Mirror, Mirror on the wall....

Maleficent appears courtesy of disney.com

"Mirror, mirror on the wall, who's the fairest of them all?"

Those famous words from the classic Disney movie (based on a story by the Grimm brothers), introduce us to the evil queen, Maleficent. Clearly this wicked step-mother of Snow White has some self esteem issues. Needing to be constantly reassured of her beauty, she consults a magic mirror who's only job apparently was to stroke the queen's ego.

All is well in her world and she feels good until the mirror informs her of competition for the title of "fairest one of all." Apparently being the second fairest in the land was not good enough. Jealousy rears its ugly head and the queen decides to take out her young and beautiful stepdaughter, none other than Snow White.

“Welcome to the wonderful world of jealousy, he thought. For the price of admission, you get a splitting headache, a nearly irresistible urge to commit murder, and an inferiority complex. Yippee.” ― J.R. Ward, Dark Lover

Sadly, the queen and her obsession with her looks is not unique to fairy tales. Thanks to the media and marketing, many women today believe if they were thin, had perfect skin and met the cultural ideal of beauty, they would be happy. We've developed an "inferiority complex" and are miserable. Unlike Maleficent who went after her rival, women hurt themselves in an effort to reach attain what is really a false sense of happiness.

Do you judge your worth by your weight? Does the scale determine how you feel and what you eat for the rest of the day? Dieting hurts a person, physically and mentally. The sad reality is, even if you do lose the weight, you still wont' be happy or satisfied. Whatever issues underlie your feelings of inferiority are still there and now instead of worrying about having to lose weight, you worry about gaining the weight back!

That's why dieting does not work! So mentally you are stressed and feel inferior, and physically you take risks by trying to starve yourself or taking whatever the latest pill is that promises you will lose the weight! At no point are you happy and enjoying life. It saddens me when I talk to and work with women who feel this way. I know how miserable it is because I use to be one of those women.

I'm not saying you should not want to be at a healthy weight. I'm saying you need to change how you achieve it. Change your perspective. Want to feel good about yourself? Be in the best health you can be in through exercise, fueling your body properly AND by working through any negative thinking you have.

If you want to loose weight for health reasons, then you need to change the way you think about food and your body. If you don't, and you continue to die(t), you will be miserable just like Maleficent.

To be continued......