Need Help?
I created this HELP page last week (you can see it in the upper nav) and I wanted to call attention to this important page. Please take a look and let me know if I’m missing a key resource that has helped you or that you think could help someone else.
1 comment November 17, 2008
Book Update
My inter-library loan was taking too darn long, so I hit up B&N Friday night after we’d gone out to dinner with friends and picked up Perfect Girls, Starving Daughters.
I literally had trouble putting it down, and found myself reading til about 2 a.m.! I’m about a third of the way through now, and could see myself finishing it by mid-week.
Courtney Martin’s style is so easy, and for someone who is only 25, she writes like a pro about the preoccupation young women today feel towards their bodies.
Instead of being “good girls” like our moms were maybe taught to be, our generation somehow got the notion we need to be “perfect girls,” a third wave of “feminism” where body-loathing is the norm, a now-essential part of being female. (more…)
20 comments November 17, 2008
Melting Pot Fun
Saturday night, my husband and I went to the Melting Pot to celebrate our second wedding anniversary (which is tomorrow).
We had a blast, and I’m so glad we went. I’d been with girlfriends in college, but he’d never been before. Since his love for cheese pretty much rivals my love for chocolate, I figured it was guaranteed to be a surefire success.
And oh, it was!
I planned (are you surprised?!) somewhat for the day by getting in a great cardio workout in the morning. I felt so good, I literally could have kept going, but knew that would be counter-productive if I ended up ravenous.
So we had a good brunch at home in the morning, then got dressed up, visited a friend and their new baby (totally made me want to have a baby — STAT!) and headed off to an early-ish dinner. (dinner at the Melting Pot is a 2 1/2-3 hr affair if you’ve never been, and it’s an hour away from us).
By the time we arrived at the Melting Pot, the aromas were enticing beyond belief, and I was super-hungry (usually I have an apple or something so I am not a wildebeast). But I wanted to save my appetite, and thought going hungry would be a good thing. And it was! (more…)
10 comments November 17, 2008
Friday Challenge
Anyone up for a Friday challenge?
This weekend, my husband and I are going to the Melting Pot Saturday night for our two-year wedding anniversary dinner. (Our real anniversary is Tuesday but we’re celebrating this weekend).
We can’t wait! I’m challenging myself to just ENJOY. SAVOR. LIVE.
How about you? What is your weekend challenge?
13 comments November 14, 2008
Separating Rational & Irrational Thoughts
I had therapy last night and, as always, it was a great session with Dr. G.
Now I’m going every other week, and we’re building off each past experience every time we meet. I’m much more comfortable, and it’s awesome how she really “gets” me…and helps me “get” me, too.
Captain Obvious would say, “OK, but she is trained to do this, Melissa.” This much is true.
Still, I marvel at the thought of someone who can really help me see me for me, and accept me as I am, helping me to sort through my thoughts — even if they’re not about anxiety or eating issues — teaching me techniques I can use for the rest of my life.
One of the biggest things therapy has helped me do is separate rational and irrational thoughts. This requires thinking before speaking, something I’m not accustomed to doing.
That said, I’ve really been trying to think more before speaking … to make sure that my spoken (or written) thoughts are rational ones, to make sure I’m not putting demands on myself that are too high or unnatural.
This also means gauging my audience and thinking about them before speaking: be it at work, at a social function, amongst friends, or even here on my blog ….
Which, in a rather long-winded manner, brings me to today’s post about how I’ve been feeling about my body lately, an internal battle of sorts: accepting myself as I am, or struggling to re-lose these last 10 or so again. (more…)
22 comments November 14, 2008
There Are No Words …
Image credit: bp1.blogger.com
Though I don’t fit the description, I didn’t know what ED-NOS is (eating disorder, not otherwise specified) until this past weekend.
And I had never heard of “pro-ana” or “pro-mia” sites until I met MamaV at Panera on Sunday at the Chicago blogger meet-and-greet.
But a quick Wikipedia search led me to a wealth of knowledge about this incredibly disturbing and sad trend among young women.
MamaV is on a mission “to educate parents, friends, and family on the rampant nature of the Pro-Anorexia community online.” She wrote this guest post last summer, called “Anorexia and and Internet Suicide.”
Please, just read it and let me know what you think. (more…)
19 comments November 13, 2008
Confession: I’m a “Food Destroyer”
Anyone that knows me knows I have a wicked sweet tooth, but don’t like pastries, pies, donuts or really even cake — I just like what goes in them or on them.
For example, as a little girl, I always sucked the cream or jelly from donuts.
Licked the frosting off cupcakes or cake.
At kiddie birthday parties, I’d make “soup” of my ice cream sundae, putting just a dab of ice cream in there but a ton of the “good stuff” (M&Ms, caramel sauce, whipped cream, hot fudge, cherries).
I would chew the top of a muffin, but leave the rest (Panera solved this dilemma for me with its famous “muffies” — just the tops!)
Eat the pie filling from a slice of pie, eat the candy or cookie bits in a carton of ice cream …
Take a bite of something, put it back, and keep going back to that same item — be it a bagel, a bowl of grapes, or an Italian ice.
(Please tell me you see where this is going.) (more…)
9 comments November 13, 2008
Dressing Drama
So tonight was my monthly girls’ night dinner, which I look forward to so much –who doesn’t love hanging out with awesome girlfriends?! (Though we missed one dear friend tonight, who just had eye surgery!!!)
We tried a new place for most of us, Martini’s, an Italian place known for their pizza. Being a self-dubbed N.J. “pizza snob” I was only planning to get pizza if we ordered one to share, but no one was interested in pizza, which was fine by me. I was low on Points anyway.
I know this sounds lame, but I usually tend to order a salad because our dinners are always on Wednesdays and frankly, I’m usually out of Flex Points by then — I never seem to plan appropriately.
That said, I try to be flexible and have some extras like bread and olive oil, or some dessert, etc., when we go out to make it feel special and “normal” — a fun night out with the girls.
Not a disordered eater dining out. (more…)
10 comments November 12, 2008
Indulge: Oreo Balls
After blogging yesterday about eating disorders and disordered eating, I found myself in a pickle, debating what to make for my office’s annual Thanksgiving potluck on Thursday.
The health-conscious me wanted to make a fat-free pumpkin fluff dessert — but yummy as it is, it’s full of artificial sugars and frankly, not really an exciting dessert.
So I opted instead to make what has become my “siganture” dessert, if you will — a real crowd pleaser, a treat I’ve been making mouths happy with for over two years now.
The magical dessert? Oreo Balls.
These little decadences are made with cream cheese and Oreos, and dipped in chocolate. Can we say simple and sinful? (more…)
15 comments November 12, 2008
Book Recommendation: Perfect Girls, Starving Daughters
I haven’t read this book yet, but, given my interest in (and experience with) disordered eating issues, MamaV recommended it to me this past weekend, and it’s the next book I’ll be picking up.
Courtney Martin’s acclaimed book is called Perfect Girls, Starving Daughters, and you can read the Amazon reviews here.
Straight from the Amazon review, “This eye-opening look at twenty-first century culture and its impact on women reveals how food and weight obsession, driven in no small part by images of celebrities openly wasting away, threatens a new generation of girls as the feminist exhortation that “you can do anything” is twisted into “you must do everything.” It also inspires readers to consider what wonderful things might happen if the madness stopped once and for all.”
MamaV’s book club is reading it and discussing a chapter a week — an awesome idea! Since I haven’t read it yet, I don’t have much to add … but you can bet my thoughts about it are going to find their way to this blog.
How about you? Have you read this book? Would you like to join me?
15 comments November 11, 2008
