SACRAMENTO, Calif. — As a teenager with dreams of becoming a professional dancer, Katie Kilbourn often found herself comparing her body to the ones she saw on stage. By age 16, she started engaging in disordered eating behaviors — initially restricting the food she consumed and later purging.
Through therapy and support groups, Kilbourn, 31, of Sacramento, eventually found healing. But it wasn’t until her eating disorders had taken over her life that she says anyone talked to her about accepting and celebrating the body she was given.
“I was well into my late teens before I started hearing people say things like ‘all bodies are good bodies’ or that you can be successful no matter what you look like,” she said. “If someone had talked to me when I was like 12 or younger, I think it would have helped nip things in the bud.”
