(Content notes: discussion of food and eating disorders specifically in children)
I was (overly) confident when stepping into my role of step-mom almost five years ago. I’ve grown up caring for my siblings and cousins, I know a lot about humans from being a coach, and I’ve even run leadership workshops for teens.
And then we sat down for family dinner for the first time, and the kids, 8 and 11 years old at the time, asked about the sugar content of every food item on the table.
By equal turns I was outraged (at their mom, social media, diet culture), sad, empathetic, triggered into memories of my own early start with Binge Eating Disorder, and overwhelmed by the responsibility of presenting an alternative way to approach food.
I’m so grateful to the work of Zoe Bisbing who generously shares her insights (follow her Instagram), expertise, and own stories for how to create a body-positive and fat-positive home.
And I’m happy to report that family dinners are (mostly) diet-culture free these days.
If you’re looking for more on this topic, I also interviewed Virginia Sole-Smith, author of Fat Talk: Parenting in the Age of Diet Culture, on the Fat Joy podcast.
Also, Renee Watson’s new novel, skin & bones, is incredible. The main themes are fatness, Blackness, and how we live in community and in this world. I read it in two days because I couldn’t put it down. Highly recommend!!
Creating a Body-Positive Home