11. Bones are clean and pure. Fat is dirty and hangs on your bones like a parasite. - Having a lot of fat is kind of gross, I'll admit.  But you are leaving out two key things in your body.  One, blood.  Two, muscle.  Right now, your bones are not "clean"- they are covered in blood.  I would show you a picture, but that would repulse you and me both.  But what about muscle?  If you're only showing "clean and pure" bones, that means you won't be fit.  That means you won't be strong.  That means you won't have muscle.  And a little fat is not bad at all.  According to the American Dietetic Association, women should actually have 20-25% body fat to be healthy.

12. If you eat, you'll look like those disgusting, fat, ghetto and trailer-trash hookers on Jerry Springer. - Yikes.  That's a bit extreme, isn't it?  I mean, I eat.  Three meals a day and plenty of snacks in between.  I'll show you a picture of me to your right.  Do I look like one of those disgusting, fat, ghetto and trailer-trash hookers on Jerry Springer?  I sure hope not.  Another thing... I don't see how eating could make you trailer-trash, because in order to even qualify for that cruel stereotype, wouldn't you have to live in a trailer-home?  That has nothing to do with eating.  And I don't think being a hooker has anything to do with food either.  Same with being ghetto.  What does any of that have to do with food?

13. The models that everyone claim are beautiful, the spitting image of perfection, are any of them fat? ...NO... - I've never really considered models to be very beautiful.  I don't think they're even really meant to look beautiful.  In order to become a runway model, you must have fairly plain features, be able to look severe and serious, pull your hair back tightly away from your face, and all because attention is not supposed to be on your gorgeous face and body, but on the clothes you're wearing... really, models are a bunch of walking coat racks.  The world does put a false sense of "beauty" on girls who have "model-thin" figures and that is wrong.  But also think about how much the media praises girls like Gabourey Sidibe and Jordin Sparks, girls who are comfortable with their own weight?

14. Too many people in America are obese. - That's very true.  But there's actually a good thick line between obese and malnourished.  You want to be on that line... right at a healthy weight.  Talk to your doctor to find out what your ideal weight is.  Don't think he's full of it... he's been to school for years and years to learn this stuff.  He knows what he's talking about.

15. People who eat are selfish and unrealistic. - Harsh!  This hurts my feelings.  I guess that means I'm selfish and unrealistic.  First of all, how am I selfish?  I'm eating and not wasting food that I've been blessed with.  Secondly, I wish I could talk to this writer in person.  I don't understand how I'm the one being unrealistic.  Not eating is unrealistic.  Thinking you can survive without food is unrealistic.

Check in on Wednesday to read my next installment of 40 Reasons to Eat. 

To read the reasons behind why I'm writing this, please refer to my article called Thinspiration.

6. People will remember you as the 'beautiful thin one.' - I know some people who are naturally very thin and they constantly struggle to gain weight because they don't want to be remembered as the 'thin one.'  When you look like a stick, people do notice you... but it's often not with attraction.  Do you really want people to speak of you as, "Oh my gosh, do you see that girl?  She's like a bony twig.  Ew."  People think curves are attractive.  Hour glass figures.  Boobs and behinds (pardon my bluntness) are what guys like.  Not just bones and skin. 

7. If someone has to describe you, they'll say, 'oh, she weighs like 100, 110 lbs.' - I don't think I've ever described someone by trying to guess their weight.  I don't know any normal person who is like, "You don't know Jane?  I think she weighs 100, 110 pounds..."  "Ohhh, I remember her now!"  No, are you kidding?  People describe people like this: "You don't know Jane?  She has light brown hair, glasses, and she's kind of short.  She has a lot of freckles."  The only time someone would even mention your weight while describing you would be if you were noticeably scrawny or obese... but I still doubt they would say you were "like 100, 110 pounds."  They would say, "You don't know Jane?  She has light brown hair, glasses, and she's really, really, really skinny.  Like a stick."

8. Guys will want to get to know you, not laugh at you and walk away. - Answer this: do you really want to date a guy who would laugh at you if he considered you "fat" or "ugly"?  Is that really your dream guy?  Personally, my dream guy is someone who will look at me when my hair is a mess, I've gained a few pounds, I'm wearing sweats and no makeup, and still say with complete honesty, "Wow, you're beautiful today," because he loves me for me.  That's the guy I want.  But if you want that jerk who only cares about you if you look stick-thin, you can have him.  Nobody else will. 

9. Starving is an example of excellent will power. - No it isn't.  Starving yourself is an example of reaching desperately for power over something because you can't find it anywhere else.  In other words, oftentimes because of a difficult situation beyond her control, a girl struggling with an eating disorder feels the need to control something, so she controls the weight of her own body.  Excellent will power would be abstaining from a 2,000 calorie chocolate cake and eating a healthy sandwich instead.  Excellent will power would be getting up every morning to go on an hour-long jog.  Excellent will power would be overcoming an eating disorder and living to tell the story.

10. You will be able to see your beautiful, beautiful bones. - I won't even bother to write a paragraph about this.  Just tell me one thing.  Which of these pictures do you find more beautiful?  The fit and healthy woman who is slender and fit, but has a few curves... or the woman who is obviously struggling with an eating disorder?  Which attracts you the most?

To read the reasons behind why I'm writing this, please read my article called Thinspiration.

1. You will be FAT if you eat today. Just put it off one more day. - (The following response is written assuming that you will eat tomorrow... since you are only putting off eating "one more day.") Why will you be fat if you eat TODAY rather than tomorrow?  Let's take a look at science.  If you postpone eating for a day, your body will actually go into survival mode... and the next time you eat, your metabolism will be much lower and your body will hold onto the fat and the calories that it would normally burn.  So technically, if you don't eat today, you're going to get fatter when you eat tomorrow.  If you eat around six small meals throughout the day each day, you will actually be causing your metabolism to speed up and you will burn more that way.  Don't believe me?  Here's an article for you to read. 

2. You don't NEED food. - This actually made me laugh out loud, even though I probably shouldn't have.  You don't need food?  Seriously?  Wow, in that case, those 35,000+ people who die every day from malnutrition need someone to tell them this.  Don't believe me?  Here's another article.

3. Fat people can't fit everywhere. - This is very true.  But the only "fat" people who can't fit somewhere are those who are morbidly obese... as in hundreds and hundreds of pounds.  If you go to the doctor and he/she tells you that you are morbidly obese, then yes, I would recommend that you lose some weight.  In a healthy manner.  With a nice diet (not an eating disorder) and exercise, all monitored by a health expert. 

4. Guys will be able to pick you up without struggling. - Do you really want a guy to be able to pick you up without struggling?  Do you realize what this means?  You're walking down a dark, abandoned alley.  A man comes and picks you up and puts you into his car and rapes and kills you... without struggling.  Believe me, sister.  You want a guy to have to struggle a little.

5. You'll be able to run faster without all that extra weight holding you back. - In order to be able to run fast, you need to have muscle.  If you don't eat, you will lose that muscle.  That means that you will not be able to run fast.  Also, lack of nutrition will make you feel dizzy and weak, so you really won't be able to run fast.  And finally, muscle weighs more than fat... so there will be weight on you when you run. 

Okay, that's it for today!  Check back on Saturday for five more reasons why you should eat. 
 

The other day I came across a website that was supposed to be an encouragement for girls who are anorexic... but not an encouragement to help them turn their lives back towards normalcy.  No, this was a website that was pro-ana, or pro-anorexic... meaning that it offered support and encouragement for girls who wished to continue their anorexia.

This kind of thing honestly makes me a little angry.  I've seen kids both in my city and across the world who are malnourished and who do not have enough to eat.  They are starving and dying against their wills.  They want food.  And then I see girls who have food... and they refuse to eat it. 

If you have or have struggled with an eating disorder, please don't think I dislike you or misunderstand you or am angry at you.  I do realize that this is a disorder that stems from issues of emotional and mental health.  I empathize with girls who struggle with eating disorders.  I understand that this is something difficult to control and to overcome, and it is not something that many girls plan or want to have. 

It's not the struggling girl who makes me angry- it's websites like these that hurt girls that upsets me so much. 

I came across a list on this pro-ana website that literally made me feel sick.  It was called 40 Reasons Not to Eat and it gave forty "legitimate" reasons to help encourage anorexic girls to not eat when they're tempted. 

How can this help anything?  It makes me want to cry.  It makes me want to scream. 

It makes me want to write my own solution... called 40 Reasons to Eat.

So every other day for the next few days, I'll be posting five of the reasons not to eat listed in this article... and five reasons of my own to contradict this list. 

If you're anorexic, perhaps this can help to encourage you in the right way.  If you have a loved one who is struggling with an eating disorder, perhaps this can help you see their morphed perspective and be able to encourage them to stay strong and withstand temptations to not eat. 

So keep on the look out.  The first five reasons to eat should be posted on Thursday. :)