Does GLEE joke too much about eating disorders?

This Tuesday night I watched a full episode of GLEE for the first time. I enjoyed the episode for the most part. It was funny and clever. I especially loved the singing. But, the casual references to eating disorders bugged me. For those of you who missed the show, these were the references. I want to know your opinion. Do you think they cross the line?

1) The cheerleading coach commented that she hadn't eaten a real meal since the 1980's. She said she drinks a cayenne pepper, lemon, and maple syrup detox drink and makes all the girls on the cheerleading squad do the same. She tells them to add epicac to the drink so they can vomit easily after.

Lovely!

2) The cheerleading coach jokes about the cheerleaders leaving vomit baggies in their parent's closets.

Nice!

Then, at the end of the show, a larger girl on the cheerleading squad decides she won't listen to the coach anymore and that she is beautiful the way she is. A pregnant ex-cheerleader tells her this and says that because she is eating to feed another life, her relationship with food has changed.

The finale song is Christina Aguilera's "I am Beautiful" and the message is taught again to accept yourself the way you are.

Soo....you've got a couple of stupid bulimia jokes and a couple of messages that say you don't need a perfect body. Do the positive messages eliminate the negative ones?

I don't think so. I think it's irresponsible to joke so lightly about bulimia without showing the real consequences. Maybe if the cheerleading coach had been bulimic since the 1980s and she had no teeth because of it...you know what I'm saying? So, what's your opinion?

To find out more about the book Stop Overeating Today! that was featured on the Dr. Laura Show, please visit: http://www.stopovereatingtips.com

Are You Judging Other Women's Bodies? Part 2

I remember one time in high school my psychology teacher asked the question: "Who do you think checks out girls more - guys or other girls?" Everyone responded with, "Guys!" It was a no-brainer. Why would the teacher ask a question with such an obvious answer? An older girl from the middle of the class, who I looked up to for saying what she thought, said, "Girls check out girls more. We need to size up the competition. We want to check each other out and compare ourselves to make sure we add up. We check out her clothes, how she wears them, and how she struts."

Insightful! And she was the only girl with enough courage to tell the truth.

When I was battling with my eating disorder of anorexia, bulimia, and overeating, I was just as judgmental about other girls' bodies as I was about my own. I remember going to the gym during my anorexic phase and checking out the most fit women there. I wanted to compete with them. I wanted to prove that I could be just as tiny and fit as they were.

Jump ahead eleven years. I'm no longer anorexic, bulimic, an overeater, or addicted to receiving approval and envy from other people. I'm not the most tiny and fit person at the gym. I just had a baby last year. I won't look perfect in a bathing suit this summer. But that's okay, because I'm not a perfectionist anymore.

That's not to say I don't take pride in how I look and that I don't take care of myself. I work out and I eat healthy. But there's a big difference between having a self-esteem that comes from how you look in a bikini and having a self-esteem that comes from living a healthy and balanced life, physically and mentally.

Constantly comparing yourself to other women isn't mentally healthy. It's also tough to stop. It becomes a game and your mind gets obsessed. And there will always be someone better looking and thinner, so you can't always win the game. Then you end up picking yourself apart because you aren't the best. It's exhausting judging yourself and others day after day.

Here's the good news. Once you stop judging others, won't be as critical of yourself either. When you start placing value on other attributes besides physical ones, you start loving others and yourself more. Even better, you stop worrying about how others may judge you. When you are judging others, you feel more self-conscious, but when you stop, you feel more confident. Worrying about how others judge you is also not healthy mentally. It comes a paranoia.

How can you start today to stop judging others and to develop a healthier body image? Next time a judgmental thought about another woman's body enters your mind, interject by asking yourself this question: "Is judging this woman going to make me feel better about myself?" If you're shallow you might answer yes. If you're honest with yourself, you'll answer no. Now, without focusing on weight, think of one sincere compliment you could give this woman. Does she have beautiful eyes? Do you like her shoes? Does she walk with confidence? Could she be someone's beloved wife?

The more you start to see people as living breathing humans instead of as objects, the more you will take it easy on yourself and stop expecting perfection. Your body image will improve and you will have more self-confidence, which always translates into beauty.

Get more tips and advice at http://www.stopovereatingtips.com. To save 15% on the book Stop Overeating Today!, use the special code HEALTHY using Google Checkout.

Are You Judging Other Women's Bodies? Part 1

Ok, so here is my confession. I am not perfect. Sometimes really judgmental thoughts come into my head. For example, ahem: The other while I was leaving Costco® I saw this really thin and beautiful Asian woman about my age. Into my head came the thought, “she is so beautiful and thin, I bet she is happier than me. She must have a pretty easy and blessed life.” Even though this thought entered my mind, I didn't believe it. Instead, I thought, "Wow, what a lie! How could you even look at someone and understand how happy they truly feel?"

While I was struggling with my eating disorder, I would have believed this thought. I would have entertained it and allowed more erroneous thoughts to come into my mind, such as: “If I were skinnier, I would be prettier and happier, too.” To replace the lie with something else in my head, I thought, “That isn’t true, skinny doesn’t equal happiness and I don’t need to believe that lie.” Thin doesn’t equal happy, it never did. Sure, it can give you a surge of pride and a sense of well-being, but you’ll never have genuine peace of mind because you’ll know you are skinny at the cost of being unhealthy and unbalanced emotionally, physically, and spiritually.

When I was anorexic and was at my lowest weight, I felt proud and happy, but it was a paranoid and shallow happiness, because I was constantly comparing my body to others. My self-worth was fragile and based on a number on the scale. I was paranoid that if my weight went up, that would mean I wasn’t worth as much anymore.

To stop believing untrue thoughts about your body and others' bodies is to stop fueling the eating disorder. If you don’t pay attention the thoughts, it’s like you don’t own them. You acknowledge they entered your mind but that you don’t have to hold onto them and make your mind a home for them. You can drop them, replace them with truthful uplifting thoughts, and then dwell on those.

Get more tips and advice at http://www.stopovereatingtips.com. To save 15% on the book Stop Overeating Today!, use the special code HEALTHY using Google Checkout.

Book Excerpt from Stop Overeating Today! - FIVE NEW Strategies to Eat Less

Is overeating something you struggle with? Do you need some fresh tips to motivate you to make healthy changes? Look no further. These five strategies will give you a lot to work with because they are designed to apply to a variety of situations in which overeating occurs - at home, restaurants, and at work. They are short so you can easily remember and apply them. Need more support? Leave a comment and I will respond.

I am a life coach and work with clients to help them solve their overeating problems. I have gone from a size 12 to a 4 and, believe me, I know what it's like to feel like you've hit a wall, to self-sabatoge, and to get discouraged. Hit me up with a comment and I will be happy to help.

1! Get your hand out of the bag! If you're going to eat some chips or something that comes in a bag, don't just grab the bag, sit down on the coach, and start munching. Try putting the food you want in a bowl or on a plate and then putting the bag away. That way, you won't unintentionally overeat and consume excess calories. Same thing goes for ice cream. Don't eat ice cream out of the carton. If you do, the spoon may hit the bottom of the container before you realize what's happening. Try putting ice cream in a bowl and then the carton back into the freezer.

2! Visualize yourself doing the right thing. If you're feeling tempted to overeat and you don't want to, try visualizing yourself doing something else. For example, if you're craving ice cream but don't want to give in, come up with something else you can do. If you want to treat yourself, why not do something else like go for a nice walk outside or curl up in bed with a book? Picture yourself, step by step, like you're watching yourself in a movie, getting outside for that walk. Where will you walk to? What will you see? What do you need to grab so you're ready to go? Visualize putting on your walking shoes and coat in crystal clear detail. If you prefer the curl up in bed with a book option, what book will you read? Will you put on your pajamas and get comfortable? Visualize the whole thing. Now, instead of visualizing silky ice cream sliding down your throat, you've replaced it with new enticing images that will make you happy and fulfill you in other ways.

3! Box half of your restaurant meal. Most restaurant entrees have over 800 calories and leave you feeling stuffed and uncomfortable if the entire meal. If you habitually eat out and finish off the meal, it's easy to put on an extra 10, 15, or more pounds. We've all heard the advice to box half of your restaurant meal so you don't eat the whole thing. Here's a new twist. Ask the waiter to bring half of your meal already boxed when he or she brings out the food. Then, take the box, and stick it under the table by your feet so you won't see it. Out of sight, out of mind. Now you won't feel tempted to start picking at it when your meal is done. And you have lunch for tomorrow!

4! Take your after dinner conversation away from the table. You're at a dinner party or you are having guests over for dinner. You enjoy a great meal together, have some dessert, and keep chatting away at the table. There's still some mashed potatoes left and some extra brownies from dessert. So, you pick it. A little potatoes here, a little chunk of brownies here. Before you know it, you've eaten an extra two brownies, piece by piece, and an extra serving of potatoes, completely unintentionally! Next time to avoid that problem, suggest going into the living room to continue the conversation. Getting away from the food will save you from consuming extra calories you don't want or need.

5! Remember your worth is not derived from cleaning your plate. Were you raised as a kid to believe that you were only good if you finished everything on your plate? Don't place all the blame on your parents. They were probably raised that way, too. Lots of kids have been trained to eat everything, even after they are full. They are also trained that if they eat everything, only then can they get dessert. Flash forward to adulthood. Lots of adults are still holding onto that belief that they have to finish what they have left on their plates, but it's not true. Stop when you're full. Throw it out if you don't want to finish it, or put it in the fridge for later. Even if it's just two bites. You are not a human vacuum cleaner that needs to take care of scraps. Give yourself permission to rewrite the rules and not finish everything, even if you think eating a little extra won't hurt. A little extra calories every day leads to a lot of extra pounds over time.

Get more tips and advice at http://www.stopovereatingtips.com. To save 15% on the book Stop Overeating Today!, use the special code HEALTHY using Google Checkout.

Waste Money vs. Overeat - What Would YOU Do?

I was eating out the other day and came across another reason people overeat. I had ordered a big subway-type sandwich and was just two bites away from finishing the whole thing. My stomach indicated it was full. But I looked down at those little two bites and the thought popped into my head, "But I paid for this! Shouldn't I get to eat ALL of it?" It wasn't enough to take home. During this economy stretching the dollar and getting our money's worth is even more attractive. But is it worth overeating to say you didn't waste any food?

I say it's not worth it. Because the more you bend the rules and overeat, the more of a habit that will become instead of an infrequent event. The more you stop listening to your body by eating when you are full, the more your ability to sense what your body needs will diminish.

So, you decide. The two bites of food I had left probably were worth about 66 cents. If someone were to say to you, "Hey, I'll pay you 66 cents if you'll overeat," would you go for it? I hope not! Just something to think about next time you eat out and you feel entitled to get your money's worth.

So, what would you do if you were in my shoes? Would you have finished the sandwich?

To find out more about the award-winning book Stop Overeating Today!, visit www.stopovereatingtips.com