceptance with apathy, but there's all the difference in the world. Apathy fails to distinguish between what can and what cannot be helped; acceptance makes that distinction. Apathy paralyzes the will-to-action; acceptance frees it by relieving it of impossible burdens.
~Arthur Gordon

Lord grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference.
~Saint Francis of Assisi

To succeed, it is necessary to accept the world as it is - and rise above it.
~Michael Korda

Many of us crucify ourselves between two thieves - regret for the past and fear of the future.
~Fulton Oursler

Acceptance of one's life has nothing to do with resignation; it does not mean running away from the struggle. On the contrary, it means accepting it as it comes, with all the handicaps of heredity, of suffering, of psychological complexes and injustices.
~Paul Tournier

Belief consists in accepting the affirmations of the soul; unbelief, in denying them.
~Ralph Waldo Emerson

Acceptance of what has happened is the first step to overcoming the consequences of any misfortune.
~ William James

You have to accept whatever comes and the only important thing is that you meet it with courage and with the best that you have to give.
~Eleanor Roosevelt

That is the definition of faith ~ acceptance of that which we imagine to be true, that which we cannot prove.
~ Dan Brown

One must have the adventurous daring to accept oneself as a bundle of possibilities and undertake the most interesting game in the world, making the most of one's best."
~Harry Emerson Fosdick

Acceptance of others, their looks, their behaviors, their beliefs, bring you an inner peace and tranquility -- instead of anger and resentment.
- Unknown

Failing doesn't make you a failure. Giving up, accepting your failure, refusing to try again does!
~ Richard Exely

The first step toward change is awareness. The second step is acceptance.
~Nathaniel Branden

If I could define enlightenment briefly I would say it is 'the quiet acceptance of what is'.
~Wayne Dyer

Happiness can exist only in acceptance.
~ Denis De Rougamont

But there isn't any second half of myself waiting to plug in and make me whole. It's there. I'm already whole.
~ Sally Field

You are wholly complete and your success in life will be in direct proportion to your ability to accept this truth about you.
~ Dr. Robert Anthony.

Being happy doesn't mean that everything is perfect. It means that you've decided to look beyond the imperfections.
~Unknown

You must accept that you might fail; then, if you do your best and still don't win, at least you can be satisfied that you've tried. If you don't accept failure as a possibility, you don't set high goals, and you don't branch out, you don't try-you don't take the risk.
~ Rosalynn Smith Carter

Serenity comes when you trade expectations for acceptance.
~Unknown

Acceptance of one's life has nothing to do with resignation; it does not mean running away from the struggle. On the contrary, it means accepting it as it comes, with all the handicaps of heredity, of suffering, of psychological complexes and injustices.
~Dr. Paul Tournier

The fruit of self-understanding is self acceptance. The fruit of self acceptance is self-love.
~Russell Rowe

The way I see it, if you want the rainbow, you gotta put up with the rain.
~Dolly Parton

Where you are and what you are right now has to be made right, even if you don’t like it that much. Nevertheless, it is you. By criticizing and negating the current circumstances, what you are saying is that you are not okay. What is around you is only an extension of who you are. Look at those things and realize that they are what they are, imperfect though they may be. By accepting the truth, you propel yourself into better circumstances. By resisting, you live in the constant negativity of your own dissatisfaction.
~Stuart Wilde

A man cannot be comfortable without his own approval.
~Mark Twain

Self acceptance comes from meeting life's challenges vigorously. Don't numb yourself to your trials and difficulties, nor build mental walls to exclude pain from your life. You will find peace not by trying to escape your problems, but by confronting them courageously. You will find peace not in denial, but in victory..
~J. Donald Walters

Give love and unconditional acceptance to those you encounter, and notice what happens.
~Wayne Dyer

When you're a beautiful person on the inside, there is nothing in the world that can change that about you. Jealousy is the result of one's lack of self-confidence, self-worth, and self-acceptance. The Lesson: If you can't accept yourself, then certainly no one else will.
~Sasha Azevedo

Always fall in with what you're asked to accept. Take what is given, and make it over your way. My aim in life has always been to hold my own with whatever's going. Not against: with.
~Robert Frost

Perhaps the most important thing we can undertake toward the reduction of fear is to make it easier for people to accept themselves, to like themselves.
~Bonaro W. Overstreet

My definition of success is total self acceptance. We can obtain all of the material possessions we desire quite easily, however, attempting to change our deepest thoughts and learning to love ourselves is a monumental challenge.
~Franki

A man cannot be comfortable without his own approval.
~Mark Twain

Self-acceptance comes from meeting life's challenges vigorously. Don't numb yourself to your trials and difficulties, nor build mental walls to exclude pain from your life. You will find peace not by trying to escape your problems, but by confronting them courageously. You will find peace not in denial, but in victory.
~J. Donald Walters

*Related posts:
Quote Of The Week: August 28th

Please see sidebar for more recovery quotes, and quotes of the week.

picture source:http://www.flickr.com/photos/aussiegall/ / CC BY 2.0

Recovery Quote Of The Week: January 30th, 2010

Mistakes are merely steps up the ladder.
Paul J. Meyer

*See sidebar for more quotes of the week and inspirational recovery quotes.


picture souce:

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

Eating Disorder Poll: Are You Talking About Your ED?

Are You Talking About Your Eating Disorder?

Are you talking about your ED? Are you keeping it a secret? Are you selective about who you tell?

This poll is closed.

Poll Results:

When it comes to my ED, I ...

(choose all that apply)

speak openly	29 (19%)
am afraid to tell anyone	46 (31%)
want to tell but haven't	30 (20%)
am ready to speak up	23 (15%)
have told friends	77 (52%)
have told family	62 (41%)
have told therapist	62 (41%)
only tell other pro ED	14 (9%)
have told no one	10 (6%)
want recovery	60 (40%)
do not want recovery	44 (29%)
am in recovery	54 (36%)

Votes: 148

see more poll results here.

picture source:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/daniellehelm/ / CC BY 2.0

Let's Talk About Eating Disorders: Break The Silence

It's Time To Talk About It

...is what this year's National Eating Disorders Awareness Week is all about.

Secrecy plays a major roll for most with an eating disorder and hinders recovery. Whether you're an ED advocate who openly speaks about your eating disorder, or someone who has never spoken about it before, I'd like to invite you to share your experience on Weighing The Facts.

I'm looking for your stories and poems about your personal experience with EDs.

Topics can be about (but are not limited to):

• the role secrecy has played in your eating disorder
• how talking about it has affected your ED and recovery
• your story
• your journey

It can be about whatever is most important to you.

If you'd like to participate and be featured here during this year's National Eating Disorders Awareness Week (February 21st-27th) please email your submissions to MrsMenopausal@yahoo.com.
Please specify if you'd like to remain anonymous or have your name (or alias) included.

*Please see sidebar menu for ED/Body Image poems and writings

picture source:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/circo_de_invierno/ / CC BY 2.0

Recovery Quote Of The Week: January 20th, 2010

People are like stained-glass windows. They sparkle and shine when the sun is out, but when the darkness sets in, their true beauty is revealed only if there is a light from within.
Elisabeth Kubler-Ross


*More recovery quotes of the week and inspirational recovery quotes can be found listed in the sidebar.


picture source:

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

A Letter To My ED: I See You For What You Are

I would love to call you names, hurl abuse, but I'll keep this clean. (im sweet like that)
Up until a few weeks ago, I thought you had only been in my life on and off.
But you are tricky, you changed forms so many times. The times I thought you were gone, you actually had a bigger hold on me. I was just pretending you weren't there, and I didn't know why I was so miserable, and I hated myself just as much.
But you, have robbed me of so many things. I hate you. My family hates you. My ex-boyfriends hate you. You are poison.
How ever many years ago now, you came to comfort me because I was sad, I thought you were helping. I thought you were teaching me to control my life, to feel better about myself.

That summer was probably the last summer I really loved being intimate with anyone. You took that from me.
When my friends want to go have fun going out, you told me I couldn't. When people told me I was talented, you told me they were lying.
When I walked into a room, you told me everyone thought I was disgusting.
When I see other girls, you told me they see me as masculine and different.
When people organise events and fun activities.. you think of excuses to get out of them.
You are the first voice I hear in the morning, and the last voice I hear at night. And I am so sick of the sound of you.
You have affected every avenue of my life and you own all of my mental real estate.
Well guess what?
I see you now.
I see you for what you are, and I am going to get rid of you. In fact I have already started. It is my main goal in life, I really don't think you stand a chance.
And I am going to tell people about you.
And I am going to get help to do get rid of you.
As much as I hate you, when I am better I'll move on from that hate, I wont be bitter, because you don't even deserve that much energy. Instead I will be happy!
And when you are gone I am going to nourish my body, and love my soul, and go out with friends, and walk around with my head held high. Every morning when I wake up I am going to be grateful that you are gone. Every night I am going to sleep sweetly knowing that you have been beaten!
And I am going to try and help other people know exactly what you are, and I want to prevent people from befriending you, and I want to make sure when I have children they never even hear you speak.
I'll be free!
Fuck yeah!

Written by: Lou Lou
Lou Lou says on her blog, Boost Forward, "I am on a path to becoming a woman enjoying wellness and I have a lot of hope."

*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

Picture source:

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

Recovery Quote Of The Week: January 9th, 2010

You, yourself, as much as anybody in the entire universe, deserve your love and affection. ~Buddha


picture source:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/g-ratphotos/ / CC BY-SA 2.0

Recovery Video: Reflections On Anorexia

Video by Holdingon
Holdingon has amazing recovery videos.
Be sure to check them out: Holdingon's youtube channel.

see also:
Inspirational Recovery Quotes:
Our Bodies
Self Worth


*Note to Anonymous ... Thank you for the comment you sent. The original video posted that you were referring to was no longer linked and I was not aware of the change. It has been removed. I appreciate you bringing it to my attention. Thanks again!

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

picture source

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

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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.


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