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Mog2 
To remind me to fight when ED gets me in its grip ............
Anybody's 10 Positive Steps:
1. STOP WEIGHING YOURSELFScales are for fish, not people. Stop measuring how good you feel about yourself by what the scales tell you. Scales don’t know you as a person and they cannot tell you how to think or feel. Take the power away from the scales and try to take control of how you feel about your body and about yourself.
Be a positive influence to other women/men and especially young people, by not talking about your weight and about how you dislike your body. You may sometimes feel uncomfortable about feeling ok about your body, when everyone else around you wants to change theirs. But every discussion we have about weight and body size leaves an impression on people around us. We are in danger of encouraging an unattainable quest for perfection if we continue to follow the rules laid out by the diet industry and media.
These industries make money by trying to determine ‘the look’ which women (and increasingly men) feel under pressure to conform to. Fashion and cosmetics can be an enjoyable aspect of life, but is it worth trying to buy into the unrealistic ideals? Experiment with what suits you and your body, rather than being told what should do so.
4. VALUE YOUR MONEYIf you didn’t buy into unrealistic and destructive eating regimes and you spent your earnings more on what reflected the person you are, would you still spend your money on the same things and in the same way?
5. APPRECIATE YOUR BODY FROM A DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVERather than being preoccupied with body size and shape, learn to enjoy the marvel that is your body through movement, exercise, nourishment, health, comfort and pleasure, for a more sustaining sense of self-acceptance.
6. TRY TO EAT ACCORDING TO HUNGERInstead of eating according to a set plan, respect and listen to the signals of your body which knows how much and what food it needs. When you are eating according to hunger most of the time, your body will adjust to the size you are meant to be.
Think about the people you really like and admire. With these values you have, does it really matter whether these people conform to a mainstream depiction of size and shape?
8. CONSIDER HOW YOU DEAL WITH DIFFICULT EMOTIONSIf you stop translating difficult emotions into a preoccupation with body and size, there’ll be more room and energy to focus on the real issues that make us happy or down at a particular time.
9. FOCUS ON THINGS YOU LIKE ABOUT YOURSELFRather than obsess on what you don’t think is acceptable and are driven to change, ditch the idea of a ‘perfect body’. Aim for the serenity to accept the things you cannot change, the courage to change the things you can, and the wisdom to know the difference.
10. BE A ROLE MODEL
It’s never easy to go against the grain. But there have always been females/males who took risks to grow and who have set new standards. Blaze a trail to liking and being who you really are, body and beyond.
From the anybody website, to keep me on track....... The Aims of Anybody:
2. DonateSend a donation to AnyBody Ltd, 2 Lancaster Drive, London NW3 4HA.3. Having your own say
Fashion And The Sense Of Size
AnyBody promotes diversity in the representation of, and provision for, bodies of all sizes. We are working to encourage the fashion industry to broaden the size ranges they manufacture and to use models who more accurately reflect the size of ordinary women.
Media And The Definition Of BeautyAnyBody intervenes with the media’s portrayal of beauty, which fluctuates with the fads of the market upon which it is dependant. AnyBody aims to offer back to the individual a sense of her own beauty and thereby re-establish previously lost and damaged self-esteem.
Diet/ Food Industry and Attitudes to Eating and BodyAnyBody challenges the misconception that the diet industry is a benign or even helpful player in tackling the growing public emergency that is obesity. The industry’s main effort is towards those who fail to meet the thin aesthetic: causing long term damage through disrupting natural ‘set-point’ weight, and making a profit out of the 97% recidivism rate, which leaves the majority of dieters in a state of body distress as they fight their bodies’ exclusion from the glamorous world of thin and lose any sense of peace and beauty in the skin they are in.
AnyBody also challenges the judgemental language used to describe food and eating (such as ‘sins’ and ‘points’) and the misleading description of children’s and ‘healthy’ products in order to develop a more simple, honest and autonomous relationship with nutrition and body.
What are we doing?
Department of Health: Helping nursing mothers and new parentsAnyBody has been in discussions with the Department of Health to try to develop training and support packages for health visitors promoting healthy relationships with food and body, in young mothers; to help these mothers encourage healthy attitudes to eating in babies and children, and to prevent children turning the normal conflicts of growing up into transforming their bodies or using food in ways that hurt them. AnyBody submitted their proposal in January 2004. AnyBody is also talking with the Royal College of Nursing.
The Diet Trap: Weight WatchersOne of AnyBody’s goals is to bring a case against Weight Watchers as one example of where the diet industry knowingly exploits the aesthetic ideal of slenderness. It has plenty of evidence that dieting does not help people maintain weight loss. In fact its profits depend upon return customers and ‘failure’. If you are interested in this project and have had negative or damaging experiences please add an entry to the discussion board under 'Take Action'.
Child Obesity and Food Standards
AnyBody continues to work with political advisors, committees and government agencies to address the issue of child obesity by bringing emotional literacy to schools and a heightened awareness of the labelling and advertising of foods, specifically those aimed at children. AnyBody is exploring the possibility of working with European partners to help children relish and enjoy their food and their bodies.
What can You do?
1.Get involved in the campaignUse this website and the 'Take Action' discussion board to voice you view, concerns and any action you may be instigating, join together with other concerned people and speak back to the industries that are constantly speaking to us. We want to develop this internet site and make it a lively discussion forum, so make use of it and email us any suggestions to improve the site.2. DonateSend a donation to AnyBody Ltd, 2 Lancaster Drive, London NW3 4HA.3. Having your own say
Writing to MPs and organisations (such as fashion houses, etc.) is an effective and easy way of making a statement. If you want to, you can refer to this website and use our contacts lists.
4. Everyday LifeMaking a difference and supporting the cause can be as easy as talking to friends and family and being aware of those around you who maybe particularly vulnerable. Body distress can be as seemingly inconspicuous as low self-esteem, or as frightening as a life-threatening eating disorder. Don’t let hating our bodies become a natural part of life today. Reclaim your body and your right to feel good.
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