Dear Foodie,
When it comes to women's body image, there are plenty of discussions about it and how it affects girls starting from a very young age.
Criticism is usually addressed towards agencies which have been using models that are "too skinny" and therefore, create unrealistic expectations about girl's body.
There are also complaints when it comes to other brands who use women who are defined as "plus sized" models as their poster girls. The main critique in both cases is encouraging and labelling a specific type of body as "beautiful" and this attitude may push people towards health problems such as anorexia or, on the other side, obesity.
The debate is open and endless, even more dead ended that the last presidential debate: people can't agree on what's best. But the main problem is, oftentimes, not the "body shaming" as much as the food shaming.
Regardless of their physical appearances, girls (and in many cases also boys) feel the need to justify what they are eating and why.
"I'm eating an extra cookie because I worked out today." "I'm taking fries as a side because I haven't eaten lunch." "I'm eating ice cream because I'm so stressed and I've studied all day."
We (and I speak from personal experience as well) feel like there's some sort of calculator provided audience who are monitoring how much calories we ingest during the day. Like there's some sort of alarm that is gonna be triggered if we eat a burger instead of a salad. And that's the first main problem connected to body shaming, because if we can't accept our need for food and we don't develop a healthy relationship with it, there's no way we can even think about developing our own idea about bodies and weight and so on.
We don't need to justify ourselves. We can eat when we want and what we want without hating ourselves for it.
It happens maybe more with girls than with boys. Starting from an early age, boys are encouraged to eat a lot because they're expected to grow up strong. And in their case, body shaming is sometimes being the skinny one. While girls should eat, act, and sit "like a lady". I could probably eat three times what a professional 200 pound football player eats, even though I'm five foot six inches and a girl.
Like Jennifer Lawrence said, "In Hollywood I'm considers a fat actress, I eat like a caveman. I'm never going to starve myself for a part; I don't want little girls to be like, 'Oh I want to be like Katniss so I'm going to skip dinner'."
I don't need to justify myself. I can work out all day and then allow myself to eat ice cream or I can lay on the couch all day and then eat ice cream, simply because I want to.
If you need a justification, I'm mourning Derek Shepherd's death for you.
Food is one of the few pleasures in life, don't allow it to become a war against yourself. Listen to what your body is trying to tell you without thinking of what other people will think. They're probably busy with their own struggles.
Sincerely,
A girl who is still trying to accept her body image
