Grateful Tree and the Fashion of Gratitude

Last year, I had the opportunity to interview Brett Clouser (of the reality show Survivor) and Courtney Schreiber of The Monument of Our Hearts (TMOOH). I was so impressed by their clothing company and their mission to "design apparel that creates conversations and empowers people to feel beautiful." In addition, they donate a percentage of their profits to different organizations that promote healthy body image. You can check out that post here (and their merchandise here). While I believe that fashion is generally created with the intention to inspire conversations about beauty, perhaps it is designers like Brett who are trying to empower people by starting different kinds of conversations that are counter-intuitive to the fashion industry's definition of beauty. 

Michelle, me, Karen- grad school friends!

It is rare to find socially conscious clothing lines, which is why I was super excited to hear that one of my friends from graduate school recently started such a clothing line- The Grateful Tree!! But the most exciting part about it is that the clothing company she started is focused on gratitude and helping others. Karen Thiel, the designer, started this company as a way to raise money for her favorite charities. In addition, when any product is sold, a tree is planted through their partner organization Trees for the Future. You can read more about that here. Karen and I met while we were both graduate students at Arizona State University studying counseling psychology- we endured some long study sessions together but have fun memories of Phoenix Suns games and taking a girls trip to Vegas! While we were in school, Karen was volunteering and doing her internship at Healthy Futures, a practice in Scottsdale that specializes in treating eating disorders. (In fact, one of the charities that she donates to is NEDA! The National Eating Disorders Association- more on that below..). Anyways, she got a job there after graduation and worked for awhile before taking a break to launch her clothing line. I had a chance to ask her some questions and wanted to share more with you about what she is doing!!


Q: What inspired you to start Grateful Tree? And where did the name come from? 

Karen: Grateful Tree is a combination of things I love: Positivity, apparel with a cause, comfortable clothing, helping others, & the fashion of gratitude. Last year I was going through much work stress. I craved a creative outlet and something that was light hearted and fun. It felt right to have giving as a key component. The name- “Grateful” came because I wanted to promote the fashion of gratitude; that a shift in thoughts and perspective towards finding appreciation is powerful in times of distress and crucial for finding enjoyment in life. I chose a virtual “Tree” due to my liking of metaphor and symbolism. Trees encompass meaning from so many things; growth, nature, yoga, strength, stability, and beauty. 

Q: Tell me about your shirt that raises money for NEDA!
Karen: I’ve dedicated the Grateful “Hope” shirt to NEDA. Grateful Tree will donate 30% of proceeds from sales of this tee to help support their endeavors. The shirt is turquoise, vintage soft, and made in the U.S.A.

The Grateful 'Hope' Shirt

Q: Why did you choose NEDA as a charity to give to? 


Karen: I’ve been familiar with the work of NEDA for the last few years while working as a clinician in a counseling clinic specializing in the treatment of eating disorders. I admire their creative ventures that bring hope and awareness to communities. Societally, I think that eating disorders are misunderstood and underdiagnosed. Having frequently witnessed the strife that they can have on individuals and families, I feel tremendous compassion for the cause.


I am so proud of Karen for all that she is doing to raise awareness of eating disorders and donating time and money to such a great cause. Beyond that, it's exciting to see someone pursuing creative and unique avenues to impact the lives of others in positive ways. I would encourage you all to check out the website, which is located at www.thegratefultree.com  --you can access it by clicking here. Karen also has a blog that you can check out here! If you are interested in updates and new products, you can also follow The Grateful Tree on Facebook! 

Beauty and The Mile High City !!!

Happy Saturday, everyone! It appears that I have taken an unintentional vacation from blogging :). I think it’s been almost two weeks since I’ve posted! A LOT has been going on! I am currently on a plane from Denver to Detroit (hey Eminem!) and will hopefully be back in Raleigh in a few short hours after a quick layover.

This past week, I had an opportunity to visit Eating Recovery Center in Denver on Thursday and Friday. It was an amazing trip and I’m looking forward to sharing more about my time there very soon! I will say… the staff there is beyondexcellent. Four of the leading eating disorder doctors in the world work there (this is no joke), and together make up a pretty powerful team. I absolutely loved my time there, love their approach to treating adolescents and adults with eating disorders, and loved my time in Denver. I even got to see one of my oldest friends, Melissa, who lives in Denver- so, so fun.

I did have something I wanted to share real quick, in going along with my last post- ‘Body Beautiful.’ I watched Glee for the first time ever while I was on my way out to Denver Thursday. I’ve been told I’m a little out of the loop since I’ve never seen an episode so I thought I would take advantage of my time cooped up in a plane to catch up. Because I haven’t seen it before, I can’t really tell you much about where I was in the storyline, who the characters are etc.. But it just so happens that I watched an episode about beauty and weight. Funny, huh? :) The cheerleaders were being weighed like wrestlers, and had to ‘make weight’ in order to cheer at a pep rally or something. Well, this one girl started trying to starve herself so she could make weight. At the end, she realized that the whole thing was not worth her health and well-being, after being miserable and having another girl open up and share her own experiences with unhealthy, disordered eating. It was slightly cheesy and there were a few touchy, unfunny jokes about weight/eating disorders, but the overall message was really important and good. Below is a clip from the episode (wish I could find one that wasn't just the song, but -- I just thought it would be fun to post anyways). Check it out- and don't mind the first few seconds of the clip that are in Spanish and advertising a video game or something :).

I’m going to sign off and catch up on a few things, but I’m excited to share more about my trip to Denver soon! Also, don’t forget about the National Eating Disorders Association Walk happening THIS SUNDAY!!! At Meredith College in Raleigh. If you are interested in participating (or are not able to be there but would like to donate to the cause) follow this link. 

The Week in Review...

As National Eating Disorders Awareness Week draws to a close (well, it's actually over as of yesterday- haha), I wanted to share a few quick highlights from went on in Raleigh this week. There were several events open to the public (if interested in seeing what they were, follow this link) and overall, they were pretty well attended! Ellen Morrison, a local dietician specializing in eating disorders, gave a talk on Tuesday night, in conjunction with a brave and strong recovered patient. Together they discussed what to do if you suspect a friend or loved one is struggling with an eating disorder. It was such a great presentation, and people had opportunities to ask questions and share. It was a great night. If you are interested in the information that was presented that night, shoot me an email or let me know in the comments section of my blog and I can get that for you!


On Thursday night, the documentary Beauty Mark was shown in Jones Chapel at Meredith College. I had not seen it before, and I highly recommend it. Diane Israel documents her journey of recovery from an eating disorder, as well as the media's influence on how we define beauty in our culture. Take a look at a clip below!


 


The last event of the week was a fashion/art show that honored women of all sizes and shapes. It was really a beautiful night. If I'm being totally honest, I was a little hesitant about the whole idea of having a fashion show, just because the fashion industry is SOO loaded when it comes to beauty/eating disorders/etc. While I understood the intention, and I knew that the models had been nominated for this event based on qualities of inner beauty, I still felt like a fashion show might send the wrong message. But I was SO wrong. It was actually such a powerful experience to see such a diverse group of young women modeling (cute clothes I might add- thanks for donating the clothes for the night, Francesca's!!). We also were able to auction off some art that had been donated by eating disorder patients. Proceeds will benefit NEDA, and will be added to the donations that are have been given for the Raleigh NEDA Walk. 

If you are interested in participating, volunteering or walking in the Raleigh NEDA walk that is coming up on Sunday April 3, follow this link to register or send me an email for more info! Would love to see your smiling faces, out supporting a great cause on an April Spring day! :) And as a disclaimer, you don't have to walk on the day of the event. You can just come out and show your support! There will be different things going on- booths, a speaker, a silent auction... I can't wait! :)

On 'Health'

In going along with my new theme of 'compassion' (see this post for more), I really really want to address the comments that Rush Limbaugh made on Monday about Michelle Obama. I just heard about this-- and am thankful for an opportunity to work on being compassionate:-). For those of you who haven't heard (I almost hate to tell you), but on his radio show on February 21st, Limbaugh made some pretty inflammatory comments about the First Lady. As you may know, she has worked very hard on initiating a campaign to fight childhood obesity. There have certainly been mixed feelings from the eating disorder community concerning her approach, but nonetheless, she ended up adding eating disorders under the campaign's umbrella and is (hopefully) working to address eating disorders as well.

Anyways, from what I understand, Michelle O. was vacationing at a ski resort recently with her family, and it was made known that she enjoyed a nice dinner while she was there, which included ribs. Limbaugh's comments: "The problem is, and dare I say this, it doesn't look like Michelle Obama follows her own nutritionary, dietary advice. We hear that she's out eating ribs at XXXX calories a serving with XXX grams of fat per serving. I'm trying to say that our First Lady does not project the image of women that you might see on the cover of the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue or of a woman Alex Rodriguez might date every six months or what have you." He went on to say, "She's a hypocrite. Leaders are supposed to be leaders. If we're supposed to eat roots and berries and tree bark, show us how." Yikes!!!

While I am really sad that he made these comments, and would like to respond with some choice words, I think this is a great opportunity to address an important issue! Perhaps this whole exchange once again highlights the fact that we really struggle with extremes in our society. Black and white thinking, the 'diet mentality' .... call it what you want. But seriously-- who decided that you can't be healthy and eat ribs at dinner when you're on vacation (or not on vacation)? Being truly healthy requires moderation and balance. Simply eating "roots, berries and tree bark" would be just as much of a problem as if we all ate ribs for every meal.

Another thing I want to challenge is the assumption that looking like a swimsuit model is the picture of health. I could be wrong here, but it sounds like Limbaugh is saying that Mrs. Obama should look like a model. You cannot tell how healthy someone is simply by looking at them. Of course in extreme cases, yes- you can see with your eyes when someone might be ill (very underweight or very overweight). But people who may look fit, toned or 'in shape', thin, those who look average and healthy, ... they may have heart problems, blood pressure problems, bone density issues, etc due to unhealthy behaviors (diet pills, over exercise, steroids, purging, etc)... You never know how someone is treating their body and you never really know how healthy someone is just by looking at them. To infer that Michelle Obama needs to look like a swimsuit model in order to prove that she is following her own dietary advice is almost kind of funny because it is just so not true. The suggestion that swimsuit models or girls that A-Rod dates are the barometer of health is, in my opinion, one of the reasons why women in our culture struggle so much with knowing what it is to be truly healthy, not to mention why they have a tough time believing that beauty comes in all shapes and sizes. Most people (95% of the population in fact) could be healthy, balanced eaters and no matter what, will not ever have bodies that look like models. 5% of the population has a body type in nature that resembles that of a model.  And then there is airbrushing...  many of the models and images that we see are not even real. The point is- we aren't all made the same and we all have different body types, bone structures, etc. It is irresponsible to perpetuate the myth that 'health' looks one way, but it is also irresponsible for us to buy into it.

This post is getting lengthy- so I will conclude by encouraging you to think about what true health is and where you came up with your beliefs about what it is to be healthy. 'Health' is a loaded word. Limbaugh's assertions about health are clearly skewed, but remind all of us that we need to take a step back and consider what true health really looks like. Are extremes a measure of health?? How do you know if you are being truly balanced in your approach with food? These are important questions to consider.

A Little Update...

Back in April, I felt inspired to re-post a blog that Nancy Matsumoto wrote regarding the dilemma of when to speak up and express concern over a friend's eating disorder. You can read that post here. Nancy is a blogger (she blogs over at Eating Disorders and Nutritional News), but she is also an accomplished writer, as well as a friend that I have mentioned on my blog many times. Recently, a reader of mine responded to that particular blog post and was really touched by what Nancy had written. I shared that with Nancy, who then wrote a follow up blog. If you are interested in checking that out (it's a good one!), follow this link. Thanks to Nancy for her kind and compassionate words on such a difficult topic!