::body:image:pitfalls::

Perhaps it's time to share the struggles that I've been having (and hiding) - it might be cathartic for me to share it with the world (or whoever is taking the time to read my ramblings) and it might help someone along the way - who knows? 

I've been struggling with food for quite a while now - I can't say"for as long as I can remember" because before the age of 15 I was pretty thin and I ate whatever I wanted with no repercussions and during that time I really didn't care either. But then puberty happened and it all went downhill from there. 
I was 15 years old when I went on my first diet - The Beverly Hills Diet (garbage...really...)and during that point in my life I really began hating myself and the body I was in. It's crazy because social media wasn't even around during that time and I can't imagine what young women go through with their bodies today...everything is so much more accessible...so much more in your face...

With that being said, it was the dawn of the internet age (for me anyways) and of course I spent countless hours surfing the net saving runway show images, model editorials and celebrity pics.
Countless hours berating myself for not being "thin enough", "tall enough", "exotic looking", "beautiful"...weight was a big issue though...and it was during that phase where I began a love/hate relationship with food. It became an obsession that never really went away - even 17 years later and I am only now coming to solid terms with my disordered eating. 
It was completely unhealthy! I would spend days just eating pineapple and grapes (thanks Judy Mazel), binge-watching Food Network, fantasizing about caramel and furiously cutting up magazines with as many thin models/celebs that I could paste into a scrap book to pour over at night and feel extra shiteous about myself because I ended up eating a slice of bread. 

Being an RHN, it's crazy that I wasn't practicing what I was preaching. 
Healthy, consistent, nutritious eating...
I get asked questions on what the pitfalls were for me personally and suggestions on how to avoid them. 
Everyone is going to have a different experience though, but I feel like these are some of the issues that many of us women face on a regular if not daily basis. 

1) SOCIAL MEDIA  /  MAGAZINES  /  HOLLYWOOD

I do admit that things are getting a bit better when it comes to body positivity and embracing the body that each of us were gifted - but it's almost like a one step forward, two steps back mentality. For every gorgeous and curvaceous woman that steps out there and flaunts what they got, two more rail-thin women come into the picture. It's still a very skewed world out there when it comes to our bodies and what is deemed "beautiful". 

For every gorgeous Philomena Kwao or Iskra Lawrence I get more Kendall Jenners, Karlie Klosses or T-Swifts.

I am NOT saying that these women aren't gorgeous - they are!! I just wish that my feed would show me real women, the every woman...stretch marks, rolls, cellulite and all - bad hair days, no makeup days, fat days, sad days! 

Social media - complete smoke and mirrors and it really screws with our mental state - especially if that mental state is already fragile.

2) THE NEW FAD DIETS EFF US UP

Has anyone else recently heard of this new "celery juice cleanse"? Apparently this all started from Goop and people went crazy for it...saying that celery juice cleanse detoxifies the body, is SUPER healthy and makes you drop pounds fast! 
Okay....so, most of the information above is semi-true. If you just drink celery juice of course you will drop a few pounds but that ISN'T sustainable! It may detox the body but it doesn't do any better than your own organs (thank you kidneys and liver, you're still my number one!) and it isn't the most nutritionally dense food ever...lets be real. I would rather EAT my celery than drink it. 

I just think that there are so many fads out there and so much misinformation when it comes to nutrition that it messes us girls up. We will believe anything if it guarantees us quick results...I mean, I'm still guilty of it too! But honestly, nothing beats a health and nutritious diet and exercise. 

And people have been saying that for years! 

Trust me...five years from now, keto will be out, celery juice will be a thing of the past but - a healthy, nutritious diet and exercise will still be out there and will be preached! 

3) THE WAY WE TALK TO OURSELVES

All it takes is one comment. 

One negative comment to send us over the hill and we then continue down a path in our lives where we constantly berate ourselves, talk negatively about our minds and our bodies and eventually start believing it. It's so important - crucial actually - for us to be able to let those negative comments slide off of us because the opinions of others really don't matter. I am still holding onto things that people said to me back in high school and those people don't even matter! I haven't heard or seen from them in over a decade...so why would I bother holding onto this negativity? It's because it's SO easy for us to hold onto past hurts more than the positive ones. 

I think it's incredibly important for us to grow up in a hugely healthy, positive and self-loving environment and engage in behaviors that promote all of those things on a daily basis. 

We have to take care of not only our bodies, but our minds as well so that we don't accidentally fall onto darker paths that could lead to eating disorders and/or addictions.

There you have it...those were some of MY pitfalls growing up and developing unhealthy habits with my eating and my own body. 

Do you have any different experiences or can you relate to the ones above? 

-S.*

{Images: Taken from Google}