Remembering Martin Luther King, Jr.

A Record Number of Middle-Aged Women are Being Treated for Anorexia

Tonight 20/20 airs a report on Sue Harootunian, a 47-year-old woman who has suffered with anorexia for two decades. According to Dr. Susan Ice, the medical director of the Renfrew Center, a residential eating disorders treatment facility, more than 20% of their patients are women over the age of 35.

Some women seeking treatment have been dealing with their illnesses since they were teenagers, but for many others (including Sue), the anorexia onset is in adulthood. In these cases, the disorder is often a means of coping with issues like the stress of marriage and motherhood, divorce or a fear of aging. Anorexia is a complicated illness (read: we're not blaming Trista, y'all), but we do think the ridiculous pressures on women to be slim & trim moms, sexy bombshell wives, and perfect specimens of youthful beauty just might be a contributing factor here. What do you think? [ABC News]

Did We Call This or What? Trista Debuts Her Post-Baby Bikini Bod

Remember when body-hating new mom Trista Sutter re-appeared from reality TV obscurity to talk about how desperate she was to lose her baby weight? She told Us magazine that her goal was to be thin by the new year! And remember when we predicted that Sutter would be out of those shlumpy sweatpants for her follow-up mommy makeover cover in January? Well, here you go...

So how did she do it? In October she said that her awesome hubby was "supporting" her weight loss by wagging his finger at her every time she went to eat something she shouldn't. If that isn't a winning diet strategy, we don't know what it is!

But seriously, folks. This baby weight loss obsession has gotten completely out of hand. And we really hate that we were right about this one. Magazines have found a bankable strategy: "inspiring" insecure new moms with stories of celebrities who get back to their pre-baby weight at light speed (with the help of expensive trainers, nutritionists and nannies, of course). So when other moms can't manage to keep up with the stars' diets, they end up feeling more insecure--and wallets-out-hungry for the next miracle mommy makeover story. Because maybe that one will work for them.

Now can we just talk about this picture for a sec? It's all about Trista'a hot bod, isn't it? She's holding her baby like he's a free weight, for cripes sake. Little dude doesn't care how much his mom weighs. He probably just wants to get his hands into some sand.

P.S. We also mentioned Milla in our earlier post. She's now a proud mommy. And according to the ever-sensitive Daily Mail, "Enormous Milla is no more." Well, thank God for that.

Here's Looking at You, Kid: Why I Don't Tell My Two-Year-Old She Looks Beautiful

I have a two-year-old daughter. Ever since she was born, I have avoided telling her she looks beautiful. I will tell her the outfit she is wearing is beautiful on her, or how the shoes she chooses are beautiful. I use with the word "beautiful" when it comes to the drawings she makes, the music she plays, how hard she works at putting cubes together, or what a generous girl she is. I have seldom told her she looks beautiful because I believe that her looks will never constitute who she is as a person.

Over the holidays, my beloved parents came to visit us. They are gaga over their granddaughter, and they are truly the most well-intentioned grandparents you could ever imagine. When they arrived at our house, some of their first words to my daughter were, “Let us see how beautiful you are!” My daughter stared and didn’t move. They showed her how to twirl around so they could have a good look at her. I saw her taking in this new kind of attention. I watched her absorb it, react to it, and adjust her behavior to get more of it. From that point on, every time my mother or I would do her hair or put a new outfit on her, she would run into the living room and coquettishly raise her shoulders, moving her arms from side to side until she heard the confirmation she craved: “Awww, look how beautiful you are!” And so went the dance for three weeks.

First I was puzzled, then I became weary of the effects, and then it all made sense. One thing's for sure: If my child were a boy, I would not be writing this. And if females--as babies, toddlers, young girls, girls, teenagers--are constantly rewarded or chided for something as shallow as our looks, it's no wonder we grow up believing that our physical appearance is such an important key to getting positive attention and feeling successful in our lives. It's no wonder so many women's New Year's Resolutions are centered around changing their bodies and faces, and becoming more "beautiful," when what we all really need is to be rewarded for the beauty in what we do with our lives--our contributions, our creativity, our smarts, our kindness, our strength, and our compassion.

Artwork by Megan Jones, Age 7

Would You Rather Be a Role Model or a Supermodel?

Since we're into post-it activism, we love this post-it from Karen Salmansohn's book, Quickie Stickies: 100 Pick-Me-Ups for When You're Feeling Unglued.

Sadly, the "would you rather?" game is no joke when it comes to women and their body image issues. A recent Fitness magazine survey asked readers how much they would be willing to sacrifice to get to their ideal weight. The results are predictably depressing:

23% would spend a week in jail (Hey, if Paris can do it...)
23% would shave their head (Too obvious. Insert your Britney joke here.)
21% would trade ten years of their life (emphasis ours because, well, wow.) [USA Today]

There's the bad news. The good news is that more than three quarters of women are not willing to make those kinds of ridiculous sacrifices to be thin, which makes us think that maybe the world isn't as hopelessly out of whack as we sometimes fear it is. So let's pass along some body image sanity to the next generation, ladies! If you would rather be a role model than a supermodel, ask a girl in your life how she would answer these questions:

Would you rather...

Skip lunch to save calories or enjoy a good meal with good friends?

Wait in line to try out for America's Next Top Model or volunteer those hours for a cause you care about?

Be thought of as cute, pretty, and skinny or as strong, smart, and bold?

Parents: Family Meals May Lower Girls' Eating Disorder Risk

Researchers at the University of Minnesota found that adolescent girls who eat five or meals a week with their families are approximately one third less likely to engage in extreme weight control behaviors, such as making themselves vomit, taking diet pills and abusing diuretics or laxatives than girls who ate less frequently with their families.

For many girls who suffer with disordered eating, the desire for thinness is really a desire to be heard, to be accepted, and to feel like they matter in the world. In other words, it's probably not the chicken, fish, or mac & cheese at dinner that make the real difference in their lives. The meaningful benefits are in the "How was your day today?" and "What's on your mind?" convos that happen around the table. If you can't swing at least five family meals a week, make sure you're scheduling some other quality time to have those talks. [Reuters]

Sephora Thinks I Should Lose Weight...With Lip Gloss

I admit it. I'm a big sucker for beauty products. Fruity, floral, kitschy cutesy packaging, you name it. I'm like a kid in a candy shop at Sephora. In fact, I dropped a significant wad of cash there this holiday season. Oh, boy did they find a special way to say thanks for my business.

This morning I received Sephora's "Top 7 Beauty Resolutions" email. According to their list, my #3 resolution should be to lose weight with "guilt free" lip gloss. Really? Because my doctor says my weight is just fine. And I didn't spend all that time recovering from my eating disorders to go back to the place where I obsess over the number of calories in my freakin' lip gloss.

The product itself comes from Too Faced and claims to be "infused with the healthy, delicious fruit flavors and appetite curbing energy boosting ingredients found in the FUZE Slenderize beverages." Puh-lease! Sephora's website goes on about how "one delicious dab on the lips will give you a taste of what all the Hollywood starlets are losing it over! Always on the lips, never on the hips!" Did I say I'm a sucker for beauty products? Yeah, I'm not that big of a sucker.

Tell Sephora they need to revise their beauty resolutions.
Tell Too Faced why "guilt free" lip gloss is 100% sanity free.