Mama Cass Elliot helped me learn to love my body

Content warning: disordered eating.

I never knew what an impact an eighth-grade field trip to the local water park would have on me. I still remember the sinking feeling in my stomach once I saw all my classmates were wearing bikinis while I hid my belly rolls and cellulite underneath a one-piece, which suddenly seemed grandmotherly. The same shame still heats up my cheeks when I remember how my thick thighs stuck to the plastic inner tube.

This field trip marked the beginning of several years of disordered eating, marked by obsessively restricting my calorie intake and monitoring everything I...