Miss America

If you were to walk down the hallway in my house you’d see a wall of family photos, spanning many generations. One of my favorites is of my maternal grandmother, a black and white, professionally posed shot, of her in an evening dress at Madison Square Garden in New York City. It’s a sweet photo, apparently taken at the Miss America preliminary competition, or so the story goes. 

“Why is this important”? , you might be thinking? Well, one day I was looking closely at this photo and noticed that there was a thick, black marker line on either side from her waist down past her hips, removing a good couple of inches from her middle! Imagine that! While she had denied it (of course I asked her!), at some point she decided to do a little cosmetic surgery so to speak, to adjust her proportions. In spite of her good looks, I guess she didn’t think they were good enough. She was a normal weight, but I suppose that normal wasn’t good enough.

Well, I didn’t touch up my blog photo (no, really, although I must confess I removed the red eye). But you should know that this was the first time I wore lipstick in more than a year. Now I have nothing against wearing makeup (although because I was frequently told by my parents that I should wear it I have rebelled, and as most of you who know me can attest, I still am rebelling!)

And what does this have to do with the subject of my blog? It has to do with self -acceptance. Okay, I realize you have searched for keywords or linked to me from other sites precisely because you are not okay with where you are at. And you are searching, desperately perhaps, for nutritional guidance to make you feel better. But here’s the catch—if you are full of self-loathing, if you don’t feel deserving of being taken care of, why would you indulge yourself in self-care? In quality meals that taste good? In moving your body to make it strong and fit?

The conclusion? Be nicer. To yourself. Even if you truly need to change your size for health reasons. Just start by accepting where you are at and that you are worth the effort to work on change. And promise me you’ll set realistic goals. Because if the expectations are too great, you’ll set yourself up for failure. And nobody needs more failure.

Thanks for reading!