Unbearable Lightness: Interview with Portia de Rossi

According to US estimates from The National Institute of Mental Health, between 5 percent and 10 percent of girls and women (i.e. 5-10 million people) and 1 million boys and men suffer from eating disorders, including anorexia, bulimia, binge eating disorder, or other associated dietary conditions. Estimates suggest that as many as 15 percent of young women adopt unhealthy attitudes and behaviors about food.

However, is it food that is the disorder, or the negative and abusive attitudes, feelings and beliefs about our bodies and inner worth that is the issue? At one time in our society, a woman’s curves and voluptuousness was a sign of beauty and sexuality. Today, if you don’t have a washboard stomach, flab-free arms and muscular thighs, then you don’t meet the cultural standards of success. Perfection is an addiction. It is a way of hiding the deeper, unhealed parts of our self-esteem that were wounded as children. It is a way to numb our feelings and isolate from connecting to our spiritual need to give and receive authentically. Eating disorders are the outcome, a symptom of a deeper malady; a lack of self-love and self-acceptance. Although we strive toward unconditional acceptance, our world still functions on criticism, judgment and rejection. Portia’s story is a tribute to her courage, fierceness and compassion to share with others the way to fully love and live.

Portia de Rossi: With Ellen, ‘I Could Finally Accept Who I Am’ | PopEater.com

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