I personally don’t read magazines like “Marie Claire,” but this article and all it’s ensuing controversy about the “Big Six Healthy Bloggers” was sent to me this morning. I have included the link to the story and also another blogger’s Letter to the Editor in response (one of many.) In addition, each of the bloggers mentioned issued a response on their own blogs.
I have my own feelings on the subject, but I want to know what you think before I go spouting off on one of my usual rants. While it may take a few minutes to read, I think it could lead to some insightful debate.
On a completely unrelated note, one of my freelance features for a local magazine made the cover. Even though I publish a dozen features each month for my job, this made me ridiculously happy for some reason. Anyway, there is no link to the story, but it was about local bakeries so the picture is yummy. No debate about that.
- Yay for bakeries!
Now go read the first article and leave me some thoughts in the comments…
Abby Has Issues 
Congrats on your article, Abby!! How exciting. Now I have some reading to do before I start my work for the day… I’ll post more comments later. 🙂
wow this article is amazing! i have struggeled with anorexia for 7 years and always when i turned to these bloggers pages i thought ‘well what is so wrong with me only eating low fat this low fat that and running 100miles a day’. well i guess it’s time to wake up and realize that even ‘healthy’ people can go beyond the norm and end up in extremes!
i really enjoyed reading this article and thank you very much for posting this. and then i would like to thank myself for clicking a link to your blog 😉 this made my day a little easier when i eat my full fat cheese 🙂
Ugh, I’m not sure… This article has affected me strangely in that I can half relate to some of the bloggers’ emotions (freaking if I can’t exercise daily, mainly) and half feel like screaming. For me personally, if a blog is triggering, I don’t read it. I don’t feel that I (or anyone else) has to be totally responsible for their readers, but that said, I also DO NOT advocate pro-anorexia sites or anything of that nature. That said, again–I just avoid such sites at all costs. That’s a personal choice…
I guess I may have read this differently than most… I immediately thought, “wow, these people are totally grappling with EDs, they’re not “healthy” at all.” Perhaps it’s just me…
Thanks for putting this up! I feel like I just got some breaking news because I do follow Katheatsrealfood.com and graduatemeghann.com. And I did start when I was deep into anorexia. I do think some of their points were valid. I mean any kind of food obsession is disordered. And unless they were like, professional chefs then their life shouldn’t revolve around how great they can make their food. I get that they are kind of feeling like celebrities now though, because they do have so many followers and so many “freebies” for it. So why would they want to stop now? I have a lot I’d like to say honeslty but, I’d probably write a chapter before it’s over 🙂
❤ Tori
First of all, congrats on your article. That is HUGE!! You have every right to be super happy, and I am super happy for you.
The article…I was at The Healthy Living Summit. I had a great time, and there was pretty great food and conversation there. The “big 6” really were swarmed by people constantly, so I didn’t really get a chance to meet or talk to them. In my opinion, these blogs can be a little triggering at times, if you choose to compare everything you do to everything they do. But they can be fun resources for cool beers and recipes. I have stopped reading some of them as much, but you cannot deny the good that they do. Some raise lots of money for great causes, and they really are trying to strike a balance in their lives. This is not easy at all! Which is why so many people follow their every words.
For every great thing out there there will be lots of negative reactions. This is first article I have read tho that took a “negative” view on the healthy living blogs. Kind of crazy how fired up everyone is getting!
Thank you so much for posting the article, I really wanted to read it and now I have.
First up, congrats on the article Abs! That’s awesome 🙂
Second, I’ve read the Marie Claire article, the letter you linked to, and another re-buddle as well, and I have to say that I am pretty unimpressed with the article. I agree that the blog world can be triggering, but it can also be incredibly inspirational… just like anything else in life. I really feel like ‘the big six’ were unfairly attacked, even if there was some merit to the points about how their lifestyles may or may not influence their readers.
I admit that sometimes I get so blog-obsessed that I start thinking marathon-training and healthy eating is the norm, but for the most part these blogs remind me what I am striving for: to balance my relationship with food and exercise, as well as maintain a healthy body.
It was interesting to read a negative view on blogs from a professional (?) perspective though, because everything is always so positive and encouraging when it comes to healthy living blogs… which makes it easy to forget that there are cons to be found.
Thanks for this ! Love the discussion 🙂
❤ Tat
Congrats on making he cover! Frame it!
About the article, I’m pretty sure you’d know how I feel. I’m not shocked at all. I dont read any of those blogs. Marathons and low calorie meal ideas dont impress me. And 1,100 calories a day would make me one cranky ass blogger!
And Astrid might kill me, but I’m just gonna come out with it, Operation Beautiful annoys me. I won’t go into it, but I said it on Kim’s blog when she mentioned it.
About the letter to the editor, I actually disagree with her. Maybe because I’ve never been overweight, but I have “ED-dar” (like radar, or gaydar) and I can smell an ED when I see or read one. I dont think their mission was to bring them down, and i think people needed to know the truth about their “inspiring eaters”.
I’m pretty blunt and honest about my own issues, I tell people, “look I still have problems, I’m still afraid of buying oreos, I feel guilty when i dont exercise, and I’ve also got some serious issues.” I would respect these bloggers a lot more if they just fessed up and stopped worrying about “beautiful” or tell people that.
And this is why I’m going to Food Buzz over that “healthy” summit. That festival is geered towards bloggers that are true foodies and even work in food. And I’m hoping most of them do my kind of marathons of watching episode after episode of family guy.
Eden, I think you’re my long-lost sister. 😉 Everything you wrote is what I felt/experienced upon reading the article and then the letter to the editor… I think that’s why the article made me uber uncomfortable–I could relate, but it doesn’t mean I want to read that sh**. It freaks me out b/c I just realize how many seemingly “healthy” people actually have EDs and don’t even get it. I hate reading about marathoners and their low cal/low fat meals, too. BOOORING. I enjoy reading the blogs I currently do, about yummy recipes that nourish us as we work toward finding a healthy balance in life. Eden, you post fab ones, by the way. 🙂
I’d much rather hang out with a foodie (sans ED) than someone who is running a marathon, watching their cals, and constantly talking about being beautiful. I dunno, maybe I’m just a biatch, but I’m sort of okay with that.
And hell, yes, I still have problems, too, but I’m not trying to hide them anymore.
You are too funny. I do not hate you for saying that. I get annoyed by it too at times. But I do like how it feels to leave and find a little message somewhere. It doesn’t necessary help your body image, but it brightens your day. That is always a great thing. I think foodbuzz will definitely be different. It will be a different type of popularity contest.
Astrid, if I found a note written by you, I’d feel happy, you have such lovely and artful handwriting. Mine looks like chicken scratch, if anybody were to read a note i would leave, they’d be like “WTF?”
I only very quickly read this article and find it poorly written (and likely poorly researched). There is a definite negative bent to it that rubs me the wrong way. Not to say that I love the blogs that they are referring to. To be honest, the first blog I ever read was Kath Eats Real Food and eventually had to stop reading because it was so damn upbeat that I was getting depressed just reading it (I know this is my own stuff…) and could not relate.
I think the great thing about this whole blogsphere crap is that you can decide for yourself what you want to read and when you want to comment, etc. I have noticed that some blogs seem very into what seems to be overexercising/undereating but I try to reserve judgment because I’m not sure if that is the whole story. Or I just stop reading.
I feel the same way about upbeat blogs. But super depressing blogs simply make me angry. I just need blogs that are real and have a little of both.
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