This might sound weird, but I've been long dreading writing about this topic because it is so important to me. The stakes are really, really high (try global public epidemic-level state-of-emergency mental health crisis that no one’s talking about high).
But we have to talk about it, and now is the perfect time. Eating Disorders Awareness Week begins tomorrow, February 24th, and goes through March 2nd, 2025. So, content warning: we’re talking about body image, disordered eating, and other mental health issues including suicide. Please take care of yourself accordingly, which may mean not reading this.
This is a topic that is so fraught, so raw, and so urgent. It feels like playing with live wire. It's an intense presence, not only in my personal life, but in my professional life, in my various communities, in the media, in the world. Everyone has a relationship with their bodies. Everyone has feelings about their bodies. And, for far too many of us, they veer toward the negative (which feels like a gross understatement, to be honest).
And that breaks my heart. Because it doesn’t have to be that way. We weren’t born hating our bodies or feeling insecure (you'll know this if you spend any time with children, especially babies and toddlers). The negative thoughts/feelings that too many of us have about our bodies were taught to us. They were given to us without our consent, and made to appear like it was normal, natural, even healthy to feel this kind of shame. A set of made-up morals and values born of the delusions of very wealthy, powerful people who are desperate to hold onto that wealth and power by any means necessary (including actual peoples’ lives). And thus we have a perfect storm in which eating disorders & body image issues can come to the forefront as one of humanity’s deadliest, yet most invisible threats.
I wish I was exaggerating, but the statistics speak for themselves. Below are just a few…but before you read them, please recognize that it’s easy to see these numbers as just numbers. They’re more than that; these numbers represent human beings, with full lives and histories and people who love them and don’t want to lose them.
Eating disorders are the second deadliest mental illness of all time. The first is opioid addiction. Take a moment to reflect on how we’re responding to one with a reasonable sense of urgency, but not the other.
To put it in the context of time, one life is lost to eating disorders every 52 minutes.
9% of the US population is affected by this disease. That’s about 28.8 million Americans who will have this disease in their lifetime.
22% of kids and teens worldwide have shown patterns of disordered eating.
Children ages 4-17 are more than 200 times more likely to develop an ED than diabetes. No, that is not a typo. TWO. HUNDRED. TIMES….despite our current health education system’s obsession with diabetes prevention and complete lack of focus on body image/disordered eating awareness.*
Larger-bodied people have a 2.45 times higher chance of disordered eating, yet are clinically diagnosed half as frequently as those considered “normal” weight or underweight.
Suicide is one of the leading causes of death for those with an eating disorder. Around 25% of those affected by eating disorders attempt suicide in their lifetime. If it’s not abundantly clear – that rate is astronomical.
Those in marginalized communities, for example, low-income & food-insecure communities, BIPOC communities, and LGBTQ+ communities, are often experiencing these statistics at even greater rates.
*Please note: No, I am not saying diabetes isn’t a concern, or an important condition to learn about, so don’t even try it…I’m saying our priorities need a serious shift. We’ve made children so unnecessarily afraid of food and that they’ve stopped nourishing themselves. Also, sugar is not evil (or addictive). There is no science that has actually proven that. And you don’t have to take my word for it…here’s a great episode of the podcast Maintenance Phase on that subject.
We’ll pause there, though this doesn’t even scratch the surface. There are many, many more statistics that the National Eating Disorders Association has compiled, along with research, on disordered eating’s effect on many different populations of people. I highly suggest reading it if you can. You can find those resources here. Most of these statistics are pretty up to date (studies done within the last 5-10 years), though some are from a bit earlier, meaning it’s possible that those numbers have grown.
After reading all of that…..I invite you to pause, to be gentle with yourself, to breathe, but also to sit with what you feel. As much as I’d like to say that I’m not trying to scare you, it is scary. I’m certainly terrified. And if you’re looking at these statistics and you still don’t believe this is a full-blown global public health crisis on an epidemic scale that we should be taking way more seriously, I really don’t know what to tell ya. Good luck, I guess.
There is so much more I want to say. So much I’ve been saying, seeing, reading, writing, working on, fighting against. I’ve written and edited so many versions of this blog post. I hope to eventually post more on this topic; get into the nitty-gritty defining and understanding diet culture, systemic fatphobia, where it all comes from, its effect on our youngest populations, the media’s role in all of it, and what to do about it.
But honestly, I’m completely exhausted. And overwhelmed. All I really want to say right now is that I don’t want to live in a world where those kinds of statistics exist. Unless you’re part of the group of people that is making money off of our body shame, I can guarantee that this kind of world is not serving you…at least not in any real, sustainable way.
I’d really like, instead, to live in a world where we all feel enough and worthy of love and beautiful in our bodies, exactly as they are. Where we aren’t taught and don’t teach our children to be afraid of food or ashamed of our bodies. Where diet culture and systemic forms of oppression don’t seek to rank our worth as human beings, and where we no longer feel chained to the desire to climb through those ranks to achieve some misguided, deluded sense of belonging. And despite the sheer amount of obstacles I see on a daily basis (please go away forever, semaglutide ads), despite the terrifying statistics listed above, I somehow still believe that world is possible.
Over the last few years, since being diagnosed with binge eating disorder and body dysmorphic disorder (a subset of OCD), I have been working on creating that world within myself in my own recovery journey. My yoga practice, and what it’s taught me about myself and the world, has been my greatest blessing and companion through it all. I’ve learned that I have a choice between two different realities in which I could live.
Reality #1, According to Diet Culture, The Media, and Systemic Fatphobia/Body-Based Oppression:
our bodies are objects and do not belong to us
but also our bodies are here to be controlled, to serve us and do our bidding
our value increases when the space we take up decreases
our bodies’ signals, including hunger/fullness cues, are not to be trusted
we are only worthy of love, belonging, celebration, decency, desire, and access when we are thin (but of course, not too thin!)
food can be categorized as morally good or evil and we should be afraid of “morally evil” foods and we are morally evil if we eat said foods
the number on the scale is the most important health-determining factor there is
in a world where you can be arrogant, mean, shallow, bigoted, ignorant, vindictive, or greedy....the worst thing you can possibly be is fat and/or old
the purpose of exercise is to push and punish our bodies, and to earn sustenance
Reality #2, According to Yoga & Actual Science:
our value is inherent; we are worth of love, belonging, celebration, decency, desire, and access simply because we exist
our bodies are SO WISE and work so hard to keep us alive (ex: breathing 25,000x a day without us having to tell them to)
change is the only constant, the only Truth, and we suffer when we cling to or try to control that which is impermanent (like our appearance)
our bodies deserve gentleness and sustenance, and do not need to do anything to earn that
food can’t hurt us; stress about food absolutely can (and does)
aging is inevitable and beautiful
our thoughts, emotions, and physical sensations are important vehicles through which we can remember our True Self…they are NOT our True Self
Take it from a person who wasted too many years in the former: the latter is way better. Way more fun, joyful, pleasurable, interesting and life-affirming. It is more honest, more truthful, more real. Frankly, that first reality shouldn't even be called a reality—it’s a delusion created by very wealthy, very powerful, control-hungry men. We don’t have to keep buying it.
Is it hard to live in the latter reality when we're being constantly bombarded with the messages of the former? Yeah, of course it is. But do you know what makes it easier? Finding your tribe of people who get it and are also choosing that reality—a life of freedom, peace, unconditional love and respect of oneself and others. And, before you ask….yes, we are out there. We exist! And we really want you here.
It’s become increasingly clear to me that part of my purpose in this magnificent body of mine is to contribute in any small way I can to building a world that reflects the Supreme Reality of our inherent worthiness. Last year, I got a taste of it offering a workshop on gentle yoga for eating disorders. And I am so excited to continue on that journey with the next workshop, Embodied Enoughness: Yoga for Body Love at Yogaview Wilmette on Saturday, March 15th, 2025. I’m inspired to continue offering more programming and more care and more communities that help create this world I hope for. One that I truly believe is possible, because my struggle, my recovery, and my very existence right here writing these words are proof that it is. If I can learn how to live in peace and freedom, so can you, and so can your loved ones.
Peace and love, exactly as you are,
Cami
If you believe you or your loved one may be struggling with an eating disorder, disordered eating, or body image issues, help is available. Visit https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/resource-center/ for information and resources for recovery.
If yoga therapy is an avenue you would like to explore to support your or your child’s eating disorder recovery, body dysmorphia or body image issues, please feel free to get in touch. You can email me at camicodellyoga@gmail.com. I would love to work with you.
If you’re interested in learning more, here are some more resources that I have found incredibly helpful in a myriad of ways:
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