How do we put a stop to eating disorders? Wish there was something we (who ever is interested) can do to put a stop to eating disorders. Any ideas?
I have written about this both personally and academically. As the mother of a young daughter, an aunt to three little girls, and the step mother to two other little girls this is one of my deepest desires to find ways to eliminate eating disorders from society. I have watched as my two younger sisters developed eating disorders following my mother and my footsteps, all of us have struggled with severe body image issues and serious clinical eating disorders. It is my hope that by breaking this generational cycle myself, i can help to set the stage for the next set of people to be free of these disorders. I think collectively those of us in recovery need to come out of the shadows and break our silence, as we are strong enough to reclaim our voice in society and share our stories. We need to challenge the media status quo and the silencing of those who are struggling to recover, in order to help to create a new vision for ourselves and our society that honors the diversity of human bodies. Much like honoring all other aspects of human diversity we need to find a way to break free from the current images of one true ideal and replace it with a respect and appreciation of the multiplicity of human shapes and sizes. We need to help forge a vision that allows all of us and so many others caught in the diet/weight obsessed culture to be at peace with food and our bodies, to see ourselves as beautiful for all we are and all we can be on every level; body, intellect, emotions, and spirit. This is very philosophic, but it is my response to this desire to end eating disorders,