The Eyes that Deceive - The Filter Surrounding Us

It seems that no matter how much garbage that we see, read or view, we keep on coming back for more as if we are goldfish with short term memory. It’s fairly unanimous that we need to take everything we hear and see in life with a grain of salt – especially things concerning health and lifestyle advice.

• Eat this, don’t eat that.

• Do this exercise and go to that style of class.

• Eat now and not later.

• Look at what this famous celebrity does to look the way they do

• How to drop x kilos in x weeks

• Follow this new diet trend and ditch the old one

• Mass ‘super food’ marketing that will change your health forever

It’s a never-ending bombardment of contrasting and contradictory information that somehow sneaks into our social media, television and even our traditional newspapers. I honestly don’t know how some people keep up with it all - it changes every time you blink. If we were to change our nutrition and exercise patterns in accordance to what comes to hand you would never stop.

The hilarity of it all is that no matter what one thing is promoting – the paleo diet for example – there are at least twice as many parties bashing it down in favour for another – say ketogenic or veganism. I think we are all guilty of buying into what we read from time to time. In the hopes of either two things:

1. That we feel satisfied knowing that what we are practicing has worked for others and will work for you

2. That we will come across something that will answer your prayers and give you some answers to questions that are solely unique to individuals – no two bodies operate the same

Even before my eating disorder manifested, health and diet promotion were something that highly influenced what I did, or how I ate – most of which I only realised now looking back. These things are sneaky, entering into your subconscious thoughts and leach into your real-life thoughts and actions. It is not only people with eating disorders that are affected by these things. Jenny-Craig, WeightWatchers, meal-replacement companies – they have been around for so long, feeding into and feeding off of this diet culture that has cemented itself in our reality.

Now, a quick comment of what we see – specifically the well-known ‘before and after’ pictures we see blasted everywhere – in magazines, on social media, heck – even mainstream media. What I am saying is by no means targeted at or squandering the work that some people have done to actually change their body shape – I am specifically addressing the fake type of transformations. However, plenty of these collages have been well documented to be the product of a short time spent on a photo-editor and bam! – wrinkles are removed, breasts and bum lifted, thigh gap ever-present, and even a new body-shape has been crafted! Despite us knowing this all, we still feel the need to click on that image and read that story, and even feel bad about ourselves that others have done something we have not?

Even without the help of Photoshop, transformation photos can look like months in the making when in fact they are seconds apart. It’s amazing what a little bit of sucking in, change in lighting and cheeky smile can do. If we can do this all in a matter of seconds, imagine what a good spray tan, make-up, change of clothes and mix-up of posture could do! Well, we don’t have to imagine, just open up your nearest internet browser and have a search, or better yet; turn on your television and see the latest advertisement for this ‘revolutionary’ new piece of exercise equipment. The bottom line – not all physical transformations are real; their aim is to make you feel bad and suck you into buying whatever it is that the photo is promoting.

The truth is, no one way of eating or dieting will work for us all – so we need to wake up, give ourselves an ice-bath, and face the facts; ‘diets’ are never the answer. I know that they provide us with some short-term relief to our insecurities about how we feel about ourselves and our bodies; but inflicting a harsh regimen will not solve this. An overweight person, an underweight person, and a normal weighted person can all still feel uncomfortable in their bodies.

What we need to begin growing in our society, and in ourselves, is the idea of body love and acceptance. I am grateful that I have a body that gets me from A to B, that enables me to share my message with you all, that allows me to live. Weight is something so insignificant when we look at our lives – I want to remember my 20's, 30’s, 40's and beyond for when I graduated University, got married, started a family, and for the travels I made – not for the time when I lost x, then gained it back, then lost it again, and gained it all back and more.

I battle with this every single day. My mind tells me I need to be x, and the sad thing is, so too does the society around me. I’m battling the entire world in attempt to make me realise that it is not me who is wrong but what is around me.

Do you want your daughter, your niece, nephew, godson, anyone, growing up in a world where they believe that their body is not amazing and beautiful just the way it is? That they need to be weighing x in order to feel good about themselves? HELL NO.

So, I ask this, why in the world are we prepared to not let this happen to others, but not willing to change things for ourselves?

Your friend,

Rawing Meg

xx