Schools are where our children spend the bulk of their waking hours. Accordingly, what happens at school undoubtedly shapes a child's lifelong health habits, for good or for ill.
"She is a little too fat, but she has a beautiful face and a divine voice." Talk about a backhanded compliment.
As a therapist specializing in eating issues, I'm all too aware of the pervasive cultural pressures to be perfectly thin. So when I heard Katharine McPhee would be stacked up on the little screen against America's biggest sex symbol, I couldn't help but wonder how she's handling those pressures.
At 30, being an A-cup is something I hardly ever think about. But when I read that Denise Richards regrets getting breast enhancement surgery, I had to say something.
The body truly is a vehicle for life rather than something to be controlled. I've heard it said that our bodies are our Earth suits -- simply what we wear on this planet in order to get around. We must nourish this gift in a balanced way.
I've been disillusioned by Seventeen's pixie dust more times than I would like to admit. The magazine manufactures self-doubt so girls will buy the quick-fix products displayed on their glossy pages.
Yoga challenges us to see what's right about our bodies rather than what is wrong. It asks us to be happy with what is rather than what needs to be changed.
A word to the wise -- resist the urge to "diet." Read the research: Diets don't work, they make matters worse. Modifying how you eat and maintaining the changes is fine and makes sense. That's not dieting.
What happens to people with anorexia or bulimia who don't get treatment -- or who don't get enough of the right treatment?
We don't need to see the research to believe the claims. Can anyone look at runway models and think that they weigh anything near what the non-models do?
I read picture books with only central female characters, I insisted she wrestle her big brothers, demanded family call her words like smart and brave as much as cute and adorable. I tell her we are all different -- straight and thin to round and plump and millions of ways in between. I tell her it's what makes us all beautiful. Unconvinced.
What girls say to each other on Facebook matters more than the possible threat of cyberbullying. It reflects what we teach kids about what's important and has real consequences.
Despite rising awareness among the general population and health care professionals alike, misconceptions about eating disorders, which have the highest mortality rate of any mental illness, remain pervasive.
It is impressive how easily your body takes shape to violence, I can't remember the last time we touched like this.
It took me years -- years -- to say the word "fat." So you can imagine the complete shift in perspective it took for me to say the words "fat sex."
Though I've grown out of Disney programming, I will not be happy with the network until they issue a formal, public apology.
