Hi friend,
This week, let's look at a final cause of fat hatred: tradition.
Sometimes we play out toxic patterns because it’s all we know, generation after generation.
A friend recently told me a traumatic story about watching The Biggest Loser with her mother, who would use the show as a bonding experience with her adolescent fat daughter, discussing all the ways both of their bodies were unacceptable and fantasizing about doing extreme diets or even competing on the show together.
Her mother’s own mother likely taught her to hate her body, and so on up through generations.
This generational trauma is no joke.
“For people with historical trauma, the transmission of their trauma to their children is unintentional but stems from their own pain which has not been dealt with. Unwanted behaviors, such as eating disorders or addictions, may have their roots in this intergenerational trauma, which creates a
vicious cycle of unprocessed grief and shame leading to unwanted behaviors, which only cause more pain, guilt, and shame.
But the good news is that we possess the power to change when we are willing to address these painful memories and move from surviving to thriving.”
