Now I know I have many followers who sell these products and I want you to know this is NOT I repeat NOT to bash you. I am simply sharing my views in my blog. If you really do not like what i post than feel free to unfollow me.
Body wraps may work. But coming from a woman who has struggled with Anorexia and body dysmorphic disorder for over half her life, they also work to promote body anxiety, body hate, and unreal Ideals of what a woman's body should look like.
Instead of us uniting with women as more than bodies to be looked at, fixed and judged, why are so many of us preying on each others' insecurities by selling objectifying, unrealistic ideals to our social media contacts? Ladies, we need to me more kind and compassionate to each other. In this current day and age, unattainable and degrading beauty ideals are engulfing social media from women in multi-level marketing companies selling beauty and diet products to their friends, family, co-workers, and even acquaintances online. The marketing of "skinny wraps" is an especially dangerous trend because these messages penetrate our social networking feeds informing us about our "flaws" by our own peers.
If you are selling body wraps, skin contouring creams, fat burning pills, or anything in these realms so you can "eat what you want!" Or hosting "wrap parties" and persuading people to magically melt away inches, PLEASE consider the influence you may be having.
Please consider the enormous number of girls and women fighting or recovering from all types of debilitating eating disorders, who are VERY likely some of your facebook friends, blog followers, instagram or twitter followers. Eating disorders are very secretive, you may not even be aware of the vast number that flood our population.
please consider the girls and women genuinely looking to improve their health. (and not just the "appearance" of health for 72 hours) and instead pushing hard earned money on products you push that will not decrease their chance of getting diabetes, heart disease, or any other chronic disease related to lifestyle.
Please consider the girls and women who have been raised to believe their worth is based on the appearance of their body. especially in the thinness, firmness, cellulite-free-ness of their bodies. and that many of those women's bodies look like the undesirable "before" photos you're promoting all over their feeds.
please consider the shame you may be instilling in girls, women, and men who are being told from every angle that their bodies are flawed and need to be repaired in order to be happy, loved, and successful. Shame is an extremely dangerous motivator
Please consider the objectification of women that you are selling to your audiences. pictures of women in underwear reinforces the false idea that women's bodies are to be looked at, judged, and fixed at all times.
Many of you know I struggle with anorexia and to me, these wraps and diet products is just a more acceptable way to do what i do to my body- trying to perfect it, make it beautiful, desirable, loved, wanted. so both of us are wrong in my eyes. instead, why cant we do some of the following:
set a true fitness goal - if you held yourself back from running, biking, swimming, etc. because of feeling self-conscious about what to wear, how red your face gets, sweating, or not being the thinnest one at the gym(the list goes on) why not try to set a goal and fight to achieve it! Make the goal about your abilities and not your appearance. Run a certain distance without stopping, swim ten laps faster than ever before. Do a certain number of crunches, push ups, pull-ups, new dance moves-any fitness achievement measured in action and not numbers on the scale, measuring tape, or clothing tag. Research shows that a lot of women do not exercise because they feel "too fat" to get out and move. Lets break through that shame !
forget your number (one i greatly struggle with) if you tend to fixate on your weight, measurements, and clothing sizes, deciding to leave those numbers behind is a key to freedom. make a goal to stop or limit the number of times you step on a scale or measure yourself in any other way. When we focus on these numbers, it can get in the way of our health because we than strive to perfect the numbers by using unhealthy means to achieve them. start evaluating your health based on your activity. For example i have a BMI of less than 16---severely underweight category. but this doesn't make me healthy, a number doesn't prove anything. i am probably more unhealthy than many overweight people and average weight people. i know many higher weight people that can withstand much more physical activity than i can.
stop negative self talk too many girls and women having a constant tape recorder in their head of mean thoughts about themselves. Studies have even shown that girls who don't like their bodies become less active over time and pay less attention to having a healthy diet. If you think you're gross and worthless, why would you take care of yourself? Set a goal to stop saying negative comments about yourself.
Think nice thoughts instead on the opposite side of the last study, research has shown that girls who respect their bodies are more likely to be physically active and eat healthy. they are less likely to gain unnecessary weight and they make healthy lifestyle choices. since what we THINK about our bodies has a strong connection to how we TREAT our bodies, set a goal to shut out negative self talk.
