Body Image: Diet Culture - Debbie Saroufim

Every woman feels like they need to apologize for their body and they feel like something that’s broken. It’s not a matter of anybody having anything that is actually broken, it’s the world around us giving us bad information. Debbie was put on a diet at the age of 6 and got the message that certain bodies are good and certain bodies are bad. So, Debbie had an eating disorder growing up and got a really good therapist for that and worked very hard to work through those issues. She still had issues with how she felt about her body, though.

Eventually she moved to LA to become an actress, which didn’t pan out the way she had hoped it would. Instead, she became a physical trainer where people came to her and she got to witness the struggles those people had. Feeling like your body is broken is not a symptom of your body being broken, its a symptom of the broken world we live in. You don’t change the reality of the situation by denying it, you have to own it.

It’s A truth, not THE truth.

Our culture praises women for aging gracefully, but shames women who do things to their bodies to hide age. How do we reconcile these things? What is the “correct” way to think about these things? There’s no “right size!” Not only that, but we all compare ourselves to others. When we make a space for multiple truths to be true, we release our tight hold on what the narrative is and open space for new narratives.

Good vs Bad - what’s the problem with positive? Because if you don’t have positive, you have the polar opposite; negative. So how do we have a healthy relationship with our body today? Having a relationship with your body is like having a relationship with any person. There are highs and lows, but you have to be committed to growing with them.