Eating Disorder Awareness Week 2022

 February 1st - 7th was Eating Disorder Awareness Week. As a person who has struggled with an eating disorder myself, I truly feel for anyone who has to experience it. There's a stereotype that eating disorders only fit one person - teenaged, skinny, white girls - and while there are people who fit that stereotype, the majority of sufferers don't. There are many different eating disorders, not just anorexia. People can be any shape or size; they are called EATING disorders NOT weight disorders. People of all genders can struggle, and any age as well. Some people are hospitalized, some people aren't. Not everyone is tube fed, some people don't even have a diagnosis. Regardless of these factors, every. single. eating. disorder. is. valid.

When I was in my first week of inpatient treatment, there was an older woman there. Let's call her Rose. Rose was so kind to me, as she called herself the "Recovery Grandma". She was only there for a week into my stay, but she will forever touch my heart. I had no idea going into recovery how many different people suffer. Some are young, some are older. It didn't matter what her age was, she was still capable of recovery. She was strong-willed and beautiful, and I will forever look up to her when it comes to getting better. If she can, I can too.

Take a look at the slides down below. I made them based off of the most common eating disorders, but I can make another one on less common ones as well.

Be kind to people, you don't know what they're going through.

♡ Saige

(please note that on the slide about BIPOC and LGBTQ+ individuals and Eating Disorders, there is an error. It should say “transgender people who were interviewed”, not transgender people as a whole.)