Comments for River Centre Clinic Blog http://river-centre.org/wordpress Feed your mind Sun, 07 Nov 2010 23:14:41 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.4 Comment on Dieting & Eating Disorder Risk by Elizabeth Danzig Teck http://river-centre.org/wordpress/?p=74#comment-7 Elizabeth Danzig Teck Sun, 07 Nov 2010 23:14:41 +0000 http://river-centre.org/wordpress/?p=74#comment-7 Right on target! The kind of factual data and comparative analysis in this post is what saved my life 8 years ago. My life was saved at The River Centre Clinic. This posting is so important. I wish it could be read by every man, woman, "tween", and teen out there. It is pivotally important because it reinforces how my behavior (as a mom) can, and does affect my now 8th grade daughter. She has clearly become much more body focused, and critical of different parts of her body on different days. As a recovered anorexic I am keenly aware of the ramifications that my words and actions can and do have on my "tween-ager." There is no such thing as a "good" or a "bad" food in our house. We have a little bit of everything, and nothing is off limits to anyone. I learned how important taking labels off food is for the first time, at the River Centre Clinic. Although it may sound insane, I am happy at times that I went through 30+ years of starving myself and berating myself for just about everything I did, and about how "I" saw and felt about myself (physically and emotionally). Because of being sick and then recovering, I know what signs to look for, to listen for, and to hear, with and for my daughter. I can talk to my young woman-child, kindly and straightforwardly equipped with insight and understanding, and most importantly, with facts. Facts are the keys to reaching my sweet girl, because they back up what I talk with her about. Facts and owning my actions enabled me to grow up at age 40, and are what still enable me to continue growing up, as my hair gets more and more peppered with silver. I often tell my daughter that I like the silver. I've EARNED every streak and strand of that silver, and for now at least, I claim the silver as signs of victory. I am alive and I am strong. I want my daughter to know and feel the power of what feeling strong is like. I've tried it on, and I like it. So, by CHOOSING what my definition of strength is for myself, and by owning and sharing my POWER AND WEAKNESSES with my daughter, I try every day to be the best me that I can be (first for myself, and then so that I have the power and understanding of how to breathe truth and hope into her mind and world). Hopefully I will be able to help her to navigate the crazy waters of peer and pop culture pressures that claim to have all the answers of what it takes to have the "perfect" body and the "perfect" amount of the "in crowd" look and talk, to be happy. I'm grateful for what anorexia has taught me, and for what working at being healthy teaches me. My hope is that some of my words will stick to my gal, and will enable my her to make the choices that please her, rather than making choices that are based on trying to please everyone else but herself. Thank you River Centre - for both my and my daughter's life. A calorie, is a calorie, is a calorie! Right on target! The kind of factual data and comparative analysis in this post is what saved my life 8 years ago. My life was saved at The River Centre Clinic. This posting is so important. I wish it could be read by every man, woman, “tween”, and teen out there. It is pivotally important because it reinforces how my behavior (as a mom) can, and does affect my now 8th grade daughter. She has clearly become much more body focused, and critical of different parts of her body on different days. As a recovered anorexic I am keenly aware of the ramifications that my words and actions can and do have on my “tween-ager.” There is no such thing as a “good” or a “bad” food in our house. We have a little bit of everything, and nothing is off limits to anyone. I learned how important taking labels off food is for the first time, at the River Centre Clinic. Although it may sound insane, I am happy at times that I went through 30+ years of starving myself and berating myself for just about everything I did, and about how “I” saw and felt about myself (physically and emotionally). Because of being sick and then recovering, I know what signs to look for, to listen for, and to hear, with and for my daughter. I can talk to my young woman-child, kindly and straightforwardly equipped with insight and understanding, and most importantly, with facts. Facts are the keys to reaching my sweet girl, because they back up what I talk with her about. Facts and owning my actions enabled me to grow up at age 40, and are what still enable me to continue growing up, as my hair gets more and more peppered with silver. I often tell my daughter that I like the silver. I’ve EARNED every streak and strand of that silver, and for now at least, I claim the silver as signs of victory. I am alive and I am strong. I want my daughter to know and feel the power of what feeling strong is like. I’ve tried it on, and I like it.

So, by CHOOSING what my definition of strength is for myself, and by owning and sharing my POWER AND WEAKNESSES with my daughter, I try every day to be the best me that I can be (first for myself, and then so that I have the power and understanding of how to breathe truth and hope into her mind and world). Hopefully I will be able to help her to navigate the crazy waters of peer and pop culture pressures that claim to have all the answers of what it takes to have the “perfect” body and the “perfect” amount of the “in crowd” look and talk, to be happy.

I’m grateful for what anorexia has taught me, and for what working at being healthy teaches me. My hope is that some of my words will stick to my gal, and will enable my her to make the choices that please her, rather than making choices that are based on trying to please everyone else but herself.

Thank you River Centre – for both my and my daughter’s life. A calorie, is a calorie, is a calorie!

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