Eating Disorder Awareness Week 2014

The week before Eating Disorder Awareness Week (Feb. 2-8), the University of Guelph held their annual Eating Disorder and Body Image Awareness Exposé. The event was filled with various on and off campus organizations that address these issues. I brought Sophie Hogan's "The Body Image Project" as well as "wiTHIN", the graphic novel Emily McGratten and I have been working on. 

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The Body Image Project, as partly seen above, is an exercise in acceptance. A woman's naked figure is shown on one side, while on the other side, through the use of arts and images, is a display of how she feels about her body. What I like about this project is that it shows women's bodies... real bodies. Yes, I acknowledge that not all body shapes are included, nor a vast variety of diversity outside of white, able bodied, females, but it is a start. It shows that all women are not stick thin, although there is nothing wrong with being stick thin IF this is one's set point.  Some have scars, some have hips and some have larger breasts than others. It is a project that encourages self-acceptance. You do not have to look a certain way in order to be happy, loved or healthy. You do not have to be a certain size in order to like yourself either. I think this is what I love most about the exposé. That attention is put on healthy living and self-acceptance regardless of size. That people do not fit into a box. That there is diversity in humanness that can, and should be, celebrated.

For most people, Eating Disorder Awareness Week was a week that probably did not  get much of a second thought... For me, however, it is a reminder of my past and a thankfulness for my future. It is a week where a little more attention is paid to eating disorders and hopefully lets individuals, family members and friends know, they are not alone. Eating disorders are not a joke, nor is it something to be desired. It is a coping mechanism for an underlying issue. It can be seductive and imprisoning at the same time. It can and does kill... too many.

On Feb. 5th, I spoke at "Faces of Recovery", an annual event put on by the Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Eating Disorder Coalition.  It is a panel discussion by those in recovery from an eating disorder.  The panelist varied in how long they had been in recovery as well as their routes to healing. Amongst the differences, however,  lay many similarities.  It is hard to not leave "Faces of Recovery" without feeling inspired and encouraged to keep fighting. Check out an article about the success of the event, by The Wellington Advertiser, here.

Even though Eating Disorder Awareness Week is over, let us not stop talking about it.  Let us continue to challenge myths and stereotypes around eating disorders as well as the thin culture that surrounds us. Let's look at our relationship with food, weight and exercise and get the help needed in order to make them healthy and normalized.  Let us make the message of Eating Disorder Awareness Week one that continues to live on the remaining 51 weeks of the year!

Measuring What?

Feb. 11, 2014

The scale often makes its way (no pun intended) into the walls of my office.  It is never as simple as “I weighed myself today”.  Usually, this action results in some sort of modification in how the rest of the day was carried out, and/or a shift in self-worth.  An undesired number appears; feelings of shame (feeling bad about who you are) and guilt (feeling bad about something you did) ensue.  A ‘desired’ number lights up and a sense of pressure to maintain said number increases. Distorted eating or eating disorder behaviours are usually not far behind.  A salad is consumed for lunch instead of the much-desired beef burrito.  It is as if this one adjustment magically redeems or reverses what was shown on the scale earlier on.  Perhaps, feelings of failure emerge, leaving you bingeing throughout the day while thinking, “I’ll do better tomorrow”. A work out routine typically stimulated by health turns into an unhealthy motivator to burn calories and lose weight.  Insecurity creeps in.

We forget that weight fluctuates for a number of healthy normal reasons throughout the day… from fluid/food intake, to bowel movements, to time of day. What is concerning is how much of one’s worth is tied up in the number on the scale. That this number determines whether one will have a 'good' day or a 'bad' day, whether one is 'good enough' or deemed a 'failure'.  You question having felt good about yourself earlier on in the day, before having stepped on the scale.  It must have been a lie.

The number doesn’t have to determine your mood, worth and confidence.  It is simply a number.  It does not mean you are unhealthy nor does it mean you are healthy. Stepping on said device cannot measure your blood pressure, the strength of your bones, or if you are nutritionally sound.  It does not take into account muscle mass or genetics.  My suggestion, throw away the scale.  Why keep it around? In times of desperation and self-doubt, it will seductively lure you back. Do not let it measure your self-worth, self-confidence, hunger cues, health, value and motivation. Take inventory on your life and work towards having healthy relationships with friends, food, exercise, spirituality, your body and so on.  We are intricate beings; the scale cannot accurately measure all of who we are, nor should we let it.