Perfect Eaters, Perfect People--Not!
Disregulated eaters, as we know,
tend to see things in terms of perfect or defective. How many times have you
looked at someone who appears healthy and thought how they must be eating
“right” all the time? How many times have you met people whom you thought had
no flaws and wished to be them or like them? The truth is that there are no perfect
eaters because there are no perfect people.
Because I recognize that people who know of my work may
perceive me as a perfect eater, I’m wary when they ask what I eat or how
often, and evade answering these questions as best I can. I also know that
clients who feel defective often project a wish onto me that I be perfect, and
I try to show them some of my (many) imperfections to dispel this untruth. If I
show and accept my flaws, I’m hoping they can accept theirs too.
Holding the perspective that you’re
defective and others aren’t gives you a decidedly skewed view of life.
Ditto if you think that you’re perfect and everyone else is defective, but disregulated
eaters rarely have this problem. Rather, they assume that somewhere out there
are perfect people who know how do to everything right, including eat. This
causes them to relentlessly pursue perfection as if it were reality rather than
their own fantasy, enabling them to believe that once they arrive at
perfection, they’ll never have to struggle with food or anything in life. All I
can say to that is ha!
If you start from the premise that
ea...
Source: Normal Eating - Category: Eating Disorders Authors: eatnormalnow Source Type: blogs