Eat it.

I don't want to talk a lot about this, but I do want to say something, so here we go.

The two scariest things I've seen recently have been about eating. The first was Supersize Me, which I think I already mentioned, but in case I didn't, I watched in on Hulu one day and it made me want to do sit-ups and stop eating fast food (which I did - I've been taking lunch to work ever since, and after I eat I go for a walk, which I feel is a good thing.) It was gross and scary, and I can't believe what that much of that kind of food does to a body. Ick.

The other was Wintergirls, by Laurie Halse Anderson, which I just finished. This was an incredibly well-written and horrifying book about a girl with anorexia who loses her best friend to bulimic complications right at the beginning of the book. Her friend haunts her for most of the book, encouraging her to lose more, eat less, "stay strong." It gave me a stomach ache, but I don't even know what to say beyond that. I've known for quite a long time now that things like eating disorders aren't all about being skinny, that the people who think it's all about vanity aren't seeing the whole picture. That doesn't mean that the attitude our culture has about appearance and especially about weight doesn't trigger the beginnings of things like that though, and throughout the book I felt sick whenever people told her how good she looked because she was so skinny, especially because I know that kind of thing isn't really exaggerated. I hear people say things like that all the time. I think about things like that all the time. That post about clothes? Part of the reason that wearing summer clothes is hard is that you can't layer and cover up the winter squishiness, is it not? 

What kind of crazy, mixed-up world do we live in? People make themselves sick because they eat too much or the wrong thing, or they make themselves sick trying to get rid of that extra weight from eating (at all, actually) but even the people in between who are healthy and okay still feel like they need to lose lose lose, no matter where they are. I've heard incredibly skinny girls talk about how they just needed to lose another fifteen pounds before they were happy with their weight, and I can't even believe they have that much to lose! Everyone wants to lose something, and everyone is eating food that's bad for them, pretty much all the time, and no one is happy with how they look, ever. I exaggerate some, but not that much, and it makes me sad. 

And yeah, look at the beginning of this post - the part where just watching that documentary made me feel like I needed to start working out. Yes, I should exercise more and live a more healthy lifestyle, and yes, laying off the fast food is better for me than eating it, but that shouldn't cause a panic attack of feeling fat. 

I've already said more than I meant to about this. I'm not saying anything helpful or new or even coherent. I just wish people could be happy and healthy in their own skin. 

By the way, while I was trying to find an appropriate picture to put on this post, I found this website.  Yeah.