Good Evening my friends! I am excited to tell you about the Special twitter Chat I attended last night. It was to discuss and celebrate the book, Almost Anorexic: Is My (or My Loved One’s) Relationship with Food a Problem, which will be released in just a few weeks.
The authors, Dr. Jennifer Thomas and Jenni Schaefer describe the book to be written as a vehicle to raise awareness about EDNOS and other disordered eating. The authors shared they do discuss “almost purging” as they worry about the juice fasts, colonics, teas, etc. and how these have become “normal” and people are being sold on the ideas that they are getting rid of toxins. When in reality, these “lifestyle changes “are disordered eating behaviors and dieting in disguise. They go on to point out that even though these patterns of disordered eating cannot be officially diagnosed, they still present serious and potentially, even life altering experiences. Yet so many people continue to believe these are “healthy”.
Throughout the chat, the audience asked several questions. One in particular, peaked an interest. A member of the audience asked “What does “normal eating” mean? I really liked this question because we can get lost in the media’s definition of “normal” and/or “healthy” and listen to advice from magazine articles, TV segments, etc… when in reality, most of the advice is “disordered” and “unhealthy”.
So what does “normal” eating, mean? It means that food is neutral. Certain foods are not labeled “good” or “bad”. Normal eating is where you no longer base when and how much you eat on ED’s rules, a diets’ rules, etc. Lastly, normal eating is allowing food to be a part of celebration and connection. Going out to dinner with others, sharing dessert with a friend and not thinking about it.
I haven’t read the book yet but plan to once it’s released. It is then I will do a full review on it and have a true opinion on the matter. However, in the meantime, I can say that I am so glad that I attended the chat as it has been a much needed event of awareness. When you log onto Facebook and see statuses of people doing the “right” thing according to them, whether they post themselves being “good” by working out, or eating food that they consider to be “good” (not good tasting) etc. it is easy to see how the world defines “good” and “bad” in a disordered way. So, if I ate dessert today or haven’t been to the gym in a while, am I being “bad”? What kind of message are we sending to the children around us? Should they be feeling as though they are “bad” for eating dessert??!! NEVER! People, let’s be careful about the messages we are sending to ourselves and those around us that we believe to be “Healthy” when really they are a bit disordered.
What kind of Facebook statuses do you see where others label their food and behaviors as being “good” or “bad”? Are you able to see that these labels feed into the disordered thinking?
Always Be YOU,
Jenn B.













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