Butterflies and binge eating

Today I was in a shopping centre looking at clothes with my daughter and I noticed that they were selling tiny bracelets for a charity called "Butterflies". It is a charity to support people with eating disorders.

Hmm.

This is a totally random connection to my blog. I am writing the blog because losing weight is an important issue for me.

I chose the name because I like butterflies. It was only this year that I saw photos of glasswing butterflies and that seemed to me to be quite lovely - they looked amazing, and I liked the name. I thought it was perhaps not all that well known though, so I wondered if I might use it for myself sometime as a username. I didn't use it here though. Those butterflies live a long way from me, so I figured I wouldn't be able to use photos of them - and yet the idea of having a name linked to butterflies was kinda stuck in my head by then.

Butterfly scales

A butterfly has tiny scales linked to each other all over its wings. These tiny but rather complex structures help give the colour and potential iridescence of the wing. Also, together, they are what makes up the wing's surface - so they allow the butterfly to fly.

I see all the small pieces of information and the separate days where I take time to reflect and write here as being like butterfly scales that will eventually allow me to live with more freedom and more beauty.

Weight loss can be seen as simple. Just consume less calories than you use and you will lose weight. That makes sense. Seeing it as simple is a reasonable perspective for some people. I guess they would say I just need to decide to fly. However the reality for most of us is that we need more detailed information than that, and turning information into useful knowledge and applying it, will take involve many smaller details, and small steps. They don't have to bog us down, but will be needed.

At any rate, I had no idea about this charity when I named the blog. It seems strange to me that on a day when I'm considering labelling or tagging the blog regarding binge eating, that I should see that the name links to this charity.

Of course not everyone really sees binge eating as an eating disorder but it can be. Also I'm aware that aside from those with an actual disorder there are many others who wouldn't be classified as having a disorder but who are troubled by binge eating. It's both a mental and a physical problem. It can result from both mental and physical issues and it can cause both mental and physical issues.

I write here more often than I post.

I find writing here helpful. I just don't always have time to turn what I've written into something ready to publish.