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SASKATOONEXPRESS - July 3-9, 2017 - Page 1
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Saskatoonʼs REAL Community Newspaper
COUPON EXPIRES JULY 10, 2017
Volume 16, Issue 26, Week of July 3, 2017
Finding selfacceptance People share their struggles on new website
Naomi Zurevinski has created a website — This Is My Self — where people can share their stories on their searches for self-acceptance. (Photo by Ellen May-Melin) Cam Hutchinson Saskatoon Express aomi Zurevinski started using a weight-loss plan when she was 12 years old. She was bigger than the other girls in her dance classes. In her mind, being big and dancing didn’t jibe and society seems to feel the same way. “I always felt uncomfortable in my own body, so I wanted to fix that and solve that by going on a diet,” she said last week while sipping a cup of tea. “I tried to change my body in a way that was not healthy.” Zurevinski Tammy said it shocks some when TA070308
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they hear that a 12-year-old girl was using a weight-loss program. She said the more she delved into it, the more common she found it to be among children, especially girls. Now, at age 23 and feeling pretty good in her own skin, Zurevinski is spreading the word on self-acceptance through a website — This Is My Self — that went live last month. “The purpose is I wanted to create a space for people to share their stories of self-love, but also for other people to go to if they are struggling with self-love.” The site includes Zurevinski’s struggle to accept herself, as well as the stories of
six others. She has another 15 stories and plans to upload them intermittently. “I think generally, looking at all the stories, the general message is ‘I am not perfect, I won’t be perfect and that’s fine and I’m still going to like who I am.’” Zurevinski’s struggles continued through high school and into university. “I just wanted to look a certain way and that was based on what I saw in media and other people in my school. I would say that is where it came from; more internalization of the values our society upholds. “In Grade 11, I really started to monitor what I was eating. I would try to restrict myself to 1,200 calories a day and do a
really intense workout.” She was eating mostly fruits and vegetables and nothing substantial. “I was always hungry, but I lost a whole lot of weight — 165 at my highest, then I weighed 130 which was a drastic drop in the span of time I was doing that. “I felt good for having lost the weight, but I didn’t feel any happier. I didn’t feel any better about myself because, looking back, the weight wasn’t the problem. It was a general lack of self-acceptance and self-love.” Zurevinski said she realized she had to address the mental side of her feelings. (Continued on page 6)
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