Author: Shobhana Kanal

Inspiring Words from activist and former BIC speaker Kathleen MacDonald

This was posted on Kathleen’s Facebook page (http://www.facebook.com/home.php#!/notes/kathleen-macdonald/do-i-look-fat-in-this/10150111722509496)

Do I Look Fat in This?

by Kathleen MacDonald on Monday, February 28, 2011 at 10:51pm

Tonight at James Madison University brave young women got up and shared powerful stories of how they were impacted by eating and body image issues/disorders. They inspired me to take time and write this…

We have these labels in our society called: thin, fat, obese, eating disordered, bulimic, anorexic, skinny, chubby, etc…

What the hell with these labels?

Do we place these labels on babies who are still in the womb? WHEN after simply hoping for 10 fingers and 10 toes do we start teaching babies that fat is bad and thin is pretty?

Tonight I let my heart weep in a way that I have not done since last April when I received word (via a staffer on Capitol Hill, nonetheless) that my dear friend Nicole had died from her eating disorder…and I couldn’t help but wonder: when did she start “feeling fat”

Those of you with young daughters and sons, and wives and aunts and mothers and brothers and teammates, etc., who “feel fat” —TAKE NOTE: ‘feeling fat’ is not healthy NOR is it normal. It has become ‘acceptable’ –and that is something we NEED to change.

I am so sick and tired of losing people to these enigmatic things we label as ‘eating disorders’. The seemingly ‘innocuous’ comments you make to your self about your body and to your self about food and about other peoples’ bodies and other peoples’ food…those comments ARE being heard and TAKEN PERSONALLY by the best and the brightest. I listened to young woman after young woman speak tonight about how the comments they heard impacted their feelings about their body, thus in turn their feelings about themselves and what they do/do not eat.

ENOUGH IS ENOUGH. I suffered from these ‘comments’ for 16 years of my life. My friends have died from these comments, and the daughters of parents have died from ‘feeling fat’ and the results of ‘dieting’ to stop feeling ‘fat’… WE MUST CHANGE THIS CULTURE THAT SEEMS TO BELIEVE THAT THIN IS BEAUTIFUL.

THIN GOT ME NOTHING GOOD OR TANGIBLE IN MY LIFE.

THIN DESTROYED MY FAMILY, MY RELATIONSHIPS WITH FRIENDS, MY RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD, AND THIN WAS THE FOCUS OF MY SELF-WORTH FOR YEARS. I NEVER EVER could be doing the work I do today if I was still giving a sh_t about whether or not I was ‘thin’. THIN is not a shape or size –it is a term constructed by society. I AM my natural and healthy genetic weight for this current day. THAT IS BEAUTIFUL and that is ENOUGH. That is what I pray we begin to teach our young children. “looks” by society’s definition  DO NOT MATTER. what matters is that we are each drawn in loving-kindness by something greater than us  —someone who makes us each uniquely beautiful.

Please learn from all those who have died in the pursuit of being ‘just a few pounds thinner’. IT IS NOT WORTH IT. EVER.

Support Group Starts This Thursday February 10, 2011


Are you struggling with an eating disorder, eating problems, or bad feelings about your body? Join the Body Image and Eating Issues Support Group, starting Thursday 2/10. The group will meet weekly on Thursdays from 7:30 p.m. to 9:00 p.m. in the Quita Woodward Room in Thomas Building. The group aims to explore the biology, language, thoughts and self-talk associated with food and eating, and to explore the facts and fallacies of weight and body image, with the purpose of increasing awareness and developing a healthier view of the self. The facilitator will combine her knowledge of eating disorders and therapy with a background in neurobiology and biochemistry to both inform and challenge group attitudes about eating and weight.

The group is sponsored by the Body Image Council and facilitated by Sarah Gibbs, MS, PhD.  Dr. Gibbs is a therapist in private practice who specializes in the treatment of eating disorders. A former group and primary therapist at The Renfrew Center of Philadelphia, she also teaches as an adjunct professor of Biology and Psychology at Bryn Mawr and Haverford Colleges.

Interested Bryn Mawr and Haverford students may come to the first meeting on Thursday or contact Dr. Gibbs (sgibbs@haverford.edu) with questions.

Jenni Schaefer presentation, Wednesday 11/10 at 7 p.m., Thomas Great Hall

The Body Image Council sponsors Jenni Schaefer, author of “Life Without ED” and “Goodbye ED, Hello Me”, at 7 p.m. this Wednesday, 11/10 in TGH. Jenni is a singer/songwriter and a compelling speaker. She is fully recovered from an eating disorder and shares in her presentation and in her books how this is possible for others, too. This presentation will be extremely helpful to anyone struggling with an eating disorder or trying to support others who struggle with one. Please join us! The presentation is free and no registration is necessary.

Feb. 24: “Gawking, Gaping, Staring: Living in Marked Bodies”

Eli Clare, author of Exile and Pride: Disability, Queerness, and
Liberation, will be speaking at Bryn Mawr on Tuesday, Feb. 24th!

EVENTS:
– Informal dinner and discussion with Eli – Batten House – 5:30 PM
– Presentation of “Gawking Gaping Staring” – Dalton 300 – 7:30 PM

He’ll be giving an interactive presentation titled “Gawking, Gaping,
Staring: Living in Marked Bodies.”  As Eli puts it, “Disabled people,
trans people, fat people, and people of color all know what it’s like
to be stared at. Through words and images, Eli explores the internal
experiences of living in marked bodies and the external meanings of
oppression and bodily difference.”

Read more about Eli and his work at www.eliclare.com

5 Reasons to Get Rid of Your Skinny Jeans

Saving clothes that are too small DOES NOT generally help people with weight-loss goals and can have many detrimental effects on body image and self-esteem.  Here’s an article on this matter from the website Sparkpeople.com. I’ve copied and pasted the whole article because the website, although it contains a lot of good information, also has distracting ads and graphics.

— By Nancy Howard, Staff Writer

Peek into a woman’s closet, and tucked amid all the clothes is something that almost every woman keeps. She strives to wear it again someday, no matter how unrealistic or out of style it may be. What is it? Her “skinny” jeans. Whether yours take the form of pants, swimwear or even an old suit or dress, women and men alike keep these too-small clothes for years. Some are even brand new, tags attached, bought as inspiration to lose weight so that garment would fit.

Recently, I started to wonder: Is it detrimental to hold on to your skinny jeans? I must confess that up until three years ago, I, too, had my own little cache of one-day-I-will-fit-into-these-again outfits. As with many trends in fashion, if you hang on to something long enough, it will eventually come back in style. I am not sure whether fashion itself or the desire to be a smaller size again was my motive. Not only did I still own the little black sundress I wore the night my husband and I met 27 years ago, but I also had my very first pair of Levi’s 501 button-fly jeans tucked away in a drawer. But I’m not alone.

In 2006, a Talbots National Fit Study poll asked 2,200 women ranging in age from 35 to 65 about their clothes-buying habits. Here’s what they found:

  • More than 33 percent admitted to having clothes in their closet that were too small for them to wear.
  • Surprisingly, 85 percent “determined if something fit them by looking at the size tag,” not by how the clothing actually fit.
  • Forty percent purchased clothes that were too small in hopes that they would one day be able to wear them after losing weight.
  • Shockingly, 25 percent of the clothes women buy never leave their closets!

Does holding on to clothes that don’t fit really motivate people lose weight, or could it be holding them back? Here’s a list of honest reasons why keeping too-tight clothes might actually hurt your self-esteem, weight loss efforts and more.

  • They become a constant reminder that you are not at your “ideal” size. While it may seem motivating, this thinking can lead you down a destructive path to lower self-esteem and self-worth. And not only for people who are losing weight, but also for those who have experienced a change in body shape due to childbearing and/or age. When you are constantly measuring your self-worth based on the body of your youth, you’ll never learn to embrace the person that you are today.
  • Keeping clothes from yesterday is a symptom of living in the past. Only after you let go of the past can you learn to accept yourself in the present with self-confidence and a sense of empowerment. You are no longer mourning what was and can live with what is. When I finally let go of my skinny jeans and sundress, I stopped trying to be the innocent 20-year-old from years past and gave myself permission to start a new chapter of my life, as the older, wiser and more mature woman that I am.
  • When your skinny jeans don’t fit, you can feel like a failure, even when you’re making real progress. Simply living a healthy lifestyle does a body good, regardless of your size or weight. But just as many people rely too heavily on the scale to measure their success, trying on clothes that don’t fit can set you up for failure, too. Remember that the scale—or the size of your jeans—doesn’t always determine your progress accurately.
  • Striving to fit into your skinny jeans may lead you to unsafe dieting practices. It isn’t uncommon for some women to strive for a weight that’s too low and then resort to extremes in order to reach it. While you may admire your youthful looks, returning to them now might be unrealistic for you.
  • Longing for your former figure can prevent you from finding true happiness today. According to a February 2003 study in the American Journal of Psychiatry, a fear of failure drives many women to squeeze back into their skinny jeans. Instead of embracing who they are today, they won’t accept, love or reward themselves until they reach “perfection.” Many women believe that fitting into their skinny jeans can bring joy and happiness back into their lives, but simply holding on to those skinny jeans may be feeding their inadequacies.

With the media and Hollywood constantly inundating us with suggestive images about the perfect body, it isn’t surprising for countless studies to reveal that more women suffer from poor body image than men do. So how do we reverse this trend of negative body image?

Every February for the past 21 years, the National Eating Disorder Association has held a National Eating Disorders Awareness Week. NEDA works tirelessly helping women to develop a more positive body image. In 2008, the theme for the week was “Be comfortable in your genes. Wear jeans that fit the TRUE you.” Women were encouraged to donate their skinny jeans to release themselves from the constraints of longing to be the size they once were, therefore creating a sense of self-acceptance.

No one should allow the size of his or her clothes to determine their self-worth. Much like your weight, a clothing size is just a number, and sizing varies wildly from brand to brand. It’s much more important to wear clothes that flatter and fit you, regardless of what the tag reads. Sometimes, simply wearing a well-fit pair of jeans can boost your confidence. Refusing to buy a larger size, even though it’s more comfortable and flattering, or squeezing into a smaller size, even though it’s too tight, can make you feel worse about yourself.

Today, I encourage you to open your closets and drawers. Gather everything that doesn’t fit you TODAY, especially clothes that are too small. Free yourself from the past and the silent criticism of your skinny jeans once and for all! Here are some ways you can get rid of your old clothes instead of sending them to a landfill:

  • Donate your clothes. Local shelters, Goodwill organizations and other nonprofits usually accept gently worn clothing. Giving back to the community allows us to help those who need our assistance, so this is a win-win.
  • Resell your old clothes at a consignment shop or online (eBay and craigslist are good ideas). You could make a few extra dollars, and you might find a deal on some “new” things in the size you currently wear. While many women don’t want to buy new clothes until they’ve reached their goal weight, feeling pretty and attractive is important for everyone, here and now. You deserve to feel good about yourself and your wardrobe every day.

When I finally let go of my old clothes, I realized that I was not the clothes and the clothes were not me. These days, when I open the closet, I don’t see all the clothes I can’t wear and think, “What if?” Now I open the closet and think, “What will I wear today?”

Letting go of your skinny jeans can release you from the past—and the unrealistic expectations that you may have put on yourself. By living in the present, you can accept yourself and your life at this moment. It allows you to move ahead in your life with dignity and self-respect. By focusing the positive and looking forward, you build greater confidence, which can increase your chances of success.

Alert – Dangerous over-the-counter diet pills

Today’s New York Times carries an article about the dangers of so-called “dietary supplements,” sold at places like GNC and the Vitamin Shoppe, whose makers and advertisers falsely claim they are effective and safe for weight loss. They are neither.

An excerpt:

In a continuing investigation that has prompted consumer warnings and recalls by some distributors, the F.D.A. has determined that dozens of weight-loss supplements, most of them imported from China, contain hidden and potentially harmful drugs. In the coming weeks, the agency plans to issue a longer list of brands to avoid that are spiked with drugs, an F.D.A. spokeswoman said.

Besides StarCaps, which were made in Peru and which Balanced Health Products, the American distributor, has voluntarily withdrawn, the agency’s warning list includes more obscure pills sold under the names Sliminate, Superslim and Slim Up, among many others. So far, the F.D.A. has cited 69 tainted weight-loss supplements.

“A large percentage of these products either contain dangerous undeclared ingredients or they might be outright fraudulent on the ingredients and have no effect at all,” said Michael Levy, the director of the F.D.A.’s division of New Drugs and Labeling Compliance. “We don’t think consumers should be using these products.”