It would be hard to write a post today without mentioning the recent article featured in Marie Claire. I'm not going to ramble on about it, I'm sure you've heard enough about it. I just want to say how insulting I found it. The healthy living blog community has actually really helped me in my recovery from an eating disorder. Some of the girls mentioned and lots of the people who read my blog have given me inspiration and a sense of normalcy around food which I had lost. It's not the only factor which has helped my recovery but it's certainly played a part. I found the attack on those girls and the community quite upsetting and just plain awful journalism, badly researched and badly put forward. That magazine along with all those magazines actually could have a negative effect on girls and add fuel to the fire of an eating disorder, I find it so hypocritical that they published such an article. There are pro-ana blogs out there actively encouraging girls to starve themselves or to purge meals, I know because one of them tried to follow my blog before. I blocked them, I have no interest of reading anything like that and never will, furthermore I don't want someone writing a blog like that reading mine. Those are the sort of blogs which should have been targetted if they wanted to write an article like that.. I hope everyone moves on and that the article does not have a negative effect on such an awesome community which I'm really happy to be part of.
Moving on, here's my workout from Sunday, I can't believe I'm only just getting round to posting it, I only have one day off this week (today) so time is short but yay overtime! Here's what we did;
Headstands/ handstands - I actually did a semi alright handstand, then I tried to do it again and totally fell on my head!! My shoulder just decided to buckle, it was one of those half laugh half cry moments I just ended up in the funniest heap on the floor.. good thing I had Mike there to pick me up!
L-sit progressions - These were a bit wobbly today... my core was so sore from Fridays sadistic workout!
Back lever progressions - I really surprised myself with these! I have found getting my legs up to the bar really difficult and could not do it in a controlled way, I'd have to swing them up there so forcefully I'd be swinging backwards and forwards on the bar when I got up there so much that Mike would have to steady me.. I didn't need him this time! Woooooo
Frog Stand - Not much to say about these, they're about the same as last time!
After the gymnastics we did a boxing finisher - 15 minutes on the bag, random times each ranging from 20-30 seconds on then off, you didn't know how long you would be working or how long you would be resting so you had to go all out and just hang on! It seemed to last way longer than 15 minutes. I felt good on the bag though, felt like I was hitting hard and technically well. I'm excited for boxing tonight!
And by the way, I'm off to make pizza now, it isn't low calorie but it will be healthy. I'm making a wholemeal base and it will have plenty healthy balanced toppings, and after I've been boxing tonight I'll be sure to refuel with plenty of it! - So to answer the question in my title, in my opinion it is healthy, this community is positive, healthy and friendly and I'm sure it will remain so.
Logging you in...
Vegan Lemon Curd
3 days ago
And you are definitely doing what it takes to live a healthy lifestyle...hugs ((()))
ReplyDeleteUGH..I hated that article. I was so furious about it and I wasn't even IN it. I can't imagine how it made Caitlin and all of them feel. Marie Claire is so hypocritical! Like using ads that feature women that are too skinny is not unhealthy promotion?? Come on!
ReplyDeleteOn another note: You can do a headstand?! That's awesome! I really admire you for that :) I'm hoping to learn to do one, one day :)
I hope to see pics of that pizza ;-)
ReplyDeleteI find it interesting how the MC article has spaarked such debate. And to be honest, I don't think the article was entirely off the mark. Sure, the information in it and the slant and presentation of it was poor but I do think it raised some interesting points. The healthy bloggers aren't necessarily "healthy"; they are quite unusual in their dedication to health food and exercise. The average person who is still healthy wouldn't eat as strict a diet or exercise as much as some of them.
ReplyDeleteBut please don't misunderstand me, I'm so pleased that they have helped you with your recovery and have been a positive voice in your life. I just don't think that it's the case for everyone. I hope I haven't offended you, as that wasn't my intent. xxx
Laura I agree with you 110%. That article was biased and unfair. Shame on that reporter and shame on MC for running it.
ReplyDeleteI have not read the article...but since I too an a fully recovered eating disorder survivor...I am sure I will have some of my own disapproving comments! I plan to read it!
ReplyDeleteThanks for your strong stand!!!!
the whole thing is interesting. i mean, people read these things and it is hard to read something you might not agree with or that is outside your value/ norms etc. what a person should do in that case is just not read. you can't control other people and no matter what your intentions (good, bad, neutral), as far as the blog world goes it is a lot at work out of our hands. anyone can have a blog. anyone can say whatever they want. i think there is a lot of comparison that goes on, either that we are aware of or not. and also a lot of judgment. same goes for Facebook and other social networking sites. people of all ages and maturity level and world-views and histories and values interact and you're going to have miscommunications, differences, and positive and negative reactions. it's such a weird world. i wish people would just understand that we each have our own reality and if you are participating in the blog world or online social world in some way you are going to have to take it with a grain of salt and grow up a little bit as far as judging/ communicating. that is the world tho. and the online world is just a representative sample of it.
ReplyDeleteI really agree with your feelings about the marie claire article, its really awful that they attacked those bloggers in such a way. Some of the comments above are quite interesting. I think the most important thing to remember is blogs are peoples lives and opinions and these aren't going to relate to everyone, we are all so different!
ReplyDeleteI need to go read this article...you're the 3rd one who has mentioned it today. Sounds like lots of backlash, and from how the article is described, I think that is good!
ReplyDeleteWell-said and articulated, Laura! You've come a long way and seem to have struck a healthy balance:)
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Just read the article. I couldn't agree with you more x
ReplyDeleteyou had me at healthy pizza! share the recipe and post pics pls =)
ReplyDeleteIMO it's unhealthy *not* to have pizza in your life ;-)
ReplyDeleteHope your DOMS are subsiding!
Wow! I never expected to get so many comments on this..
ReplyDeleteAnne - thank you so much for the support!
Stacey - I totally agree, the hypocrisy is astounding. That's what really gets me, they will happily use very underweight models, most of whom won't be like that naturally but they have decided to pick a fight with a community which I personally feel is a very positive one.
Heather - I'll post them when we've eaten it, but I must confess we didn't eat pizza tonight.. there's a good reason.. Mike's dad bought us a chinese takeout.. can't say no to that!
Sarah - you haven't offended me at all. You have a right to your opinion on it and it's interesting to hear what other people think about it. I can see where people are coming from saying people could take negatives from it but I guess my feelings are that they are written with positive intent and that in my opinion they are promoting something which is positive. Perhaps because I came from such a bad place it's made my opinion of these sites different to others..
Marcia - that's it, it wasn't a balanced report. I wouldn't have minded so much them saying their negative opinion if it had been based in more truth and had shown a counter argument too, they really had no interest in showing the whole picture.
Sherri - I didn't know you'd had an eating disorder. I'm so pleased you've come through the other side and are living your life to the full now.
Lacey - I'm not sure I've understood your comment completely.. Are you saying I need to grow up for getting involved or that the person who wrote the article/people judging others need to grow up?
Laura - agree 100%
Misszippy - let me know what you thought when you've read it!
Cosmic - Thanks so much :-)
Hotchoc - thanks!
Julie - pizza recipe and pics coming up!
Alison - you're so right!
You made me want to read that article. I am glad the blog network helps you, I know it has helped me as well. Good job with the workouts. I always think your gymnastics workouts are cool as hell.
ReplyDeleteThanks Luke, there's a link to it in the first sentance if you're interested. Glad the blogs help you too, I've said it a few times now but I think there are a lot of positives to be taken from the blogging world!
ReplyDeleteoooh no i was definitely not saying you need to grow up!!! i am just saying that "mean girls" need to grow up. it's a very real thing- bullying in general/ and now cyber bullying b/c things are online so much. i was talking about the writer of the article and people who leave rude comments on other blogs. sorry i wasn't very clear!!! i tend to talk + talk and not get to the point...
ReplyDeleteI thought that was what you meant to be honest but I wasn't sure and I got a bit paranoid haha. I totally agree with you cyber bullying is in many ways worse then bullying physically or face to face as the bullies generally have some kind of anonymity to hide behind and I think that can make them so much crueler than they might be in 'real life'.
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