the Shira Rose

A NYC Body Positive Fashion Blog

Body Positive

Living In Secrecy: My 20 Year Eating Disorder Battle

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For the entire 6 years of my blogging career, I’ve kept a huge part of my life secret. I don’t necessarily regret it but this secret has come along with layers and layers of shame and exhaustion. Today I want to share my truth.

The truth is that I’ve been battling a pretty intense eating disorder for the last 20 years of my life. I thought I’d wait to share my story once I was fully recovered but the reality is that I haven’t yet come close to achieving recovery at all. I’m in treatment for the second time this year because the only way I’ve known how to feel safe is by starving and purging. my eating disorder story (more…)

Oh, The F Factor Diet…

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Dieting and the pursuit of weight loss is harmful to women and our society as a whole. If we are so busy trying to shrink ourselves and obsess over “improving” our bodies, then we are less likely to have the brain space to focus on things that truly matter. Like Naomi Wolf so eloquently puts it, “Dieting is the most potent political sedative in women’s history.”

Dieting has been proven to fail in the long term for the vast majority. Not only don’t they work, but they often wreak havoc on our metabolisms, causing people to end up at higher weights than when they started. Along with that comes weight cycling as people “fall off the diet wagon” again and again and weight cycling is associated with hypertension, inflammation, increased risk of diabetes, and more (all the things people associate with fatness). Instead of people blaming diets, they blame themselves. “I just need more self control. I just need to try harder. I just need to try this diet instead. I just need to do low carb this time.” Sound familiar?

This post is for those of you who are interested in exploring the alternative to dieting but still might be struggling with the seductive nature of the trendy diets like F Factor. It is so normal to want to lose weight in the culture we live in; I mean, the diet industry is billions of dollars invested in you believing your body is a problem in need of fixing.Dieting is the most potent political sedative in women's history - f factor

Let’s start with what what makes this F Factor diet so incredibly special (more…)

3 Mindful Eating Tips To Get You Through Chanukah

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*My boss, Dr. Conason, wrote mindful eating posts for Halloween and Thanksgiving and I’ve adapted them for Chanukah with her permission. You can read the original posts here and here.*
menorah, latkes, and donutsChanukah is almost here and personally, it’s always been my favorite holiday. Unfortunately, diet culture can put a damper on holiday spirit – by making us feel guilt and shame for eating doughnuts and latkes or having us worry about the calories and how it’ll impact our weight. It can feel especially frustrating when you want to be present and enjoy the time with people you love but food anxiety can overshadow everything! I know that for those of you that struggle with disordered eating or eating disorders, holiday time can be particularly challenging.

But I do think it’s possible to enjoy Chanukah, even in our crazy diet-obsessed world. Here are three tips to having a mindful and fun Chanukah: (more…)

Your Guide to Health At Every Size and Intuitive Eating

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health at every size and intuitive eatingThe diet industry is $70 billion dollars and counting and heavily invested in us believing our bodies are problems in need of fixing. We are constantly bombarded by messages that the only way to be worthy and acceptable is to be thin and of course it takes a toll on us. We’re human and our fatphobic world impacts everyone negatively; thin people are terrified of getting fat and fat people know that everyone is desperate not to look like them. It’s a no-win situation.

The body positivity movement has been growing and more people are realizing that body diversity exists but are struggling to shake off the messages that fat=unhealthy because it’s hard unlearning a lifetime of opposite messaging. So today I thought I’d share my list of podcasts, books, and resources for those interested in learning more about Health At Every Size, intuitive eating, and body positivity. Let me know if you think there’s something I’ve missed! (more…)