First, in case you don’t know what “body checking” is, there’s a great description at Eating Disorder Hope:
The truth is, everyone checks their body on occasion; perhaps it’s taking note of how clothes fit or grabbing a quick peek at the reflection in a store window. However, those with eating disorders repeatedly check their bodies in ways that are unusual. In fact, for these people, body and weight checking becomes second nature. Often individuals with eating disorders don’t even realize they’re doing it. Typically, they check to feel for fatness, …

“However, there are those who adopt extreme thinness as a lifestyle choice. Such people – aspiring anorexics, or “wannarexics” – are more representative of what you may be seeing in your daughter. Wannarexics imitate the behaviour of those with eating disorders so as to be, for example, a size zero. They are generally underweight but are not anorexic, as their behaviours are not as extreme.”
“Wannarexia comes from wanting to fit in. Girls as young as 5 identify greater weight with lesser popularity; they want to be Barbie. Pre-teens learn that …

‘But I ask myself if an eating disorder unit is the best place for an impressionable young girl to be,’ says Deanne Jade. ‘As any inpatient will tell you, a specialist unit is the best place to learn how to be really, really good at anorexia.’ They also breed their own subculture.
– Still at war with our bodies

Oh, what a statement! This article is a couple of years old, but I still think it’s bold to suggest that the “highest level of care” for eating disorders actually makes …

Laura Collins raised a GREAT question today — Does (mom’s) size matter? While I have a lot to say about the matter, two main points come to mind:
1. Mothers with eating disorders
I think that your mother’s weight and behaviors surrounding food are much more relevant in recovery than in the downward eating disorder spiral. Parents model for their kids — I’d argue that this is even true for adult kids (adult kids, ha — you know what I mean). While I think that the eating habits of …

“Holiday” and “reflection” go hand-in-hand for me. Actually, I think the equation is more like this:
holidays + remembering to be thankful + being at home + the annual family Christmas card photo = reflection.
Reflection might not be such a bad thing… but reflection leads to comparing. There is still the day-to-day comparing myself to others in my surrounding (although I think I’m getting better about this), but this time of year leads me to compare myself to former versions of myself.
I blame a lot of this on the …

This is not going to be an insightful or even remotely academically-based post — nope, just something that’s on my mind today: Positive Self Talk (PST).  I have to know… does this actually help anyone?  If you are having a lousy body image day and stand in the mirror and tell yourself that you are a beautiful person… do you feel better?  Because on these days when I am truly depressed over weight or self-image or the like, there is NO self-love coming out of my mouth.  These are days …