Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/56679
reA Bett tionc eefl R e self-images personal journey to gain a positiv'One woman eight in a world obsessed with beauty and w eueryl BrBy Cher was distracted at work. I wasn't living. I know I'm not alone. Every day I am surrounded by beautiful, amazing women, who, much to my surprise, spend a star- tling amount of time complaining about their thighs. And it isn't just that this negative self- bashing has profound consequences on our emotional and physical health. Listening to women around me and refl ecting on my own stints with dieting, I could see how it tangles our relationships with food. Now I consider myself to be an educated (and maybe even enlightened) woman, but it wasn't until my 30s that a simple ques- tion from a friend put it into focus. If you were looking at a friend, she asked, rather than your own refl ection, would you judge her as harshly as you do yourself? Th e answer was no. But, looking in the mirror, how could I learn to be at peace with the person staring back at me? It's hard to reconcile the headlines you see on magazine covers today. In a coun- try where rates of obesity continue to, well, expand, there's a legitimate concern for whipping our lifestyles and bodies into shape. I admit, a bit of media attention on boosting health is never a bad thing. But then there are the headlines—and the whole way of thinking—that can trigger an obsession with appearance that's a bit unhealthy. In a single trip through the grocery store checkout recently, I scanned the magazine racks. "Shed your muffi n top," one shout- ed with excitement. Others prompted February 2012 bravamagazine.com 59