Body image in music is a story as old as time. Musicians play on stage for thousands of people, and the pressure to put on a good show, to reflect their desired style and vibe, and to look "appealing" to the masses is a burden that many musicians bare. In this latest blog post, singer-songwriter Kate Cosentino discusses her struggles with body image, which she often explores via her music.

The importance of a support network in facilitating healing from an eating disorder cannot be overstated; community care is powerful indeed. Mental health advocate Lexie Manion outlines ways in which we can support loved ones in recovery, amplifying their lived experience and making it clear that their unique needs matter.

In honor of Lunar New Year, our very own Blog Manager Alexandra Xu discusses her struggles with orthorexia as a young Chinese American. In this post, she describes her reckoning with the vilification of Chinese cuisine as "dirty" and her journey in unpacking notions of "health" rooted in white supremacy and colonialism—all of which fueled her passion for intersectional body liberation and health justice advocacy.

The eating disorder recovery space has long erased Black & Brown voices, and our healthcare system perpetuates the erroneous belief that eating disorders only affect white populations. 17 year-old recovery advocate Julissa Minaya discusses her experiences recovering from an eating disorder as a woman of color and outlines ways in which we can individually (and collectively) work to dismantle whiteness in recovery spaces.

Eating disorder treatment centers profess to facilitate healing, but the pressure to fill beds and turn a profit can give rise to the very opposite effect, causing immeasurable harm. Halley Marie Shaw describes how her treatment center prioritized profit over genuine recovery, failing her and shattering her trust. We are reminded of the importance of advocating for compassionate, identity-affirming care that values each individual rather than reducing them to a mere number.

As we come to the end of 2021, our CEO, Rebecca Eyre, wanted to share an overview of what Project HEAL was able to accomplish this year, thanks to the incredible support of our community.

In a society that deems “health-consciousness” a moral virtue, many people fail to recognize that an all-consuming fixation with “health can be incredibly destructive. In this latest blog post, Sophie Smith discusses her struggles with orthorexia and how the illness transformed her into someone she virtually couldn’t recognize. We are deeply inspired by how Sophie found HEALing, now pursuing advocacy work to assist those also recovering in our “wellness”-obsessed culture.

Under a medical framework that glorifies weight as a barometer of health, weight stigma is deeply pervasive. Doctors’ anti-fat behaviors and remarks (and blanket prescriptions to “just lose weight”) cause so much trauma and harm. High school junior Siya Angras relays how from the age of 10, she was told her body was not good enough and that she must be “unhealthy”. This fueled her struggles with an eating disorder, especially as she navigated diagnoses of high cholesterol and PCOS and faced both South Asian and U.S. beauty standards.

Eating disorders cannot be entirely ascribed to one’s cultural upbringing; folks from all backgrounds are deeply affected. Yet one’s relative degree of access to diagnosis and equitable care is often linked to their identity. Alison D’Mello explores the nuances of how Indian American culture shaped her experience with an eating disorder and offers powerful advice to those systemically excluded from the eating disorder space.

For those struggling with disordered eating, birthdays can be deeply distressing times. Melissa Kaufman powerfully details how one birthday proved to be life-altering as she challenged her eating disorder’s loud voice and enjoyed a delicious treat with her mother and sister. That day, she boldly determined to savor the gift of life and found unbridled freedom, joy, and connection.

For the children of immigrants, the coinciding of two seemingly disparate cultures with equally unattainable beauty and “wellness” standards can shape a multi-faceted struggle with disordered eating and body image. 17-year-old journalist Serena Li describes her journey to find HEALing from diet culture and navigate her identity as a young Chinese American woman.

The DSM-5 is often hailed as the cornerstone of clinical psychology and psychiatry. Yet Project HEAL Ambassador Regina Colie illuminates how the DSM-5 often upholds structural oppression in the mental health space and imposes rigid labels on what are in fact deeply individualized struggles influenced by socio-political factors. As a future clinician, Regina harbors so many critical insights.

Having underwent inpatient treatment while in recovery from an eating disorder, Tori understands firsthand the importance of community-based, group support for catalyzing HEALing. That’s why she founded Sesh, a mental health platform that renders group support more accessible than ever. Project HEAL is proud to partner with Sesh, and we completely agree that cultivating safe, equitable spaces for storytelling and recovery is absolutely paramount.

Many people are growing increasingly cognizant of how the “thin ideal” permeates every facet of society. HEALers Circle member Allyson Ford reminds us that intersectional systems of oppression inject many other “ideals” in our individual and collective psyches as well; thus, our bodies are inherently political. While body positivity is not truly possible without liberation for all bodies, we can work on body neutrality, and as an eating disorder therapist and survivor, Allyson provides invaluable wisdom regarding this.

Healing from an eating disorder often elicits complex emotions of confusion, frustration, and self-doubt; distressing thoughts about “not being sick enough” or “not recovering the ‘right’ way” are unfortunately all-too-common. HEALers Circle member Katy Gaston shares the incredible insights she’s derived from her own recovery journey and her abundant clinical experience, assuaging these concerns and reminding us that healing is never black-and-white.

Project HEAL Ambassador Regina Colie sits down and interviews three NYC-based therapists who specialize in eating disorders. They highlight everything from the anti-Black roots of fatphobia & the perils of social media to the limits of preaching “self-love” & the significance of curiosity in recovery. We truly appreciate the insights and experience they bring!

Former Project HEAL beneficiary shares her recovery story and the impact that the Cash Assistance Program had in her life. “As a Black woman, I never thought in a million years I would have an eating disorder. So when I applied for support from Project HEAL to pay for therapy & nutrition, I thought I’d never get it because I didn’t look like the ‘eating disorder type.’ But guess what? I did! Thank you, Project HEAL, for all you have done in helping with my recovery. I couldn’t have done this without you.”

Every year, Project HEAL sets aside the first week of October to raise funds for a specific project or initiative that is attuned to the most urgent needs of the eating disorder community. This year, we are fundraising for our 2022 Cash Assistance Program.

Project HEAL CEO, Rebecca Eyre, shares more about how you can make a huge impact in people’s lives this week!

Due the virulent anti-fatness that permeates society, we tend to praise restrictive eating disorder behaviors that result in weight loss while vilifying binge-eating and weight gain. Project HEAL Ambassador Lexie Manion relays how she was consequently deemed “gross” and “unworthy” when struggling with a debilitating eating disorder. Through the fat liberation movement, she was able to find a supportive community that catalyzed a transformation in her understanding of weight and “health”. We are reminded that all individuals with eating disorders deserve unwavering compassion and equitable, life-saving care.

Due to our cultural fixation with “clean eating”, we often praise folks grappling with life-threatening eating disorders for their “discipline” and commitment to wellness. In this latest blog post, Jason Wood boldly shares his struggles with orthorexia and his difficulty finding treatment as a male with an illness completely unrecognized by his clinicians. He furthermore details how the shame he felt as a gay man directly translated into feeling a need to suppress his pain and appear more “masculine”. We are so grateful to Jason for sharing his powerful story.