CULTURA/LIAM NORRIS/GETTY IMAGES
Voices
made up some BS about how it
was a “stepping stone.” I’m sorry
because many of you had thyroid
issues and the LAST thing you
should have been doing was eating
a gluten-filled, chemically-laden
starvation diet. I’m sorry because
by the time I stopped working
there, I wouldn’t touch that food,
yet I still sold it to you.
I’m sorry because it’s only years
later that I realize just how unhealthy a 1,200 calorie diet was.
I stayed on a 1,200-1,500 calorie
diet for years, so I have the proof
in myself. Thyroid issues, mood
swings, depression, headaches... oh
and gluten intolerance that seemed
to “kick in” after about a month of
eating the pre-packaged food. Was
it a coincidence? Maybe.
I’m sorry because you had body
dysmorphic disorder, and it was so
painful to hear the things you said
about yourself. You looked like a
model, and all of my other clients
were intimidated by you, asked me
why you were there because clearly
you didn’t need to lose weight.
And yet you would sit in my office
and cry, appalled that a man might
see you naked and be disturbed
by the fat that didn’t actually exist. I’m sorry because you should
have been seeing a therapist, not a
IRIS
HIGGINS
weight-loss consultant.
I’m sorry because you were
young and so beautiful and
only there because your mother thought you needed to lose
weight. And because there were
too many of you like that. Girls
who knew you were fine, but
whose mothers pushed that belief out of you until you thought
like she did. Until you thought
there was something wrong with
you. And the one time I confronted your mother, you simply got
switched to a different consultant.
I think I should have made more
of a stink, but I didn’t. I’m sorry
HUFFINGTON
09.01-08.13