The Recovering Diet Addict

This morning I woke up, scraped my hair into a ponytail and wiped the remains of last night's mascara from under my eyes. I threw on my running gear and decided to head out with Bear for a morning run along the river before it got too busy and there was a possibility that I would run into someone. Clearly I was a little optimistic as it was the busiest that I have ever seen the area on such a cold day. One thing I love about having dog is the amount of people that you meet on a walk; people are so friendly and you never know who you are going to get chatting to. Today I met a woman called Suzie*. As I was running (jogging...slowly), Bear leapt on her dog and they began to have an incredibly energetic game of chase. So, I took a welcome break for a chat; little did I know that this woman would completely change my day. Suzie* was fascinating. We talked for ages and for some reason the conversation moved on to body image. She told me a story about her two older sisters: one was s

I had a fantastic day at the spa recently: good food, relaxation and quality time with friends. After a particularly enjoyable full-body massage, I brewed myself a green tea and settled down with a trashy magazine in the "relaxation room". Now, I don't read these often and when I opened to the two-page spread on 'How Jennifer Lawrence gets her body' it reminded me exactly why that is... Now, I love Jennifer Lawrence and this post is in NO way meant to body-shame or undermine who she is or what she does. I mean, look at her, she is bloomin' gorgeous! Image courtesy of GQ However, it is magazine articles like this one that continue to perpetuate unrealistic ideals and strip many women (and men) of the little body confidence that they have remaining. Let me paint you a picture: you open a magazine to a 2 page spread of the beautiful woman above who is looking particularly fantastic in a body-con dress that us mere mortals would struggle to pul