Most experts now agree that a combination of genetic, socioeconomic, and environmental factors can all lead to obesity, yet too many doctors are still treating it as an issue of willpower. TW: eating disorders, fat shaming In 2009, I was struck by a mysterious stomach pain that effectively put my life on hold. I lost […]
Beauty and body fat percentage are not mutually exclusive. I have a love/hate relationship with my body. Some days I celebrate it for the goddess vessel it is and others I feel betrayed by it, want to light it on fire, and run it over in the middle of the street. Living with a series […]
Depression isn’t something you can control, and it certainly isn’t something caused by being a certain weight. “You know, you should really just lose weight,” the psychiatrist says to Caley. I’m sitting in the counseling office with my sister, Caley, who is currently experiencing a difficult episode of depression. Her sense of self-worth is low, to […]
My husband and I are absolutely, madly in love. Neither of us qualifies or defines that love by our hair color or eye color or height or (surprise) weight. This one time, a producer of a popular evening news television program called me to request an interview—body positivity, et cetera. The fellow, we’ll just call […]
You want to really blow people’s minds? Try this at home: Be fat and happy. I’m going to let you in on a little secret. This girl, the one on the left, she’s me. In the flesh, me. Five years ago, after three babies. Me. This photo was snapped at the lake, two months before […]
When you’re at the grocery store, people don’t comment on the food selection in your cart in the name of “trying to be helpful.” Through mass media, we’ve been bombarded with messages that the “normal” size is actually thin. And this assumption that you need to be thin in order to be OK and normal […]
How can moms help their daughters feel good about their bodies, especially at this time of year when we are all bombarded with diet and weight loss ads? ‘Tis the season to bash our bodies in front of our daughters, talking obsessively about how many pounds we’ve gained over the holidays and the urgent need […]
Living with someone who simply doesn’t let himself care about what other people think is a constant revelation. I thought I’d dealt with most of my body image issues before I started dating my current boyfriend. But during the three years we’ve been together, he’s taught me a lot about size, fatness, and self-care. How? By being fat and […]
I refuse to buy into the idea that a person’s worth is dependent upon a number. My daughter Ruthie is 3. She is a healthy toddler. Her brain is perfect—a neurologist confirmed that in 2012 when she was exhibiting some strange growth patterns that needed to be checked out. She is funny and incredibly smart […]
