Marie Claire = Twisted Writings

Good morning! I had a nice 3 mile run today to formulate my thoughts for this blog post (and calm down a little) so before you read what i have to say, if you have not seen “The Hunger Diaries” Marie Claire Article in question, please go read it now, then come back and read my post. You can find it HERE.

Let me start by saying I LOVE the healthy living blogger community. Having been a part of it for almost a year, I have grown to love the blogs, the people, the tips, advice, and encouragement I recieve everyday on my blog, on twitter, and on facebook. Social media, and the media in general, CAN be a great thing….but it also has a very ugly, mean, finger pointing, take-things-out-of-context side. Of the 6 bloggers in question, 4 of them were some of the first I ever got to know through their blogs, and I still follow them today (as well as the other two, as of late.) All I have ever known form their blogs and from people I know in real life that have met them is that they are great people who love sharing about being healthy, how you don’t have to starve to be healthy, how you CAN be a runner, or get into yoga, or make a gormet meal. The message is extremly positive, and I love being a very small part of it.

As a former teacher and coach, it’s pretty obvious I love to share, help, encourage, and teach. One of my FAVORITE questions I get asked on my blog is “how do you get started running?” My face lights up, and I ramble on and on and the poor reader has no idea what they have gotten themselves into by asking me!

That being said, it hurts me so very deeply to read this poorly written article. I do not and have never struggled from an eating disorder or exercise disorder, but people close to me have, and obviously it is not soemthing to mees around with. I think twisting the words and blogs of these poor girls is in INSULT to the people who truly have a problem. Health is different for everyone, and each person needs to find what works for them personally.

I am sure the author would not appreciate us taking every bad day, negative thought, or word of doubt from her life and twisting it around to make a story. these girls don’t deserve it. it is so nit picky to say that if someone with an ED reads their blog, they could be triggered….come on now…If that is true, then every magazine stand, billboard, tv commerical, and movie is a trigger. What are they going to do, sit in a dark room forever as to not see a trigger? Yes, some things are inapropriate, yes, airbrushing models onto magazines is quite annoying, but these 6 girls are the picture of health!

I do not blog about my food. There are a couple of reasons for this. 1.)I eat a lot through the day and it would be way too time consuming for me to do so. 2.)I am a picky eater and eat much of the same foods over and over again. 3.) I don’t eat as healthy as I should (I am getting so much better though!) and don’t feel that posting about my 8 pieces of candy and bowl of ice cream is really going to benefit anything (let me be clear, I am fine with what I eat, not trying to HIDE it, just don’t see the point for me personally in sharing every meal.) That being said, I do post all of my exercise, and some people would say running so much is crazy, or that I have an exercise disorder for having exercise guilt, when in fact, my guilt comes from how bad my body feels when I don’t workout, because I feel so alive when I do! I realize I am not the BEST picture of health, no one is perfect, but what I am is honest, as are these 6 girls. To finger point when they are being honest and vunerable is wrong.

So, please, Marie Claire, screen your writers and articles more carefully, and stop picking on people who are trying to make a positive difference in this world. These girls work hard to help, not hurt, and I strive to do the same. Hopefully when I go out on a double digit training run, I won’t be blasted for having something wrong with me.