claire

-You are a woman and are meant to be soft -You are a human being, not a human doing -Nothing in nature blooms all year -Your body is smarter than you are and has your best interests at heart. Listen to it and don't distrust it or try to trick it. You won't win. It may take years, but eventually you will not be able to fight it anymore. Or you'll die. -Nobody gives a damn about your six pack and chiseled arms -The body that allows you to live life to the fullest is your ideal body -Your need to be toned and fit and thin is a construct of diet culture created by capitalism to make us see imperatives and rules and expectations that aren't real to sell us products and services that we don't need -Your desire for the perfect body is masochistic and a result of the patriarchy- and mostly capitalism -Boys don't care if you have abs -Straying from your clean diet makes you healthier- it keeps you from binging and keeps you balanced and also keeps healthy weight on you -Fat is a hormonally productive and active organ, not just an energy storage unit   -All of your abuse will catch up to you eventually -You are not smarter than your body and your body is not trying to trick you and it is not stupid and you are not greedy -You are not your thoughts -You have the power to change how you perceive things -You are in control -Don't be so paranoid -Be more open to the needs of others -It is the friends and connections we make that we remember

Eating disorders are pervasive. They are very common- too common. Even more common is disordered eating, brought on by a culture obsessed with dieting, fueled by the health and fitness, wellness, diet, pharmaceutical,  and beauty industries which make billions, even trillions of dollars every year off of our collective insecurities. 

Capitalism has fabricated ideals and standards that never before existed and have no logical or factual basis in order to force us to see imperfections where they don't exist so that we will buy products and plans that we would never need if we just embraced our own intuition, the natural wisdom of our bodies, and the notion of our own inherent self worth as divine elements of creation built exactly as we should be. 

Why do we not trust our own bodies, why do we believe that there is some one size fits all standard, look, diet, exercise, or plan that is more correct than what our own body and intuition tells us? 

What could be more unnatural?

For those who don't yet have an eating disorder and want to avoid it, a tip:

Your soul and deepest intuitions are the embodiment of nature in the self, your mind and thoughts are the embodiment of humanity in the self. 

What does an eating disorder look like? That question is fundamentally flawed. An eating disorder is the neurological misidentification of food as a threat. It is not an age, race, gender, weight, or size. An eating disorder is not something that can be defined. And it certainly cannot be seen.

You cannot measure if someone pushes themselves to produce not out of self-fulfillment but out of the guilt of taking up energy and space they believe themselves fundamentally unworthy of

You cannot weigh if someone is a size 4 in a body that is begging to be a size 8

You cannot see if someone still has thick thighs but has thinning bones

You cannot weigh that someone appears to eat plenty only to be racked with a fear so debilitating and unexplainable they will do anything to expel it

You cannot watch someone's organs failing as they smile and distract to disguise their suffering

You cannot weigh how someone screams and claws at their skin

How they collapse in frustration, prisoner to a demon that fills their bones and blood with an explosive, burning, screeching energy of pure terror and confusion

How it whispers to them of their worthlessness, how it punishes them for deviation, how it tears at their vulnerable, malnourished, tiny, frightened mind

How they are forced into continuing to kill themselves slowly, because death is not so frightening as the torture their own mind can inflict

You cannot measure frustration You cannot see self-worth You cannot weigh terror

http://dialecticalthinking.weebly.com

I see people telling fat people lose weight "for their health", all the time. Fat people face constant stigma. This takes the shape of overt rudeness to this more insidious form that tries to hide behind the guise of concern and helpfulness. I'd like to point out that many people I know who eat like crap and rarely work out and are naturally thin are rarely told to change their habits, particularly by people online who are unaware of them, for their "own good". This is also the case with people with eating disorders and/or exercise dependence who are destroying their insides but look a way that society deems "fit and healthy". Instead, they are often praised for their progress, dedication, or any other one of the many fitness buzzwords. People complimented me in the gym constantly for my physique and difficult routines, days before I entered the hospital for clinical malnutrition. There are many inspirational fat women online who trumpet their talent and love of dance, yoga, veganism, health, happiness, and other pursuits to shed the stereotype that have the size of your body is in any way an indication of your well-being. 

Health comes in every size.