Hey Friends!Is it just me, or is anyone else tired of being bombarded with ads, books, commericals and diet talk EVERY WHERE! Ugh.
Please know, I am all for health, whole living, and caring for our temples ~ but really, if I see one more "before and after" picture I might just lose my lunch. There really is more to life than just the size of our jeans.
Maybe I'm in such a bunch because, although I am committed to living "Fat Talk Free," ~ the unhealthy "Thin is In" message is negatively impacting my home. In a big way.
And it's horrible.
I had to take one of my precious kids to the doctor yesterday because she doesn't want to eat. Why?? Because she doesn't want to get fat.
Can you believe it?? John and I are watching her lose weight, having to monitor her eating, and remind her that food is not bad. Eating too much is bad, but eating to care for our body is necessary.
My heart is breaking over here.
Thankfully as we left the doctors office (who is the best pediatrician in the whole wide world), I asked my daughter what she learned. (We were with our doctor for over 40 minutes, so I was hoping she was listening!) My daughter shared....
* I'm not fat.
* I can eat more.
* If someone calls me fat, I can let it blow away.
My daughter is a tiny little thing (50 percentile for height/weight)....and yet she hears people getting teased at school for being fat. So she decided not eating would help solve her problem.
Thankfully I think we caught it in time.
This isn't always the case.
Please take just a few minutes and watch this video. It's Jessica Simpson interviewing model Isabella Caro on Jessica's show "The Price of Beauty".
It's just a few minutes long ~ I think you'll be so glad you watched!
Unfortunately Isabella was not able to win her battle with anorexia, and died tragically this past November 2010.
Oh friends, may God use us to be a voice of Truth, hope, and life in the lives of others!
May we stop saying things like, "You look great ~ you lost weight, didn't you?" and instead see the hearts and souls of those we come in contact with. (For the person who said that to me at church on Sunday, it's ok. I know you were trying to be helpful.)
May God gives us eyes to see love and joy and patience and kindness and gentleness in others ~ and may we affirm those important character qualities with our words.
And may we be careful of the words we share (even about ourselves), ESPECIALLY when little ears are listening.
What about for you?? How do you stay healthy and Truth filled in this area? I would love to hear from you!
Thanks for stopping by *She Sparkles*. God's richest blessings to you!!
P.S. Thank you for all of your kind comments about my new "fruit diet". For obvious reasons, I'm changing the name to my "Fruit-filled healthy living plan". It's working GREAT ~ in the midst of a full, challenging week, I am experiencing God's peace, joy, victory, and satisfaction. Following hard after Him is the best healthy living plan of all! :)
10 comments:
Dear friend,
I have to say I prayed for your daughter and I cried as I read this because like you I get so tired of the diet diet diet...thin is pretty and thin is best that is all over the TV and check out stands. Respectfully I say, if I see one more Jennifer Hudson singing "It's a new world it's a new day" commercial for Weight Watchers I'll scream!!!!
I have no problems with the focus on losing weight but we are out of balance in how we handle it in this world. Let me give you a very recent example. I don't know if you've been over to my blog lately to see where I asked for prayer for a serious health situation I'm facing. I am NOT one to reach out for prayer often at all but this has had my family a bit concerned even more than I because I truly am trusting in GOD, but I received an Email from someone whom I'm sure meant well but what did she say after reading my blog for prayer?
She said, "Lisa could it be your weight? Perhaps you should pray not about your health problem alone but for help for your weight. Maybe you are hurting yourself...". I almost bust but for the GRACE OF GOD!
Weight is not always indicative of being out of control. People should some times be quiet and just PRAY with LOVE and ENCOURAGEMENT. We can't fix each other and that's not what GOD called us to do. He called us to love and pray for one another. Yes, speak truth to each other too but truth laced with grace not judgment esp. when we don't know the situations of others.
Ok, forgive my long comment but girlfriend I'm praying for you and for your precious daughter just as I pray for others and myself. It's going to be a great year of living the fruit of the Spirit of GOD!!!
I love and appreciate you!
Wow. That was a powerful video. (New to your blog, by the way!) I have a 7 year old daughter and she is and always has been above average for her height and weight (except when she was born!), but very healthy. Even as a 1st grader, she notices different body types already. There's so much pressure on these young girls, this is new and scary territory for me as a mother and as a woman. We need God's wisdom to raise these little women! I know I do!
WOW! The video, your daughter's story....it reaffirms the passion GOD has put in my heart to encourage and empower girls! I am writing a program called Free to be Me right now for my Masters. It is centered on our identity in Christ and equips adolescent females to have positive self esteem physically, emotionally and spiritually!!! I will be hosting the program this coming spring/summer! It will be open to girls in the Grand Rapids area! :) I love how God stirs up similar passions in His people.
What an awesome post! I pray that this is a short lived phase for your daughter and she will realize that she is fearfully and wonderfully made by her heavenly Father and he made her PERFECT! Our society has gotten this "thin is in" concept totally out of hand. Yes, we need to be wise and take care of our bodies, but a little "fluff" never hurt anyone. Special blessings to you during this time!
My heart hurts for your daughter and for all the "little" girls who are already hearing the lies that Satan wants to implant in us as women. My friend and I were talking this morning about how all you hear on tv ads is how to lose weight, how to look good, how to control your eating. She has the opposite problem. She needs to gain weight. She's diabetic and on hypothyroid medication. Both work against the gaining of weight. Where are the shows and programs for people like that? What I want to know is when we started as a society to see skinny as beautiful and not curvy as women were created to be.
Weight can be such a springboard for discussion. Growing up, I was extremely skinny--had anorexia been a mainstream term I'm sure I would have been mistakenly accused of it. I was teased and taunted for my lack of weight.
After two children and a slower metabolism, I've seen the other side of skinny. The more I stressed about losing weight, the harder it became. When I finally quit trying so hard, and prayed for the right reasons to lose it, things got easier. I still need to lose another twenty pounds, but I'm not stressing over the plateau I've reached.
One helpful thing I've found is staying off the scale. If my clothes are tight, I'm gaining (or pms-ing!) and cut back. If they are loose, then I know I'm doing something right.
This is a wonderful post, Cindy!!
Hugs from Heidi
Hi! Cindy! so good to hear from you! And your post today touched me so! I am as we speak Praying for your daughter, and you as well that god will so fill you up, that you can minister to her in a very special way! You know my precious grand daughter has begun to put on extra~ but as I told my daughter is that you be concious of this but do not drive it home to Hannah, because, I think that it just sends a message to the child of simply~ I'm not accepted! and another thought is that I think we can so easily do this before we realize what we are saying! But Praise God He said we are fearfully and wonderfully made! Thats all I need to hear, for I know that I too myself struggle with this issue! I Love you Girl, and Praying for today that the mighty Love of Jesus will be all that we need! Blessings!for the outcome!
First, I am praying for your daughter!!! Praying that this victory is won early and forever. Yes, I pray we will be lights and hope to others.
I pray your daughter wants Jesus more than any desire to be thin or accepted. I pray that for me and for you and for other women.
I've been there with growing girls and it seems we stay there. I always pray the voice of truth is louder than the voice of the world or any deception in their lives.
Praying for you,
lisa
Hello from Kansas!
Praying for your sweet family, my friend.
There are many miserable skinny people in this world. Weight determines NOTHING. I love this quote: "I am beautiful because I am happy."
Do you EVER like someone more or trust someone more because of their size? Of course not.
I actually go the other way - when I see someone who is "too pretty" I think she must be vain and spend too much time worried about how she looks.
I feel very strongly about this - but even talking about how we're not going to talk about something is dangerous.
This is all meant to be encouragement. I am going to promise to pray for your girls. Little girls are fragile in a special way (I speak as a mom of an emotional 10-yr-old who had a meltdown over a dance costume yesterday).
Thanks for being bold enough to share this struggle online. You will touch many many people.
Much love. Sorry for such a long comment!!!!!!!!!!!
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