Body Image Activist, Eating Disorders mamaVISION

I remember when I first started blogging, an athlete who was training for the Olympics wrote to me for advice. Here was a girl who had worked her entire life to get to where she was, but she started to realize she didn’t want it anymore. But she couldn’t just –quit, could she?

Her parents would freak.

Her dad would disown her

Who knows what her coach would do.

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I had the honor of being interviewed by Joey Lee of Beautiful Life regarding my opinion on Oprah’s upcoming Inside Rehab Reality TV program. We had quite a conversation, and you gotta love Joey’s accent.

Enjoy!

mamaV

PS While you are on Joey’s site, check out her band!

See the FaceBook Group here! We are up to 1,200 members!

NEW 5/11 JOIN FACEBOOK GROUP HERE: Lets stop these shows before they start!

Facebook is on fire today over a new reality show “Inside Rehab” scheduled to air on the Oprah Winfrey Network. The program will go inside Eating Disorder Treatment Centers to follow patients as they go through therapy, and the ED community will have none of it.

Here’s the weird thing; E! announced a similar program, and the producers of “The Biggest Loser” are casting for what sounds like an identical concept of Inside Rehab.

What is sparking this interest all of a sudden?

More importantly, is this interest a good thing?

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Don’t kid yourself for one minute, there is nothing, nothing attractive or normal or acceptable about the obviously anorexic look of Sarah Jessica Parker. When I see these types of photos, I envision how many ProAna videos will feature it. I think about how quickly young girls will glom on to this image as their life goal.

Anorexia is a LIFESTYLE, not a disease….you didn’t know. Wake up.

This is sick. It always has been sick. It always will be sick. Hollywood is demented, and it is not a reflection of normal life on any level what-so-ever.

How many of you look at this picture with envy?

If you raised your hand, my sincere hope for you is that someone, sometime soon, grabs a hold of you and tells you what a wonderful, unique, beautiful girl you are.

And then they hold on to you until you believe it.

Love,

mV

Most of you probably heard about this young girl last year, Dana, the 8 year old struggling with an anorexia. I stumbled upon this documentary style video about her and I wanted to share it for comments and thought.

1. Why do you think the age of anorexics is getting younger and younger? My answer — media, fashion, mothers on diets, and yes — genetics hidden in there somewhere.
2. Can we say that eating disorders are MORE influenced by environment/media than genetic factors? (I say undoubtedly YES)
3. If you have an ED, can you remember how old you were when those self hate feelings started? (For me, not until I started modeling at 15)

Part 1: Dana’s story and the start of inpatient treatment which she calls “The Torture Chamber”

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Kara DioGuardi, the American Idol judge, recently revealed she suffered from binge eating disorder, a condition that is finally being recognized by the DSM-IV as an “official” eating disorder (the press has coined it the “new” eating disorder, which is kind of comical if you think about it).

Anyway, while researching her story, the first link I found on Google led me to this cover shot.

Why does this just seem like a bad idea?

Maybe its because as a former eating disorder sufferer, posing like this seems, well, counter intuitive.

Perhaps I am bothered by the body revealing outfit surrounded by headlines like “EAT MORE, WEIGH LESS!”

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Hi Gang: Check out Jessica Simpson’s The Price of Beauty, new show on VH1 — BUT fast forward to section two to see her interview with the anorexic model who posed in the billboard below.

If this doesn’t make you cry, or be scared, or feel something, not sure what will.

Love,
mV

PS if you try post and comment and it does not work, let me know mamavision@gmail.com, having trouble with this lately!