Have spent the last few weeks preparing for a 10-week workplace wellness program that I have the honor of facilitating. I've never used someone else's PowerPoint before, and although encouraged to modify it to fit my style, I really want to maintain the program's integrity and be as true to it as possible.
http://static.typepad.com/.shared:va4a342c:typepad:en_us/images/yui/skins/tp1/editor/extended-separator.png); background-color: transparent; background-position: 50% 0%; background-repeat: no-repeat no-repeat;"> Hence, I've been re-reading lots of the research and articles on Health At Every Size® to allow the facts and figures that aren't usually in my talks to lilt off my tongue. Given my memory, that's an unlikely outcome via just a few re-visits, but at least I'll know where to find the information if questioned.
Because of my Internet searches (and thanks to a number of list serves to which I belong) I happened upon a lovely blog post written by Dale Favier, a massage therapist.
It was a joy to read these words:
Let’s start here with what nobody looks like: nobody looks like the people in magazines or movies. Not even models. Nobody. Lean people have a kind of rawboned, unfinished look about them that is very appealing. But they don’t have plump round breasts and plump round asses. You have plump round breasts and a plump round ass, you have a plump round belly and plump round thighs as well. That’s how it works. (And that’s very appealing too.)
Women have cellulite. All of them. It’s dimply and cute. It’s not a defect. It’s not a health problem. It’s the natural consequence of not consisting of photoshopped pixels, and not having emerged from an airbrush.
Today, thankfully, my happiness has nothing to do with my weight or feedback from others. And perfection of any kind is no longer the goal. The notion that perfection can be achieved is a lie we are told and a lie we tell ourselves. That's the ugly truth. I wish I could've told those young fans what I've finally learnt to tell myself: reality - imperfection - is where the real beauty is.
Beautiful.
"Health At Every Size is a registered trademark of the Association for Size Diversity and Health and used with permission."
[Originally posted on the Gürze Books Eating Disorders Blogs]
