Ever since I first learned about anorexia and bulimia in middle school, i have always been aware that there are people living with the disorder, however, it never fails to amaze me when I actually see an individual with the disorder. In TV shows and movies, the supposed "anorexic" or "bulimic" person appears very thin, however, they fail to capture the frail stature that a true anorexic or bulimic person must live with. After viewing the video in class yesterday, "Beauty Mark", about Body Image and the disorders that go along with it, I walked away astounded. I forgot how sick an anorexic or bulimic person truly is, and i forgot how such a sick individual truly appears to be a walking skeleton with skin. I still fail to understand how a person can do that to their own bodies...I don't understand how they can deprive their bodies so much, all for the sake of "thinness". I don't understand how they can look at themselves in the mirror and still think that they are fat or need to lose more weight. I admit, living in a society such as ours, a certain body image (i.e. thin) is constantly pressed upon us as the vision of bodily perfection. Sure, i would LOVE to look like a Victoria's secret model, i do watch what i ear very carefully, and i do exercise on a regular basis...but I'm still a healthy young women. I understand the pressures to appear to certain way, and yes, i would love to lose another inch or two off my waist line...but I refuse to kill myself in the process. You only have one life and one body, you have one shot to make it right! WHY would you want to waste your life beating yourself up and making yourself miserable because your not a size 0? Why spend these precious days obsessing over something that is so insignificant? Make the most out of the time you have: treat your body right, feed it the right things, exercise for health not for beauty, and enjoy what your have! In end, deprivation has never made anybody happy. Just as in the video, even the most beautiful and thin women weren't happy, which should be a strong indicator that appearance is not the key to happiness. In most cases, people find happiness only when they truly love themselves and their bodies...only when a person finds the confidence to feel comfortable in their own skin. In addition, I don't know a single person who does not enjoy food... so why deprive yourself of one of the world's greatest pleasures? Of course, everything in moderation and nothing in excess applies to EVERYTHING: eating, exercising, dieting, shopping, etc... Balance is the key!
Danielle Churchward
Kin 338I.S6
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2 comments:
I agree with you that balance is key and it is extremely difficult to understand why a person with bulemia or anorexia puts themselves through what they do. With that said, you or I do not understand because we are not in their shoes suffering from the disorder that consumes their lives. People who are bulmic or anorexic have control and perfection issues. They do not see what most of the world sees and their body image is completely distorted. To people not suffering from the disorder, we can not understand how they can be 80 pounds at 5 feet 6 inches and still think they are fat. My best friend had eating disorders (bulemia and annorexia) from 8th grade up until her senior year in college. No matter what we tried to tell her- that she had a good body and starving herself/overtraining was not healty- she could not see that she had a problem. For her, eating only ment guilt and regret. After seven plus years of suffering from eating disorders, something finally clicked in her head that she did in fact have a problem and that she wanted to change. She started seeing a therapist and is slowly in the recovery phase. People with these types of disorders do not think they have a problem nor do they enjoy throwing up or not eating. It is literally something in their mind blocking them from doing the things, like eating, that we think are normal. I do not think it is fair to question how they do it or say that they are making themselves miserable, because if they had the choice they would not have a disorder. Something effected them growing up so much to the point that they got this distorted body image in their mind that makes them do the things they do. Asking how they can put themselves through that is like asking why a person chose to have cancer; you just don't do it because you know they did not choose to get sick. Eating disorders are diseases that need treatment and time to heal.
Tayler Koerner
339I T/Th 9:30-1045
I fully agree with balance is the key to happiness. It’s amazing to see how society can persuade us into thinking that if we are not thin then we are not beautiful. Growing up as a child I was always bigger than my friends. I remember when I was in elementary I would get teased and called fat. I would go home crying and telling my mom that the kids at school called me fat. She would say, “Honey you’re not fat, you’re just big bone and still have your baby fat, you’ll grow out of it. She said just be a kid and play with your friends so you’ll get exercise. ” So I decide that I would join the basketball team. I loved basketball so I would play whenever I had the chance. I started losing my baby fat, as my mother called it. I felt good about myself no more teasing till I got to middle school. I was starting to develop curvy features at a young age. I would say I had the, “coke bottle” shape at a young age. Kids in middle school would call me fat and try to guess my clothes size and when I would tell them, they would say dang your fat. While every kid in school was a size 0, I was wearing a size 5. I would tell my mom that I’m getting called the fat kid again. She would reply, “You’re not fat you are just “thick”.” At that age I didn’t understand what “thick” meant, all I knew was it sound like another term for fat. Now that I’m older I understand that there is nothing wrong with my body, and actually a lot of people would love to have my shape. I’m just glad I didn’t get into bulimia or anorexia to satisfy the others perception of being thin and beautiful.
Adriane Vazquez
332I T/Th 12:30-1:45
Kerrie Kauer
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