Eating Disorders on the Radio
Click here to listen to my radio interview yesterday on Capital Public Radio.
Peach's Blog
Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Monday, February 25, 2008
University Talks This Week
Happy NEDAW Everyone!
Just a reminder...
I'll be speaking at UC Davis on Wednesday
and
at UC San Francisco on Thursday
and
At UC Berkeley on March 11!
all Exercise and Eating Disorders all the time!
That's me snowshoeing near Lake Tahoe over New Years
Email me with questions; peach.friedman@gmail.com
Just a reminder...
I'll be speaking at UC Davis on Wednesday
and
at UC San Francisco on Thursday
and
At UC Berkeley on March 11!
all Exercise and Eating Disorders all the time!
That's me snowshoeing near Lake Tahoe over New YearsEmail me with questions; peach.friedman@gmail.com
Friday, February 22, 2008
Cupcakes!
I just wanted to say that I went to Babycakes today for the first time. It's across the street from Big Spoon, which is a really exciting combo if I do say so myself. Anyway, I got one chocolate and one vanilla cupcake, sampled them both, and have to say: yummmyyyyyy!
I'll be making cupcakes for our NEDAW event on Monday, so now I have really high expectations. Too much pressure!
I'll be making cupcakes for our NEDAW event on Monday, so now I have really high expectations. Too much pressure!
Wednesday, February 20, 2008
National Eating Disorders Awareness Week
It's that time of year again! Next week is National Eating Disorders Awareness Week. I'm taking part in several events on behalf of Summit, so I thought I'd include a schedule of events open to the public, in case anyone is interested in attending.
Monday February 25
An Evening of Hope and Great Jeans Giveaway
Time: 6:00pm
Location: 575 University Ave
This kick-off event is an opportunity to donate your unrealistic "skinny jeans" to charity! Come celebrate natural body sizes with Tony Paulson, PhD, Executive Director of Summit Eating Disorders and Outreach Program, and author of Why She Feels Fat: Understanding Your Loved Ones Eating Disorder and How You Can Help.
Tuesday February 26
How to Help a Loved One Deal With an Eating Disorder
Time: 7:00pm
Location: UC Davis, ARC Ballroom
Tony Paulson, PhD, Executive Director of Summit Eating Disorders and Outreach Program, and author of Why She Feels Fat: Understanding Your Loved Ones Eating Disorder and How You Can Help presents information about how to stand by your friend or family member as they work toward recovery from an eating disorder.
Wednesday February 27
Bodies in Motion: For Athletes, Coaches, Personal Trainers, and Friends
Time: 4:00pm
Location: UC Davis, MU DeCarli
Come hear me speak at Davis! I'll be covering symptoms, risks, and recovery tips for exercise bulimia.
Thursday February 28
How to Help a Loved One Deal With an Eating Disorder
Time: 12:00pm
Location: Sac State, Orchard Room
Tony Paulson, PhD, Executive Director of Summit Eating Disorders and Outreach Program, and author of Why She Feels Fat: Understanding Your Loved Ones Eating Disorder and How You Can Help presents information about how to stand by your friend or family member as they work toward recovery from an eating disorder.
Eat, Pray, Love: Finding Insight and Inspiration for Eating Disorder Recovery
Time: 5:30pm
Location: UC Davis, MU Smith
Jennifer Lombardi, MFT, Executive Director of Summit offers an experiential workshop incorporating Elizabeth Gilbert's inspirational book Eat Pray Love into eating disorder recovery.
For details on any of the events at UC Davis, visit ABIDE.
Monday February 25
An Evening of Hope and Great Jeans Giveaway
Time: 6:00pm
Location: 575 University Ave
This kick-off event is an opportunity to donate your unrealistic "skinny jeans" to charity! Come celebrate natural body sizes with Tony Paulson, PhD, Executive Director of Summit Eating Disorders and Outreach Program, and author of Why She Feels Fat: Understanding Your Loved Ones Eating Disorder and How You Can Help.
Tuesday February 26
How to Help a Loved One Deal With an Eating Disorder
Time: 7:00pm
Location: UC Davis, ARC Ballroom
Tony Paulson, PhD, Executive Director of Summit Eating Disorders and Outreach Program, and author of Why She Feels Fat: Understanding Your Loved Ones Eating Disorder and How You Can Help presents information about how to stand by your friend or family member as they work toward recovery from an eating disorder.
Wednesday February 27
Bodies in Motion: For Athletes, Coaches, Personal Trainers, and Friends
Time: 4:00pm
Location: UC Davis, MU DeCarli
Come hear me speak at Davis! I'll be covering symptoms, risks, and recovery tips for exercise bulimia.
Thursday February 28
How to Help a Loved One Deal With an Eating Disorder
Time: 12:00pm
Location: Sac State, Orchard Room
Tony Paulson, PhD, Executive Director of Summit Eating Disorders and Outreach Program, and author of Why She Feels Fat: Understanding Your Loved Ones Eating Disorder and How You Can Help presents information about how to stand by your friend or family member as they work toward recovery from an eating disorder.
Eat, Pray, Love: Finding Insight and Inspiration for Eating Disorder Recovery
Time: 5:30pm
Location: UC Davis, MU Smith
Jennifer Lombardi, MFT, Executive Director of Summit offers an experiential workshop incorporating Elizabeth Gilbert's inspirational book Eat Pray Love into eating disorder recovery.
For details on any of the events at UC Davis, visit ABIDE.
Monday, February 18, 2008
Friday, February 15, 2008
Movement & Memory
I'm a longtime NPR listener. In fact, when Jeffrey and I were on our very first date I found out that not only does he listen to NPR too, but we actually have the same favorite show: Fresh Air with Terry Gross (and I won't say that's why I fell in love with him, but it certainly piqued my interest!).
So, yesterday morning I was driving to a client's house while listening to Terry Gross on the radio. She was interviewing Martha Weinman Lear about her book, Where Did I leave My Glasses?. I didn't hear the whole thing, but I did catch a pretty interesting part of the discussion. As it turns out, the #1 (or #1 and #2, I guess) most important thing in maintaining memory function is...drumroll...diet and exercise. Not those Soduko puzzles people do. Not studying languages or keeping up with business. But food and fitness.
As it turns out, according to Lear, when it comes to food, what's healthy for your heart is also healthy for your brain. And according to whatever study she sited (you can listen to the program here) cardiovascular exercise is superior to stretching and strengthening, at least when it comes to keeping your remembering-skills up to par. I guess this has something to do with all that blood flowing to your brain, and that makes sense to me.
Of course, I still believe it's best to choose to move out of true desire for movement, not necessarily because we think it's going to help keep us smart. But that can be part of it. As you know by now, I believe in fitness for self-nurturing and self-care rather than self-loathing, guilt, fear, punishment, etc. (which are still the reasons most women hit the gym). But taking care of your brain? Yeah, that's cool with me--if it helps inspire you to take the dog out for a walk on a sunny day or do cartwheels with your kids in the backyard. After all, I want to be able to remember my first date with Jeffrey when we're ninety-nine (okay, when I'm ninety-nine and he's one hundred and three)!
So, yesterday morning I was driving to a client's house while listening to Terry Gross on the radio. She was interviewing Martha Weinman Lear about her book, Where Did I leave My Glasses?. I didn't hear the whole thing, but I did catch a pretty interesting part of the discussion. As it turns out, the #1 (or #1 and #2, I guess) most important thing in maintaining memory function is...drumroll...diet and exercise. Not those Soduko puzzles people do. Not studying languages or keeping up with business. But food and fitness.
As it turns out, according to Lear, when it comes to food, what's healthy for your heart is also healthy for your brain. And according to whatever study she sited (you can listen to the program here) cardiovascular exercise is superior to stretching and strengthening, at least when it comes to keeping your remembering-skills up to par. I guess this has something to do with all that blood flowing to your brain, and that makes sense to me.
Of course, I still believe it's best to choose to move out of true desire for movement, not necessarily because we think it's going to help keep us smart. But that can be part of it. As you know by now, I believe in fitness for self-nurturing and self-care rather than self-loathing, guilt, fear, punishment, etc. (which are still the reasons most women hit the gym). But taking care of your brain? Yeah, that's cool with me--if it helps inspire you to take the dog out for a walk on a sunny day or do cartwheels with your kids in the backyard. After all, I want to be able to remember my first date with Jeffrey when we're ninety-nine (okay, when I'm ninety-nine and he's one hundred and three)!
Thursday, February 14, 2008
What's Love Got To Do With It...
Happy Valentine's Day! I know some people love it and some people hate it, but I'm on the happy side of the fence with the first crowd: What's nicer than an opportunity to share a little love? When I was single, my mom would send me care packages of silly pj's and other cute girly gifts, and those V-days were as happy as the ones I have now with my fiance.
This year, my favorite Valentine came in the form of an email from a friend. She offered a quote from Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh that reads:
Nothing is more beautiful than true love. In true love we don't make each other worry, suffer, or get angry. On the contrary, we have the ability to offer joy and reduce suffering in our loved one. Because of understanding, we know how to love, and we don't rob the joy, the appreciation, the inspiration of our loved one; we don't force our loved one to think like we think, to act like we act, to like the things that we like, but we let our loved one maintain herself. In true love there is no discrimination. In true love we always think of ways to help our loved one to carry out their dream, their aspiration. And the other person will equally support us in that way. Our love will not be limited or prohibited by any religion or theology. When we have happiness in our love, we have the ability to create happiness for other people. That love can be developed to embrace all human beings, it can keep growing endlessly so that one day it can embrace the whole universe. In Buddhism this love is called love without boundaries.
As the date of my wedding is fast approaching, I'm seriously considering wisdom like this. What it means to be a good partner, a good lover, a good friend. My fiance went to Hong Kong recently for a month, for business. Being away from him that long was such a test of how I love: I wanted to support him on his adventure, but I also felt strong needs of my own. I tried to turn my longing into something I could give him, so every day I wrote him a poem and sent him a photo. This helped feed us both.
One of the many photos I emailed to Jeffrey while he was in Hong Kong
I'm not an expert on love, at least not any more than other young women out there who have been through blissful periods followed by heartache. We're all on the same path of trying to still listen to and honor ourselves while at the same time loving another. Marriage is a new adventure for me, and I'm both excited and terrified--excited to have a committed partner to support me, delight in me, and build a family with me, but terrified that we'll make mistakes and experience hurt. Which. We will. I think the more I can learn to love selflessly rather than selfishly, the more I will be giving true love to my fiance rather than loving him for what I want out of it.
But at the same time, I talk so much in my work about self-love. So what's the difference between self-love and selfish-love? Where do we draw the line?
I think self-love means respecting yourself enough to trust yourself enough to love others (mothers, partners, friends) graciously and generously. The better I can care for myself with pure and good intentions, the better I'll be able to give to my fiance and family in a pure-hearted way. But if I don't take care of myself, if I don't practice self-love,, then my own stores will be empty and I'll be hungry-hearted and looking to others in my life to give that to myself.
Am I writing in circles!? I think you get the point.
On my long road of recovery from my eating disorder, the concept of self-love and self-nurturing came up repeatedly. I mean again, and again, and again. And then one more time. And so on. Why is it so difficult to give ourselves what we truly need? What we crave, what we long for? Why do we instead demand unreasonable things from our loved ones (drop everything you're doing to tend to me right now) if we can't even do the same thing for ourselves?
I'm inspired by this idea of loving selflessly, of loving my fiance in a way that helps support him in making his dreams come true. Because I believe in doing this for myself, too. Supporting myself in a way that helps me make my dreams come true.
I'm not here to tread lightly or hide in the corners. I'm not here to do what everyone expects of me. I'm here with passion and love and I want to share it: with my lover, and with myself.
This year, my favorite Valentine came in the form of an email from a friend. She offered a quote from Zen Master Thich Nhat Hanh that reads:
Nothing is more beautiful than true love. In true love we don't make each other worry, suffer, or get angry. On the contrary, we have the ability to offer joy and reduce suffering in our loved one. Because of understanding, we know how to love, and we don't rob the joy, the appreciation, the inspiration of our loved one; we don't force our loved one to think like we think, to act like we act, to like the things that we like, but we let our loved one maintain herself. In true love there is no discrimination. In true love we always think of ways to help our loved one to carry out their dream, their aspiration. And the other person will equally support us in that way. Our love will not be limited or prohibited by any religion or theology. When we have happiness in our love, we have the ability to create happiness for other people. That love can be developed to embrace all human beings, it can keep growing endlessly so that one day it can embrace the whole universe. In Buddhism this love is called love without boundaries.
As the date of my wedding is fast approaching, I'm seriously considering wisdom like this. What it means to be a good partner, a good lover, a good friend. My fiance went to Hong Kong recently for a month, for business. Being away from him that long was such a test of how I love: I wanted to support him on his adventure, but I also felt strong needs of my own. I tried to turn my longing into something I could give him, so every day I wrote him a poem and sent him a photo. This helped feed us both.
One of the many photos I emailed to Jeffrey while he was in Hong KongI'm not an expert on love, at least not any more than other young women out there who have been through blissful periods followed by heartache. We're all on the same path of trying to still listen to and honor ourselves while at the same time loving another. Marriage is a new adventure for me, and I'm both excited and terrified--excited to have a committed partner to support me, delight in me, and build a family with me, but terrified that we'll make mistakes and experience hurt. Which. We will. I think the more I can learn to love selflessly rather than selfishly, the more I will be giving true love to my fiance rather than loving him for what I want out of it.
But at the same time, I talk so much in my work about self-love. So what's the difference between self-love and selfish-love? Where do we draw the line?
I think self-love means respecting yourself enough to trust yourself enough to love others (mothers, partners, friends) graciously and generously. The better I can care for myself with pure and good intentions, the better I'll be able to give to my fiance and family in a pure-hearted way. But if I don't take care of myself, if I don't practice self-love,, then my own stores will be empty and I'll be hungry-hearted and looking to others in my life to give that to myself.
Am I writing in circles!? I think you get the point.
On my long road of recovery from my eating disorder, the concept of self-love and self-nurturing came up repeatedly. I mean again, and again, and again. And then one more time. And so on. Why is it so difficult to give ourselves what we truly need? What we crave, what we long for? Why do we instead demand unreasonable things from our loved ones (drop everything you're doing to tend to me right now) if we can't even do the same thing for ourselves?
I'm inspired by this idea of loving selflessly, of loving my fiance in a way that helps support him in making his dreams come true. Because I believe in doing this for myself, too. Supporting myself in a way that helps me make my dreams come true.
I'm not here to tread lightly or hide in the corners. I'm not here to do what everyone expects of me. I'm here with passion and love and I want to share it: with my lover, and with myself.
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