Happiful March 2020

To hear more from
Sarah, follow her
journey on Instagram
@bodypositivepear
I felt like the world was
asking me to tone down
my disordered thoughts
and behaviours… but not
too much
It felt like still being inside
a cage, and not able to live
life freely.
But I found out, you can
push further.
I came across a blog that
suggested another way.
It suggested that we all
have our own individual
natural, healthy weights,
that our bodies need to
be at their healthiest. It
talked about eating freely
in order to recover from
eating disorders. It talked
about listening to your
body fully, and responding
to all the hunger that
recovery brings. It talked
about becoming friends
with your body rather than
treating it as the enemy.
It also led me to a website
that changed my life, and
made me realise that I
don’t have to engage with
diet culture, or live my life
trying to please society by
having the ‘perfect’ body.
Formerly known as Your
Eatopia, now The Eating
Disorder Institute, the site
taught me about health at
every size, weight set point
theory, and fat acceptance.
I decided to reject the
idea of an ‘ideal’ body.
But this wasn’t a decision
I made in an instant – it
took years of research,
getting involved with
feminism and the body
positivity movement, and
learning about the impact
of diet culture, and how
the diet and weight loss
industry intentionally make
us hate ourselves for profit.
It took deciding to be as
healthy and happy as I could
possibly be in both body and
mind. It took deciding to let
40 • happiful.com • March 2020