Voices, Kathy O’Brien, sent by email 9/27/01

It is hard to believe that after spending almost thirty years dieting, I have been able to find peace with food, the scale and my body. It’s hard to explain how much it has meant to me to become free. I truly eat whatever and whenever I want without guilt or shame. I don’t eat anything that I don’t really like…I eat everything that I do like, when I feel like it, but my size stays relatively constant. I never binge anymore. I buy clothes that fit me, that I feel good in and I pay very little attention to the size. It’s almost three years since I went on my last diet, and I am grateful everyday that I no longer live in that prison. I want everyone to know that it is possible to be free, to have love and respect for one’s body, and to feel one’s feelings without stuffing them down. I know these things are possible because I have done them…and nothing will ever be the same.