BLOG.FOODISNOTTHEENEMY.COM: Recent Comments

Comment on You are an Eater

therapy — Sat, 01 Nov 2008 16:38:34 GMT

Oh how i needed to find this! This was such a helpful blog for me to read. I have had a love hate relationship for what feels like forever! I will even avoid to going to certain social functions where I am encouraged to be and even need to be there just because I am afraid of what kind of food will be there! That sounds crazy, right? And I know there have been times in the not so distant past that I have completely avoided events simply because I did not want to deal with the food and certainly did not want to go there knowing I would be the heaviest woman there. I am very much ready to break this sick pattern but it is so hard! I have tried every diet in the book and although I may lose weight they never really help me to change all of the things going on inside that are what really need to be changed. I am hoping that finding this agreement is going to be what I need to set me on the right path. Thanks so much for this posting. I will definitely visit here again because I need the affirmation on a daily basis that food is nbot the enemy.

Comment on shame based advertising

Jenny — Thu, 18 Sep 2008 12:09:56 GMT

I've seen this ad while I'm on my way to work, and it's definitely upsetting. Kaiser has another ad along the same lines, "turn your Sunday drive into a Sunday walk." Thanks for pointing out how insidious this is Anne. I think there's a tendency to think Kaiser must be promoting a health care agenda because Kaiser is where we see our doctors.

Comment on Reduce the chance of eating disorders in your children

Anne Cuthbert — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 14:31:54 GMT

Leslie, Thank you for your addition. You are SO right! I feel very sad about things like this.

Comment on Reduce the chance of eating disorders in your children

Leslie — Fri, 01 Aug 2008 14:14:01 GMT

One more to add to the list -- don't let your children watch 'The Biggest Loser' on tv!
Our family was watching 'America's Got Talent' and suddenly the ad comes on for the new season of 'The Biggest Loser' in which they are going to have fat parents and their fat children do unhealthy things and be shamed into losing 8-10 pounds per week. I can't BELIEVE it is not against the law to submit children to such torture and humiliation -- much less that it is entertainment.
The ad had a weeping parent saying she blamed herself for her child being fat and then my 7-year old turned to me with a look of terror and said 'Am I going to be fat?'
Unbelievable.
Time to kill the television.

Comment on Reduce the chance of eating disorders in your children

Karen DeBolt — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 10:51:05 GMT

I love this article Anne. I could really recognize so much of this from my own upbringing. I definitely had a "have a cookie you'll feel better" kind of mom. She just didn't really know what else to do either for herself or for me. I'm striving to raise my daughters and son differently, but those old ways still creep in once in a while. :) Awareness of the problem is really key. Thanks so much for the reminders! :)

Comment on One Doctor Might Just Get It

Jane — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 08:15:35 GMT

my thoughts:
1. shame was always a great motivator for me to lose weight and I was very good at losing weight
2. I am also very good at gaining weight
3. maybe the 'shame as motivation' coming from society and the medical community is the reason why diets fail
4. maybe the 'shame as motivation' is part of what causes the health problems that are being attributed to obesity.

Comment on Eating Whatever You Want, Imagine That

Anne Cuthbert — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 10:26:35 GMT

Hi Bob,

Thanks for the feedback on my newsletters. I am glad you have been learning about yourself from them!

Please let me know if there is a topic you would like covered. I am open to suggestions as I want the content to be helpful to you and the rest of the readers.

Of course, the blog is also a great way to get questions answered fast. Thanks for participating.

Take care,
Anne

Comment on Eating Whatever You Want, Imagine That

Bob — Wed, 09 Jul 2008 09:55:17 GMT

Hi,

I have been reading your newsletter since the beginning. A friend referred me to it. I must say I have learned a lot about why I eat too much and how to change my style of eating, even my perspective on food.

Thanks for all the good information and now, thanks for giving me the chance to than you.

Keep up the good work. I enjoy every issue.

Bob

Comment on Eating Whatever You Want, Imagine That

Anne Cuthbert — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 11:24:40 GMT

Hi Camille,

What you write is something that most women, I think, can relate to. With eating disorder and body image issues, we tend to think and feel fat rather than accepting ourselves for who we are. I hear that part of you does feel good about how you look and part of you doesn't. I think that the part of you that doesn't, is the part of you that feels hurt about your husband leaving you, feels bad because you think you can't measure up, and probably many other emotions.

Try this exercise: look in the mirror and notice how you feel toward your body. Then, see if you can look beyond that and see in the mirror a woman who is hurt, sad, feels shame for not being good enough, etc.; notice whatever comes up. Your feelings about your body are about the feelings you have inside. When you heal that, you won't need to take it out on your body and therefore will just see your body in the mirror looking back at you... a body that can move, walk, jump, stretch play, etc.

Anne

Comment on Eating Whatever You Want, Imagine That

Camille — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 10:56:11 GMT

Body image has always been a problem for me thin or fat. I grew up in a the sixties when all the teen magazines started coming out with Twiggie and the blond blue eyed modles setting the image for young woman. I'm Italian and was never really thin unless I starved myself. Being very athletic growing up kept my weight down but as I grew older and had children I, at one point, blew up to 260 lbs. I have lost 100 pounds and feel great and look pretty good for a 53 year old. I am still athletic. But when I look in the mirror I still see a fat woman. I suffer from self critisism and it is not good. No matter how thin I get I always feel and think I am fat. How can I change the perseption in the mirror? Sometimes I think I look so bad I don't want to leave my house. I suffer depression because I think I can never messure up to what society thinks a woman should look like. My husband left me for a younger woman because he said I was too fat and not the pretty girl I was when he married me. I just want to be able to look in the mirror and like what I see and feel confident about who I am.