Here's a word of advice for you out there.
Unsolicited, don't talk to a woman about her food choices. Don't tell her there's a lot of sodium, cholesterol, triglycerides, fat, whatever, in her food. If she doesn't ask, don't try to talk to her about a juice diet, paleo eating, South Beach Diet, Adkin's Diet, Weight Watchers. I don't even care if she complains about her weight. Don't tell her what she should or shouldn't be eating. I don't care if it's an acquaintance, co-worker, friend, sister, mom, cousin, whatever. Just. Don't. Do. It.
This is an epiphany I have had very recently. What a person eats is their choice. It is a very personal thing. You don't know what is going on. Maybe they have allergies. Maybe they have an eating disorder. Maybe they have food issues and aversions that they can't help.
Believe me. Most women know all there is to know about almost every diet out there. We all know how many calories is in the food we're eating. We know what to avoid to keep love handles down. We know what foods sit on our waistline. Don't you think all of this is information we have been bombarded with since we were young girls? Either get skinny or stay skinny?
For me, I have chosen to let go of diets, control, and calorie-counting when it comes to food. Because that's the thing. You might look at me and think, wow she could lose a few pounds. Or maybe you look at me and think I'm fine the way I am. I don't know. But either way, I know what size I am. And frankly, I don't care that I'm not a size 4. I decided a long time ago my mental and emotional health was important to me. What's a "healthy" life worth living if I'm constantly hating everything about myself. The quotes are there because there are those that might look at me and judge me as unhealthy, but I don't believe that I am. My sense of self worth is considerably higher than that of many skinny women I know. But it wasn't that way until I let go of diets.
The fastest way to send a young girl spiraling into an eating disorder is criticizing her about her food choices and portions. Believe it or not, but it's true.
So here's the thing. Leave women-- really, leave people alone about their own health. Unless they ask, just don't even go there.
2 comments:
Here, here. I'm tired of people (even complete strangers) commenting in my weight and my eating habits. And it's given me grief from an early age and I'm still trying to recover from this sort of stuff.
Yeah. Me too, honestly. My body image in high school was at an all time low and stayed there for years. It wasn't until I was out of college that I truly began to look at the twisted things I was taught about eating, exercise, portion control, etc. And judging other peoples' health by their size. Even at my fittest, when I ran the River Run, I thought I was fat and out of shape because a) I ran it pretty slowly (took me 1:45 to finish 15K) and b) I still didn't have a flat stomach and my thighs touched. I am not even joking. And this is the kind of thinking that pervades our society and the minds of young girls.
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