Another must read!

"True nobility isn't about being better than anyone else; it's about being better than you used to be." -Unbearable Lightness

 


I finished another book a couple days ago.  I've been sitting on the idea of creating a blog post about the book, because it is such a sensitive subject. The book I finished is Unbearable Lightness by Portia de Rossi.  In this book, she writes about her struggles with her eating disorders and her negative self-image.  She not only discusses her battle with anorexia and bulimia, but also her disordered eating patterns.  I'm convinced every woman has had at least one of these problems in their lives.  If it hasn't been a full-on eating disorder, every woman who has been on a "diet" has disordered eating.

Portia writes, "Diets that tell people what to eat or when to eat are the practices in between (starving and bingeing), and dieting, I've discovered, was another form of disordered eating."

..."Ordered eating is the practice of eating when you are hungry and ceasing to eat when your brain sends the signal that your stomach is full."

When I first started reading this book, I kept thinking how much I related to how she felt when I was growing up.  I always felt like nothing I ever did was going to be good enough.  In another excerpt from the book Portia writes, "Even when I took first prize, topped the class, won the race, I never really won anything.  I was just merely avoiding the embarrassment of losing."

Portia goes into great detail about her struggles with her weight and her eating disorder while a cast member of Ally McBeal.   She discusses her "rock bottom" from 82 pounds to 164 pounds in a matter of months.  I highly recommend this book for anyone struggling with self-acceptance, and as a form of treatment from an eating disorder.  I think my favorite part of the book is when she show pictures of herself and underneath those photos, she says she's diagnosed with

Osteoporosis

Cirrhosis of the liver

and, Lupus

And that's what skinny looks like.  Osteoporosis, liver cirrhosis, and lupus.

While Portia is fully recovered, and her body has also recovered, there are many others struggling to find help and support.

Portia writes...

"Healing comes from love.  And loving every living thing in turn helps you love yourself."

"You don't have to be emaciated or vomiting to be suffering.  All people who live their lives on a diet are suffering."


"I'm grateful that my body doesn't restrict me from doing my job the way I restricted it from doing its job."

Love yourselves.  Be good to your bodies.  Don't measure your worth on what you look like, but what you accomplish.  Try to leave this world a better place.