Thank you to all who submitted your eat-in-peace resolutions. Below is a sampling of some of the intentions that generously graced my inbox in the last couple of weeks. Take a peek – they’re inspiring! Contest winners (whom I notified by email) were chosen blindly by a third party, and the books are on their way! I wish everyone the happiest and most peaceful of new years. . . .
“My resolution is to live my life and not wait to do things when I get thin!! I have put off so many ideas thinking I didn’t deserve that till I lose weight.”
“Ultimately, I want to work on not judging everything I eat. For example, I want to stop the inner voice that seems to have a comment about everything I eat. If I eat ice cream, I want to just have ice cream, instead of thinking “oh, that was more sugar. I already had sugar today”. Or “I’m having pizza tonight, even though I ate a lot of carbs today and didn’t get enough vegetables.” The self judging is something I want to end because it’s not necessary and just makes me feel doubtful with everything I eat.”
“My resolution is to continue to eat for health and not restrict any foods except those that trigger migraines for me. It will be about wellness, not weight loss.”
“I resolve to continue the progress I’ve made by maintaining my break-up with the scale, by appreciating my values and accomplishments, and by living a life without fear or guilt. I will not speak or think negatively of myself or stress myself out with frivolous worry about food or exercise. I will own my decisions and enjoy this journey.”
“My DEWHAED New year’s resolution is to stop comparing myself to others or to a vision of what I want to be – which is usually a skinnier version of me. Instead, I would like to live my life as who I am, in the here and now, with a healthy attitude and a grateful heart for how far I have come.”
“Every year, I give something up for the New Year, only to fall flat on my face and feel worse than before. Cheese, carbs, soda. I’ve lost and gained and lost and gained hundreds of pounds, and at my biggest and smallest, I felt terrible about myself. I binged to my largest size, and I restricted to my smallest.
This year, I’m giving up guilt. My birthday was a few weeks ago and I got a head start on my Resolution by getting rid of my scale. Weighing myself every day was screwing with my head, my whole day was good or bad based on what numbers I saw. From now on, I am going to love myself, to mindfully eat the foods I enjoy without measuring or weighing or counting anything, and I’m going to live, really truly live. I’m going to stop hiding at home and avoiding friends and social situations because I am ashamed of my body. It may not be perfect, but it is mine and it is all I have. This body has been good to me, much better than I have been to it.
I’m a mom now, I need to be healthy not only for myself, but for my son. And health is not just about a healthy weight, but a healthy mind and a healthy relationship with food. I want to be a good role model for my baby. My childhood memories of my mother almost all involve her avoiding cameras and saying “no thanks, I’m on a diet.” I want my son to remember me and his childhood differently.”
You can find Does Every Woman Have an Eating Disorder? Challenging Our Nation’s Fixation with Food and Weight on Amazon (as a paperback and Kindle) and at BarnesandNoble.com.
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(c) Does Every Woman Have an Eating Disorder? – Read entire story here.