National Eating Disorder Awareness Week: Signs Someone You Know Is Battling One

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Share your healthy habits

During my struggles, there were some individuals who tried to pressure me to eat more. Some tried to use scare tactics by telling me that my appearance had become frightening. I did not personally respond well to that. What I did respond well to was simply being around women who had healthy relationships with their bodies and with food, and who led by example. I remember one day having lunch with a friend who laughed at herself for putting on a few pounds on vacation. Then she ordered a cheeseburger. I said (and I shouldn’t have – but I was in that headspace), “You don’t want to get a salad after what you just told me?” And she said, confidently, “No. I’m not going to torture myself just because I had a good time on vacation.” That really stuck with me. Eating “poorly” one day didn’t have to mean punishing oneself the next.