Eating Disorder Awareness Month: You'll Never Hear Anything About Burning Calories Around Here

Written by Our Beloved Dance Queen, Mary K

You’ll never hear anyone from Jax Yoga discuss yoga or exercise as a means to lose weight, get in shape, or burn calories. Some could argue it’s a missed opportunity to advertise to the people that are pursuing those goals, but that’s not the business we’re in. We usually try to focus on the positives, like the benefits of yoga that are physical, mental, and emotional. However, with upcoming Eating Disorders Awareness Week from February 27 - March 5, we want to discuss why we don’t condone those messages and are instead passionate about sustainable approaches to exercise and body image. 

An eating disorder can be a mental or physical illness that affects people of all genders, ages, races, religions, ethnicities, sexual orientations, body shapes, and weights. In the US, almost 29 million people will suffer from an eating disorder at some point in their lives. While they are treatable, eating disorders have the second highest mortality rate of all mental health disorders, surpassed only by opioid use disorder. These are serious and definitely not a trend or a choice. 

While there are different eating disorders that vary in terms of physical behaviors, it’s important to note the emotional and mental distress of people with any type of eating disorder. It’s not just body dysmorphia when people think they look different than they actually do or they’re on some fad diet – it can be fixating on food throughout the entire day, using food or restriction as a means of control, punishment, or even escape. Aside from all physical medical complications that come from eating disorders, it’s the mental anguish that seems inescapable. 

I struggled with eating disorders and disordered eating for several years in my late teens and early twenties. I would meticulously plan my meals and fixate on “good, clean foods”, and I would punish myself with exercise if I “cheated.” That was a slippery slope into bulimia, where I would binge after intense caloric deficit and then purge into whatever toilet was least visible to the people around me. And on the outside, I seemed like a healthy, energetic young person who loved exercise. It was partially due to low self-esteem and poor body image, but honestly, it was mainly a coping mechanism to feel in control of my life when everything else was spiraling.

It’s taken many years of self-work, journaling, affirmations, therapy, medication, and community to get to where I am today. But as I’ve unfortunately learned, recovery is a lifelong process. Not only is it hard enough to change your mindset drastically, there are also never-ending conversations about getting “healthy” in terms of weight, attaining a certain physique, fad diets, and body shaming. While I know I can’t stop or avoid every triggering conversation, I’m proud that more businesses and communities are uniting around healthier missions – like Jax Yoga, of course!

We know that people are always going to try to sell meal plans or miracle pills/shakes/workouts, and we also know that people are always going to beat themselves up more than they need to. So why would we encourage that?