Let's F.E.A.S.T.

Blog Post by Leah Dean Executive Director, F.E.A.S.T. 9/30/2014 DAY 1: M.O.M. March Today I sat down at my computer to try and find updates coming from the M.O.M. March in Washington, DC. I really wish I could have gone, but other committments kept me away. Thank you to MAED, EDC, and the Alliance for Eating Disorder Awareness for pulling this whole thing together! I could feel the energy of those present being channelled through twitter and facebook and instagram. As a "Virtual Marcher" I knew that others, like myself, must be feeling a similar desire to make my presence felt among the crowd of purple and green T-shirts there on the national mall in front of the US Capitol. As Executive Director for F.E.A.S.T., I wear many hats - including that of website administrator. I realized that I could set up a quick online survey for other Virtual Marchers to be counted - to make their presence known. Numbers matter in a campaign like this. Only so many can afford t

F.E.A.S.T. is proud to support BEDA’s Weight Stigma Awareness Week 2014 (#WSAW2014) September 22 – 26.  Together we are extending our outreach and creating awareness about the harms of weight bias and weight stigma – how it promotes disordered eating, how it impacts health care and how it leads to social injustice. Throughout the week of September 22 – 26 you will find toolkits, blogs and interviews that support the theme Tools That Build Conversations: Initiating the Weight Stigma Talk on the BEDA website as well as among our social media activity. Together we support the concept of asking for what you need and valuing your lived experience.  By learning how weight bias and weight stigma affect your interactions, you can learn the best ways to address the occurrences in your life.  We want to be part of building framework to promote the act of self advocacy in the presence of your doctors, your therapists, your movement experts, your nutritionists and your child’s school setting.

I worried refeeding would do lasting damage to our relationship. I went from instinctually working to make the world a safe and easy place for my daughter to actively creating highly distressing circumstances that she was required to suffer through.  It felt horrible.   I was able to put it in context and think of the long game but, nothing about it feel right. Our days were fraught and tense. Sitting for meals took up most of our time and I would steel myself and murmur 'another bite...just one more...nope, you can't stop.... keep going" through raging and heartbreaking tears.  I struggled mightily to summon up 'compassionate drill sargent' but, more often than not, during meals I veered away from compassion and more towards automaton taskmaster.  I didn't talk much.  I didn't touch her other than to still a jiggling leg or stop a hand from flicking food off the plate.  I wanted to comfort her but that raised her ire and she lashed out physically. I coul