Choosing to heal: It gets better

I stumbled upon body image blogger Meg Burton’s post on Healthy Is The New Skinny’s fb page. It’s a great article about pushing forward with eating disorder recovery despite being discouraged and having weak moments. This also takes a very honest look at treatment and how eating disorders are not taken seriously enough by insurance companies. Luckily, Meg was able to channel the loss of her friend, an eating disorder sufferer, into her own recovery and serve as an inspiration to others. Insurance sucks. For most people who are struggling with eating disorders, (and lets be real, the general population as well…) trying to get treatment covered by your insurance is one of the most frustrating things ever. I was lucky enough to be able to get treatment, but it wasn’t necessarily the right treatment, or the level of care I needed. On average, residential treatment costs $30,000 a month, and as the theme goes in this post, most insurance does not cover it. This past summer, one of my friends that I met while I was in the hospital, died from her eating disorder. Just a few weeks earlier I had been talking to her mom and she told me that my friend had gotten down to 62 pounds at height of 5’7. (I typically don’t talk about numbers, because in the large picture, they don’t matter. But in this story it’s needed.) AND THEY WERE STILL HAVING PROBLEMS GETTING INSURANCE TO COVER TREATMENT FOR HER. I could go on and on about this topic, but instead, I have decided to channel my anger into something worthwhile, and now I have the opportunity to work with the most AMAZING organization, Project HEAL. Liana Rosenman and Kristina Saffran met when they were in treatment for anorexia, and at just 15 years old, they founded Project HEAL: Help to Eat, Accept, and Live. Project HEAL’s mission is to raise funds for those who cannot afford treatment and to also help end the societal obsession with food and weight. I am beyond lucky to work with these girls. With the help of over 30 chapters across the US, Canada, and Mexico, we’re coming up with awesome plans for NEDAW. (National eating disorders awareness week.) Project HEAL wants to help spread some love and hope, and is asking people to share why they chose to heal. When I started recovering, I looked to those who had recovered from their own eating disorders, or to my friends who had a healthy relationship with food and their bodies. I wanted to be that person to someone. I have a mentor who is pretty much the most amazing woman ever, who has recovered from her own eating disorder. I would call Melanie many a times, upset about relapsing, or feeling fat, or feeling like I was never, ever going to recover. Melanie always gives me the best advice, and loves me when I can’t love myself, but her response in a lot of situations was, “It just takes time, Meg.” Despite my constant sigh of annoyance at this statement, I have found it to be completely true. Recovering from an eating disorder takes a lot of time. But, it really truly DOES get better. You may not be able to believe that this moment, I know I couldn’t for a long time. I had to borrow 90% of my hope from Melanie. So if you need to borrow hope, you can go ahead and borrow some from me! Because I chose to heal so I can be living proof that is DOES get better!!!

About The Author

Patricia Colli, Editor of Beutiful Magazine, is a human rights activist, equality advocate, and promoter of health, acceptance and wellbeing. Having experienced disordered eating, unhealthy exercise patterns and poor body image, she is especially passionate about shedding light on eating disorders and the power of body acceptance.