feeding tube dieting? seriously?!?

I'm not often compelled to rant about current events or things that I see going on in the world. Today is different. There was a news story this evening about women using feeding tubes to lose weight quickly so that they can fit into their wedding dresses. SERIOUSLY?!? While I appreciate them drawing attention to the fact that feeding tubes exist, I find it wholeheartedly disturbing that any physician would allow such a horrible thing (which is indeed life-sustaining for people who need it), but it seems that it's being used incorrectly, somehow scoffing at those who rely on it for real nutrition.

An NG tube (the kind that goes up your nose and into your stomach) is painful in itself. It hurts when they put it in, and it hurts while it's in there. It even hurts when they take it out. It sits like a lump in the back of your throat that you just can't swallow. Nutritious fluid is dripped into it, landing in your stomach--and apparently keeping a dieting person from being hungry. I not only hated having one in, but I also threw up the fluid that was being dripped in anyway, so never got to experience the "not hungry" part.

Instead of making healthy food choices & getting more exercise, people have opted for an NG tube?!?

I'm completely disgusted that THIS is what our world has come to. Being thin has become so important in our society, and the wedding industry has become so vast that women are going through medical procedures just so that they can fit into their "ideal" image of a bride.

UGH.

Tonight my prayer is that women (girls, teens, and my little growing girl) can realize WHO they are and WHOSE they are. I pray that they know they are loved, they are beautiful, and that no matter what size they are--their hearts are so much more important than what their bodies look like. Each one of them has been created individually and they are each gifted, prized, and capable of changing the world just by walking out who they are called to be.

And none of that requires a feeding tube. (unless you're actually sick.)