Marsha Hudnall, Green Mountain at Fox Run - a women's retreat for healthy living founded 40 years ago (on the premise, diets don't work)
Melissa Henriquez "Lissa" - Tales of a (Recovering) Disordered Eater
Carla Birnberg "MizFit" - MizFitOnline.com
Josie Maurer "Yum Yucky" - YumYucky.com
"Young gils are more afraid of becoming FAT than they are of cancer, nuclear war, or losing their parents."
Eating Disorder Stats: 10 million females suffer from anorexia/ Bulimia, Millions more are struggling with binge eating. Many cases are not reported b/c of shame and secretiveness.
Anorexia has DOUBLED each decade since 1930.
((Sorry, I lost a bunch here b/c of bad internet connection)
Focus on behavior, not size
Our readers read our blogs and internalize what we are saying about our selves and our attitude and carry that with them throughout the day.
We want our kids to get healthy behavior modeling from reading our blogs – we can be honest about the good and the bad, but not wallowing in the negative.
MizFit tells us about how her daughter mimics some of her behaviors, "I'm MizFit and I'm eating this brownie and I don't like it." :D
YumYucky tells us how her and her daughter support each other. Just recently her son has used body image issues to attack her daughter. They are working through that.
MizFit tells us about how her daughter mimics some of her behaviors, "I'm MizFit and I'm eating this brownie and I don't like it." :D
YumYucky tells us how her and her daughter support each other. Just recently her son has used body image issues to attack her daughter. They are working through that.
Listener recalls a memory of her older brother taunting her about her weight when she was younger. Her mom did reprimand him, but not in front of her. She suggests to nip that in the bud now.
YumYucky recalls a song "moose on the loose" - a song making fun of someone - that was sung to her friend. Now that person is stuck in yo-yo dieting, etc. The end result of that teasing has been very negative.
ALL kids can benefit from health improvement - not just the "obese" kids.
The kids are picking up on the little cues that others may not think they are okay the way they are - even if they are average, or even smaller.
Attendees tell stories of their youth (when they were healthy kids) of them being called bigger, or chunky, or needing diets - when they were too small to even be thinking about weight over health.
Where is the healthy line between eating healthy, and not being obsessed? MizFit says lead by example. Marsha says the parent is responsible for the environment, the kid is for wether they eat or not.
YumYucky tells us about her baby and how she eats with out stop - and she is called out on it frequently. Marsha says to focus on intuitive eating. Recognize the cues.
Mindless Eating - a book an attendee recommended - that highlights changing how we eat.
YumYucky encourages us to accept what we have - that certain genetics will always be a certain way. There is very unrealistic FAKE images that we try to attain.
We need to be proactive, and point out that there is not a certain size to be - it is about health. We need to be comfortable with where we are and where we come from with out comparing ourselves to others.
Our kids are seeing us journaling their food, tracking our points, taking food pics for blogs, etc etc. Is that a healthy image for them to see? Does that make them think too much about food?
As girls reach the teenage years they naturally fall into troubles with self esteem and self image. We need to role model good behavior for them to see, but it may not be enough.
If our kids are seeing us say we are "fat" or "too big" they will compare themselves to how we look - "mom looks average but says she's big, and I look like mom, so...."
Paying the close attention to what we are eating takes the joy away from eating.
