I'd rather have a bowl of Coco Pops.

I read two great articles recently. The first is by Michelle Konstantinovsky, a student at UC Berkeley’s Graduate School of Journalism. In the article, Michelle talks about the horrors of thinspiration, and I couldn't agree more with some of her points. There is a thin line (no pun intended) between thinspiration and pro-anorexia. So thin in fact that I have yet to be able to find it. It is estimated that 8 million Americans have an eating disorder – seven million women and one million men; One in 200 American women suffers from anorexia nervosa (Source and more stats here.) 

Do we really need to be throwing fuel into such a fatal fire? And by "we" I mean human kind. The only way we can counteract a body hating, media-saturated society is if we just do what we can to balance the conversation. How? Write, talk, listen, and be kind to yourself. Do whatever you can - even if it's a single sentence interjected into a discussion - to encourage people to respect their bodies, treat themselves well, and for the love of the human race, stop telling each other you're ugly. There are bigger things to worry about in this world and life. Enough with the fat talk already, because it's really getting old. Aren't we ready for something new and more exciting and meaningful? Don't we owe that to ourselves? Just a thought.

The second article I want to point out is by Alexa Gellman at LearnVest, and it's about Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer, her ridiculously inspiring career, pregnancy, motherhood, feminism, and why ladies should stop hating on ladies already. Check it out.

 Image Source

WTF OMG??

The OMG Diet is making my skin crawl right now. Want to find out why? Read my post on Marci RD Nutrition Counseling ASAP!

Everyone Knows Somone: National Eating Disorders Awareness Week

February 27th-March 3rd marks National Eating Disorder Awareness Week. An important week for us here at Guiltless

Who is affected by eating disorders? Approximately 7 million girls and women, and approximately 1 million boys and men struggle with eating disorders. Everyone –including those who suffer, their loved ones. Men, women, children, older adults. Eating Disorders do not discriminate across age, socioeconomic or race boundaries.

So what can YOU do?

• The Barefaced & Beautiful, Without & Within campaign is challenging women to go without makeup on Monday, February 27th, and promote their participation through their social media networks by tweeting a photo or changing their Facebook profile picture to one of their natural self.
• Read: What can you tell by someone's weight? Not much
  
• Join National Organization for Women for a twitter chat Wednesday, Feb. 29th, 4pm - 5pm Eastern Time #LoveYourBody
• Talk about it. Everyone knows someone. Keep ED out of the closet or hidden away. In the light of day they are weaker.
  
• Be guiltless about your own body and your relationship with food. Exude this guiltlessness to those around you!

If you don't like the way the world is, you change it. You have an obligation to change it. You just do it one step at a time."
--Marian Wright Edelman,

Help for Eating Disorders: Interview with Nina

I recently had the honor of speaking with Nina-an eating disorder survivor who wanted to share her story. She truly believes that complete recovery IS possible: "When you are in the middle of an eating disorder, you don’t often hear this. Whether it’s the disorder that blocks you from hearing it, or a lack of understanding in the medical community and a lack of sharing of recovery stories, the fact is that full and complete recovery is possible. I have been there, in the depths of eating disorder hell, and I am now on the other side. That is my only qualification but it is the message of hope that I wish to spread to all those suffering with this disease." Read on for Nina's thoughts on Guilt, dieting, and eating disorders!

Tell us a little bit about yourself Nina!

I am a 30 year old woman living in New York and I love this city, yoga, writing, spirituality and meditation. I come from a background of journalism and marketing and I love learning new things and being able to help others.

My website Help for Eating Disorder came about after a long history of struggling with various eating disorders and never being able to find a permanent and lasting solution. I would go on and off diets, meal plans and I had tried various types of therapies but nothing really ever stuck. I reached a real rock bottom place but I still had a glimmer of hope that I could COMPLETELY recover from all eating disorders. By complete recovery I mean freedom from the entire obsession with food and weight and being able to eat like a “normal” or “intuitive” eater.

I promised myself that if I ever did achieve this sort of recovery, and it lasted, that I would do all that I could to help as many others who are suffering to achieve the same sort of full recovery that I now have. So I posted my story online and ended up receiving hundreds of emails from people asking about how I recovered, tips, advice and just generally wanting to open up about their own eating issues. After spending a lot of time responding to these emails, I thought it would be a great idea to set up my own site where I could post about specific questions that people were asking and offer all of the advice and assistance that I could.

What inspired you to start Help for Eating Disorders?

My main inspiration for starting Help for Eating Disorders was the miracle that I had experienced in my own life. After so many years of hell, hospitalizations, job losses and isolation, I was finally free. I knew this was a gift and one that I could keep by giving it away to others. I waited for a few years to make sure that it was REAL and FULL recovery before I started offering information and advice.

What does recovery from eating disorders look like? Is it the same for everyone?

I think that the most important thing that I have learned is that eating disorder recovery is completely different for everybody and it is an individual and personal path. What works for some people may not work for others. Readers who are attracted to my site are probably attracted to the path that I have taken. There are no accidents – what ever you are searching for is also searching for you.

However, I don’t think that my way is the ONLY way and just like the Buddhists say, there are 84.000 paths to enlightenment. I believe it is the same with eating disorder recovery. There are a multitude of paths to recovery; the challenge is finding what works for you and having the determination and courage to make mistakes, get back up and never give up.

The way that my eating disorder recovery looks like is this:

I eat exactly what I want when I want
I know what hunger feels like and I know what I am hungry for
I have not had an urge to binge, purge, starve or diet for over 4 years
I eat out with friends and am more interested in the social aspect than what I am eating
I never feel guilty about what I have eaten
I have no obsession with food or my weigh
My weight has been normal and stable for several years and does not fluctuate

The most important thing that I think many disordered eaters are searching for is the FREEDOM. Above all else, it is the mental torture of an eating disorder that is the worst manifestation. I want to share with everyone that I live with complete freedom with any type of obsession, mental preoccupation, guilt or concern about food or my weight.

How big of a problem are eating disorders/disordered eating in this country? Why do you think it is such a problem?

Estimates show that up to 10 million females and 1 million males in the United States have an eating disorder, such as anorexia or bulimia, according to the National Eating Disorders Association. Millions more have binge eating disorder Also, sadly, only 1 in 10 people with eating disorders receive treatment. What is more concerning is that 35% of "normal dieters" progress to pathological dieting. Of those, 20-25% progress to partial or full-syndrome eating disorders. (Shisslak & Crago, 1995) 25% of Americans men and 45% of American women are on a diet on any given day (Smolak, 1996).

What is even more alarming in my opinion is the 35% of “dieters” end up developing an eating disorder. I believe that this is where the root of the problem is. We are so obsessed with dieting, calorie counting, restricting and eating “healthy” food that we have become out of sync with what our bodies really want and need.

Add that to the fact that diets have 98% failure rate and you end up with millions of people who are using diets as a way to control their weight, when the inevitable result is that they will fail. The failure causes more starving, deprivation, overeating and eating disorders. The guilt, sense of failure and depression that result from the diet failure drive people to unhealthy disordered eating behaviors such as purging, over exercising, complete obsession with food and weight loss and binge eating to cope with the stress of this problem that has become so unmanageable.

What is one thing everyone can do to help start to put an end to disordered eating?

The main thing that everyone can do to start to put an end to the disordered eating is:

Reject the diet mentality
Learn to eat intuitively
Let go of rules and rigid planning
Understand and identify your triggers (weight loss sites, scales, etc)
Eliminate the triggers

And most importantly, have a desire to recover above all else.

What does guilt have to do with eating disorders

The guilt that comes with eating disorders is a cumulative effect from years of classifying food as good and bad, and thereby yourself as good or bad depending on what you ate that day. It is embedded into our psyche and is a loud, negative and self defeating voice that will always lead to more hopelessness, further guilt and no recovery. It is crucial to develop ways to fight off the guilt when entering recovery as it is one of the main driving forces of the disorder and prevents full and complete recovery.

What is your top tip for letting go of guilt, and freeing yourself from disordered eating?

In order to let go of the guilt I had to have a complete mental shift regarding diets, weight loss, my eating behavior and a recognition of my triggers. I came to a point where I knew deep in my heart that the dieting mentality was fueling my disordered eating and that I would never be able to beat the eating disorder beast. The only way to win was to let go. I started practicing “normal” or intuitive eating almost 5 years ago when my body and mind were completely done with the whole diet-binge-restrict cycle. I had to be at this place of total defeat.

I started to legalize all food – slowly at first, but I was persistent and I was getting results which made me even more determined. I stopped isolating so that I could either eat my special “diet” food or binge. I ate out with people, I tried food that I actually liked and I gave myself the permission to eat the way that I did as a child.

I strongly believe that rejecting the diet mentality and getting in tune with your own body’s hunger and satiety signals is the key. Any externally imposed eating plan will always fail in my experience and will trigger off the guilt and obsession.

I had to dedicate myself to challenging every single guilt thought, realizing that is was not true, that it was the eating disorder talking and trying to get me back in its death grip.

I followed the example of other normal eaters that I knew and slowly the guilt subsided, I reached a normal weight and had the obsession removed. It is the results that speak for themselves. I knew that I wanted COMPLETE recovery, not just a way to “manage” the eating disorder through eating plans and rigid rules. I wanted to be completely in tune with my own body and that is the way that I live today.

Thank you Nina for your wise words of advice! Nina writes a blog at Help for Eating Disorder and has recently published an EBook about Recovery From Eating Disorders. You can also follow her on Twitter @helpfored and "Like" the blog on Facebook!

Being Free: Libero Networkd & ExposED

I had the wonderful opportunity of interviewing an amazing Eating Disorder Awareness champion Lauren Bersaglio. I first got to know Lauren on Twitter, and found the work she was doing amazing! She Authors ExposED Blog and founded the Libero Free network-dedicated to eating disorder recovery. Read on as she explains why loving yourself is so important and swears that recovery from disordered eating is possible!

Tell me a little bit about yourself. How did you become a recovery warrior?

When I was 17 I developed an eating disorder that took on various forms for the next four years. I dealt with anorexia, anorexia athletics, binge eating, bulimia, and long periods of disordered eating. The turning point for me was at the beginning of 2010 when my Bulimia had driven me to fear food entirely and so I went several days without eating - at this point I was frightened for my own health and so I went to one of my professors who is also one of my mentors. I asked him how long I could survive like this - without eating - to which he replied that without food I could live thirty days. It was in this moment that I realized I was not ready to die. I wanted to live! And so I staged my own intervention; I called together friends and family and sat in front of them and said "I do not want to stop, but I want to want to stop." And then I asked them to please not make me stop, but help me get to the place where I wanted to stop. It took a few hours, but I got to that point where I wanted to stop and that is when I entered into recovery. After this intervention, the same professor, knowing that I am a writer, suggested that I write something for the school paper, and so I sat down and wrote out my story and it got published and for the first time I was free from the secret. It was in that moment that I realized I wanted to not only recover, but I wanted to use my life as an example that recovery is possible and there is hope - there is ALWAYS hope. I graduated from Recovery at the beginning of this year - it was a long process and there were slips and trips along the way, but you know what they say, slow and steady wins the race, and I won!

-What is the message or mission that you are working to spread

I want to spread the word that there is hope for recovery from an eating disorder (and any other addiction) - I am living proof. And I want to be a living example that you can learn to love yourself the way you are today and I want to show the world that true beauty is found only on the inside and that self-worth cannot be measured by any scale, tape measure, or cultural “ideal”.

What is the Libero free network? what inspired you to create it?

The Libero Network is a network of bloggers who blog about their journeys through and recovery from issues such as eating disorders, addictions, and depression. It is a pretty unbelievable story how it all began. I was lying in bed, just about to fall asleep (I think it was about 1 am) and then I got a feeling, I felt that I was supposed to start a Facebook Page. So I got out of bed and created the libero page on facebook (www.facebook.com/libero.free) - at the time I didn't know what the direction was for this page, I just knew I was meant to create it. I came up with the name Libero because that is what I entitled my first article that was published in the school newspaper. I am Italian, and Libero is the Italian word for free. Our slogan is the Anne Lamott quote: "Only freedom from fears, freedom from lies, can make us beautiful, and keep us safe." Libero grew far quicker than I though it would, it went from a single facebook page promoting healthy body image to a page with far more followers than I'd ever imagined, and my blog Expos(ED) as well as my YouTube channel. At the beginning of 2011 I began planning where I wanted Libero to go in the future and that's when I came up with the idea of the Libero Network - I wanted to expand beyond me (because Libero was never meant to be about me) and the topic of eating disorders into other issues that people deal with such as depression and addictions. I started accepting guest blogger posts and then in the last month I signed on the first Libero Network Blogger (who isn't me) Christian Sawka - he writes on his journey through depression. Our mission is to promote self-love and acceptance by sharing our stories of recovery from eating disorders, depression, and addictions and our vision is that all people will see themselves as beautiful.

In your opinion why have eating disorders become such a huge problem in our society?
I hate to blame the media; however, I feel they cannot be left out in the answer to this question. One important thing I always like to stress is the concept of who the media really is. The media is not Angelina Jolie or any of the models we see on these magazines (I feel they are simply victim to the same unrealistic pressures that we are), it is difficult to pinpoint exactly who 'The Media' is - the photo editors? but they are just doing their jobs, the magazine editors? well they are just looking for what sells...The origin of this monster I do not know, all I know is that societal pressure is a major contributor to negative body image. However, I also feel that one's upbringing, life experiences, and coping mechanisms all play a role as well.

What is one thing each of us can do to start putting an end to eating disorders and disordered eating?

I think the best thing we all can do is say no - say NO to the "ideal" image being forced on us, say NO to buying the magazines that promote this unrealistic concept that all women should look a certain way, and, most importantly, say NO to the multi-billion dollar diet industry that tells us that the answer to all our problems with ourselves is weight loss, which can only be achieved through restriction, food rules, and As Seen On TV exercise equipment. The key to healthy living is exactly what your blog stands for: living guiltless, which results in what Libero stands for: being free.

Why is guilt towards food and our bodies such a bad thing?

Food is meant to nourish us to keep us alive. Full stop. We were never meant to feel guilty about it. There are no 'food' rules. The minute you start placing rules on what you can and cannot eat, you begin to imprison yourself. And what happens is, over time, you become completely enslaved by all these 'rules' that hold no real meaning and then, heaven forbid, if you break any of these rules, you then are filled with guilt. The problem with the guilt factor is, it makes you feel terrible about yourself and, in turn, you typically then feel you need to be punished, which is done by either excessive restriction, over-exercise, or over-consumption. When it comes to our body, I feel the problem is that we separate ourselves from it, and in doing so it makes us feel OK about punishing, hating, and even abusing it. However, when you enter into a war against your body (which is like going into battle against yourself) you cannot win. What we need to do is accept our bodies as part of us, and see that our body is part of our team and we need to work together with it not against it. A great resource on learning how to remove guilt from food and love your body is Geneen Roth's book Women, Food, and God.

What is one thing we can do right now to increase our self compassion?

I will answer this with one of my favourite quotes, it's by Alan Cohen: "To love yourself right now, just as you are, is to give yourself heaven. Don't wait until you die. If you wait, you die now. If you love, you live now."


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Fashion & Life Advice from Diane von Furstenberg

March 8th was a big day for Boston. Not only was it International Women's Day, but President Obama was at the Museum of Science, Lady Gaga famed-out TD Banknorth, and Diane von Furstenberg spoke at the Harris Center's 14th Annual Public Forum on Eating Disorders. While I wish I could have been at all three places at once, I'm glad I attended the latter.

The Harris Center is an eating disorder treatment and research facility at Massachusetts' General Hospital in Boston, and hosts this forum every year. The past two years have focused on the fashion industry, and creating healthier standards to improve the health of models and the general public. The president for the Council of Fashion Designers of America and two Miss America's were in the audience, and Diane von Furstenberg was the key note speaker.

Diane looks wonderful and a lot of what she had to say had to do with confidence and empowering women around the world. She is living the true American dream, coming to this country with nothing, two small children and creating a fashion empire. She said she was lucky enough to not have a personal connection to eating disorders, and while she is not sure that fashion is the cause of eating disorders, they could set the standard for healthier body image, and she recently released new CFDA guidelines to help maintain a healthier environment for models.

But, in a Guiltless fashion, she said that key to happiness and success is loving yourself and taking care of your body. These quotes in particular stuck with me:

"In order to be beautiful you must be healthy."

"The most important thing in life is the relationship you have with yourself."

"Beauty is perfect in it's imperfections"

"What you hate about yourself is what makes you gorgeous"

"Confidence is what matters. And the relationship you have with yourself matters"

"You can be the person of your dreams."

Thank you Diane Von Furstenberg for the inspiration and continuing to be a body positive role model in the fashion industry!

What quotes have stuck with you recently?

Shed Your Weight Problem Here

I remember the first time I picked up a Cosmopolitan magazine. The secrets to being beautiful, and sexy I was sure lay in the 200 pages under the provocative cover. While I may have learned how to "speak dirty in 3 foreign languages" and giggled at embarrassing stories, I never found the ultimate secrets in fashion magazines. While they still tempt me at airports, and I rely on them for elliptical trash reading, I now know that the secret to happiness, and beauty does not lay in their monthly pages. The truth of the matter is that sometimes these magazines do more harm than help.

The media doesn't cause eating disorders but they send out the clear message that you should be thin. They keep showing or telling us only thin women's bodies are beautiful and sexually desirable. That you won't find a boyfriend until you have a perfectly flat stomach. Tempt that once you're thin you will be confident, successful, healthy and happy.Let's have a little wake up call: You're life isn't going to suddenly become perfect if you lose 10 lbs. You can't and shouldn't be happy with yourself unless your body looks exactly like the thin ideal.

The fact of the matter is that happiness and being comfortable with your body doesn't sell. The "beauty" and diet industries make more than $45 billion every year.Media is a business, and in order to continue to generate revenue they have to keep us in a state of unhappiness, constantly looking to the newest "quick fix" diet or beauty product.

Things are being shook up in Canada with the National Eating Disorder Information Centre Campaign to Cast Responsibly and Retouch Minimally.
On bus stops in Toronto they have an interactive ad campaign-"shed your weight problem" by dumping your beauty magazines.
While this isn't all we have to do to "Shed our weight problem" it's a step in the right direction
Not in Toronto?
"Like" the campaign on Facebook
Sign the petition to fashion leaders and marketers to broaden their definitions of "beauty"

What do you think of beauty magazines? Do they help or harm your self esteem?

Eating Disorders are Not cool: NEDA Awareness Week

Today marks the beginning of NEDAwareness Week which aims to prevent eating disorders and body image issues while reducing the stigma surrounding eating disorders and improving access to treatment.

Eating disorders are serious illnesses, not lifestyle choices, and affect men and women across all racial, economic, and educational boundaries. Eating disorders are complex conditions that arise from a combination of long-standing behavioral, emotional, psychological, interpersonal, biological and social factors. Look at the state of the world we live in today! A study found that adolescent girls were more fearful of gaining weight than getting cancer, nuclear war or losing their parents. Because we live in a culture that emphasizes an unrealistic ideal for most people, many try to fight our natural size and shape determined by genetics, through unhealthy dieting practices, poor body image and decreased self-esteem, which fosters the beginning of disordered eating.

In the United States, as many as 10 million females and 1 million males are fighting a life and death battle with an eating disorder such as anorexia or bulimia. Approximately 15 million more are struggling with binge eating disorder. Eating disorders rank among the 10 leading causes of disability among young women [Mathers et al., 2000] Eating disorders do not affect women exclusively. Men also suffer from eating disorders. Incidence of eating disorders has increased over the last 30 to 40 years [Academy of Eating Disorders, 2007] Not only are they becoming more predominant, but they are deadly diseases. Anorexia nervosa has one of the highest mortality rates of any psychological illness. Estimates range from 5% to 20%. [Birmingham et al., 2005]

Eating disorders have a profoundly negative impact on an individual's quality of life, wrecking self-image, interpersonal relationships, financial status, and job performance. While eating disorders are serious, potentially life-threatening illnesses, there is help available Recovery is possible. NEDA has information and resources available via their website and helpline:Helpline: 800 931-2237

Spread the awareness about eating disorders. Join the event on Facebook! If you are on twitter, Marci Anderson, a RD who specializes in eating disorders will be hosting a twitterchat on February 23^rd at 8:30pm EST with the hashtag #endED Join in!

So this week let’s take some extra time to remember that beauty comes in all shapes and sizes. You are more than the number on the scale. Celebrate your inner beauty, strength, and spirit! Live Guiltlessly!

Tell me one thing you love about yourself today!

Good things come in small packages

We are honored to have a guest post written by our dear friend Kara Lydon. Kara is a Registered Dietitian who believes in the power of good, wholesome food. With a B.S. in Nutritional Sciences from Boston University, she currently specializes in weight management. You can find Kara blogging about nutrition, food, and wellness at Peace, Love, and Food or tweeting@karalydon.

4 feet 11 & 3/4 inches. A height that doesn't always make you feel powerful. In fact, it was a height that for me made me feel self-conscious and subject to ridicule growing up. It also was a height that didn't flatter me during puberty. As my body was preparing for its womanly changes, I gained weight. I felt uncomfortable in my own skin. The teasing at school increased. I even overheard family and friends commenting on my appearance. Little did I know weight gain is common before a girl undergoes puberty. Little did I know my friends and family were concerned about my health, not my appearance. What I did know is that I began to hate my body.

It's not surprising to me then that by the age of 13, I developed issues around food. I had all the common red flags, a best friend with anorexia, a mom on Weight Watchers, and a lack of control around major changes that happened in my life at that time. I started dieting. I started counting points of the foods I was eating. I started skipping meals. I lost a ton of weight in a short period of time. I looked at food as something that was evil and would make me fat.

My wake-up call was I stopped getting my period. I knew something was wrong and my body was trying to tell me I wasn't treating it right. My mother took me to see a registered dietitian who specialized in adolescents with eating issues. She set up meal ideas for me that would help me meet my calorie needs. The combination of her help & expertise along with making new friends at a new high school, all of whom had very healthy relationships with food, helped me to break the cycle.

The period of time when I had an unhealthy relationship with food was probably the worst time of my life. I neglected and mistreated the most important person in my life, myself. Many people do not know this piece of my life. It's a piece I like to keep quiet and brush under the rug. But the reality is it shaped me and motivated me to a place where I am now. And for that I am grateful. For the purposes of Guiltless, I felt inspired to let go of the guilt I feel toward my past and share my story in a hope to inspire others.

Today...

I have come a long way from that year of my life. I am thankful that my issues around food were short-lived. I am thankful that I never let it go too far to jeopardize my health. I am thankful that I have never looked back at food in a negative manner. I am thankful that I now have a healthy relationship with food and myself.

For those reading, if you are struggling with self-image or struggling with food, just know, there is hope. You CAN change. It may take time and it may not be easy, but don't give up on yourself. The most important relationship you have is with yourself. Also, don't be afraid to seek help. Confide in a family member, a friend, or a doctor. The positive support of others is powerful. That having been said, surround yourself with positive people who love you just the way you are. In the words of Dr. Seuss, "be who you are and say what you feel, because those who mind don't matter and those who matter don't mind."

Start by making a change that is simple. Write down one positive thing about yourself each day. Tell yourself what you love about yourself. Shout it to your mirror in the morning. Today, I still tower at a mighty 4 feet 11 & 3/4 inches. But I love it. I love being different. Being cute. Being petite. Words I used to perceive as negative, I take pride in today. Good things come in small packages, I tell myself. Acceptance is a big part of self-love. Accept your body, its curves, its strength. It is who you are & who you are is beautiful.