The Religion of Thinness

As a part of this journey we are all on, 8 Women Dream periodically champion other women’s dreams who are not a part of this website.

Sometimes we receive books to review from emerging women authors, first time writers and seasoned professionals looking for a group of women to offer their perspective on a new book.

I am currently reading one of these books.  It is a book about satisfying the “spiritual hungers” behind women’s obsession with food and weight.

I am finding the book a fascinating read and I am having a difficult time putting it down long enough to get on with the things I need to do on a daily basis.

It’s called The Religion of Thinness.

The author Michelle M. Lelwica, ThD., makes a profound statement:

“My desire for women of every size, shape, color, and culture to feel at home in their bodies is a great source of meaning in my life, one that grows out of my journey of learning to respect, nurture, appreciate, and enjoy my own body.”

Doing an interview with the author Michelle M. Lelwica, is on my list of “Must Do’s”.  First I am devouring this fabulous book.

Some of the key points I have read about so far are:

• The hours that we spend preoccupied with the size of our waist, hips, or thighs.
• Getting on and off the scale.
• Putting foods in our mouth, not putting foods in our mouths.
• Do we do this because of the many health related dangers we hear so much about, heart disease, diabetes, and certain types of cancer?

On a positive note Michelle states that, research has verified that, like happiness and beauty, health is possible in a wide variety of shapes and sizes.

In the end, health risks may have less to do with our drive for thinness than other, less tangible factors.

Michelle proposes that our obsessions with eating and weight, mask the deeper needs of our spirits.  She believes we are looking for a way to maintain peace, order and security in our out of control worlds.

If I am reading this book correctly, The Religion of Thinness is Michelle’s belief that we have created our own “religion”.  We religiously teach ourselves that, controlling our weight will give us a feeling of control over our lives.  That we religiously believe that our “religion”  offers us the hope of health and happiness through the idea of the “perfect” body, and attainable through diet and exercise.

We have rituals, like counting and burning calories, that create a sense of order.

Michelle believes that The Religion of Thinness cannot fill the emptiness we feel inside ourselves.

It cannot satisfy our deepest hungers.  The hope it offers is an illusion,  one that we have been fed by the media and other sources,  and one that many of us have consumed with a religious-like fervor in our quest for meaning and purpose.

The question is

• How does religion relate to eating disorders?
• Does God love fat girls?
• What does God have to do with it?
• What if I truly have peace and contentment and still have a eating disorder?
• What if I have a perfect body and don’t know it?

These questions will be answered as I continue to reading, The Religion of Thinness and have the opportunity to interview  the author, Michelle M. Lelwica, ThD.  It’s really a fabulous book so far, and I am grateful for the opportunity to read and review this incredible book.

By putting The Religion of Thinness in my backpack, while on my daily walks, I have found the time to read and work on the goal of walking/running the ING Bay to Breakers.

Honoring myself.

One hour a day, that is all I ask.  This time is mine.  Mine to read, walk, meditate.  I do so much much others it is imperative that this time is taken for me.  And I believe as a result of taking time for me, I will be a better person for the other people in my life.

How about you?

Are you going to join 8 Women Dream at Bay to Breakers?  I look forward to not only hearing from you, but meeting you as we, trudge the road to happy destiny.

(Veronica’s dream is body satisfaction.  This includes losing weight, making her body strong, accepting her body image while trying to achieve a better one.  Veronica is a recovering alcoholic who has turned a liability into an asset.  She works with women who desire staying clean and sober and works with families as a interventionist)

DREAM GOAL:  RUN AND HELP 8 WOMEN DREAM RUN THE MAY 16,2010 BAY TO BREAKERS 12K and COMPETE IN A TRIATHLON FOLLOWED BY BEGINNING TO DATE AGAIN

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