Wednesday, January 25, 2012

Why I Hate Thinspiration

This blog post is a day late...and I'll splain why...here is what I started with last night:


In consciously living a healthyish life, I spend a lot of time researching new recipes, going to the gym, reading health and fitness articles and blogs, and trolling pinterest for new ideas. Pinterest/the internet is a great resource for good advice, ideas and inspiration for leading an active healthy life. It can also be a horrible place where "thinspiration"is an actual word. 


OMG I hate that word, Thinspiration. While I do appreciation a good play on words, I can’t get my head around this one. Now don’t get me wrong, I don’t mind putting a picture of a bathing suit on your fridge to remind you what you are working for (it totally doesn’t work for me), or keeping a bad photo of yourself to remind you how far you have come, and to keep going…that is fine.

It just really bothers me when people use photoshopped models as thinspiration. Heck even non photoshopped models. It isn’t “inspiration” if it can never happen. This isn’t me saying “oh I will never look like that because I had a muffin yesterday” this is about me saying “I will never look like that because that isn’t how I am” And no hate on skinny girls, if you are naturally skinny, that is cool! I just don't like when people think they can turn into a really thin girl by working hard. 

Think about you and your group of girl friends, I am sure in that group of people there are tall girls, short girls, naturally thin girls, naturally curvy girls etc. It would be silly for me to think that “one day I will be a tall skinny girl” because that just isn’t going to happen. And it would be silly for a tall naturally skinny girl to think “one day if I try really hard I am going to have curves”.  It just is not going to happen.


I will be honest I have had "thinspiration".., Anna Paquin in this photo. I thought she looked skinny and healthy, and I said "wow I wish I looked like that" I think her photo is a little bit more realistic than some other thinspiration, however, I don't think I will ever be able to wear an itty bitty bathing suit top like that if you know what I mean. And me wanting to be just like her, is sadly unrealistic. 


This post wasn't going to be completely serious, it was going to be about how I don't like the word, and how I don't like the "aim for the thigh gap". It was going to more of a sarcastic look at unrealistic goals... Then I started some research, I wanted to use some pictures of unrealistic thinspiration (aka Victoria Secret models), and once I did some digging I discovered the truth in the word. 

Thinspiration (or thinspo) is a term that people with eating disorders use frequently. It is what makes little preteens and teens think that if they are not a victoria secret model, they shouldn't eat.

The more I read the more disgusted I got. 

Perhaps I live a sheltered life, perhaps I was lucky to be a preteen in the beginnings of the social media/social internet/blog world. I didn't ever google "ana4life" because I thought I was fat. I didn't discover that there is a whole community of bloggers, a sisterhood if you will, of people who support and encourage anorexia and bulimia. But what scared me last night, in my search of a slightly irritating word, I discovered all of that. And what really scares me is that little girls can find it that easily too.    




One of the first pictures I found on fun fluffy pinterest was a photo of a skinny girl with these words on it...
"You would give all this up for a bag of chips....you are pathetic"


Seriously. 


This disappeared today, so it may have been taken down, which is good. But it is a scary scary world out there. 


Then there is antithinspo. Some of this is healthy, and some of it is very very very morbidly obese people proclaiming that they are beautiful too.


Living a healthy life isn't about extremes. It isn't about thinspo or antithinspo.


It is about eating natural food. It is about following Canada's Food Guide.

It's about eating healthy lunches in the work week, and having waffles on the weekend. 

It is about reducing refined carbs, and eating rainbows (no not skittles). 



It's about a mixture of cardio and strength training, and trying new things.

It's about yoga and relaxation, sleeping well, and feeling energized. 

It's about fresh air, drinking water, and having fun!




It doesn't really have anything to do with how many bones are showing.
It might even involve a bag of chips now and then.


Who is with me in living a healthy life? Is anyone else happy they grew up slightly before internet took over!?




4 comments:

  1. @Janelle that comment made me smile :)

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  2. Whoa. This post is serious food for thought (pun sort of intended)...I love what you're saying...so true!

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  3. Yes! Linked to your post on my blog today! Love this :)
    xx

    http://wearingwolf.blogspot.com

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