Table of Contents

Sister Julie B. Beck: Continuing the Legacy
As the 15th general Relief Society president, Sister Julie B. Beck serves in a calling that few others can fully comprehend. In a recent interview, she shares what it’s like to work with Church leadership, what she wishes women in the Church better understood, and her inspiring testimony of faith.
—Jamie Lawson

The Crusade for Cleanliness: Fighting the Battle Against Pornography
Defend your family from pornography. Brush up on why we need to worry, who pornography is affecting, how to prevent it, how to get help, and why—amidst this daunting plague—there is still overwhelming hope.
—Briana Stewart

Difficult Decisions: When You Can’t Care for Your Parents
Where do you turn when you realize you are no longer capable or qualified to take care of an aging parent?
—Margaret Snider

Advice I’d Give My 21-Year-Old Self
We all know that when we’re older, hindsight is 20/20. What things do you wish you had known when you were younger?
—LDS Living readers

Eating Disorders: Not Just About the Food
Eating disorders are serious illnesses about much more than counting calories—the effects on body, mind, and spirit run deeper and broader. But for those who suffer from it and those who love them, there is a bright light of hope in recovery.
—Kaela Worthen

Destinations: Las Vegas
Looking for a family-friendly spring break getaway? Think Las Vegas—not glitz, gambling, and showgirls but hiking, history, and other adventures you’ll find once you step off the Strip.
—Sunny Morton

Everyday Saints: Cheryl McLane
What do battling breast cancer and shooting blanks from the back of a horse have in common? For Cheryl McLane, everything. A five-time breast cancer survivor, McLane finds strength in her faith and in doing what she loves most: being a cowgirl.

The Doctor Is In: How to Live to 100
Simple lifestyle changes could add years to your life.

Best of Blogs: {LDSL} Technology and Marriage

Advice for Life: Parenting vs. Marriage?

Family Home Evening: A Lesson on General Conference

Home Entertainment: Books, DVDs, Music, and Family Gear

Home Cooking: Favorite Casseroles

Just Asking: Jon Heder
Most people know him as Napoleon Dynamite, but there’s more to Jon Heder than dancing to “Canned Heat.”

Time Out for Women: Get Out of Your Own Way
Something happens when you do the thing you think you cannot do.
—Laurel Christensen

By Kaela Worthen
My senior year of high school, I stopped eating. My freshman year of college, I started throwing up. And the two continued to alternate in my life for the next five years.

Some people didn’t understand my seemingly irrational behavior. “Just eat,” some would say. “Stop forcing yourself to throw up.” But I couldn’t. Because those actions were just physical symptoms of a
deeper problem: I wasn’t good enough.

When I felt I couldn’t live up to the expectations of myself and others, I turned to food—or, more specifically, the lack thereof—as a coping mechanism. When I couldn’t handle everything I was given to
deal with in life, I turned to anorexia as a support. Because the more out of control things got, the more I had to find something I could control. And that something was food, calories, exercise, my weight. When I was overcome with self-hatred, I turned to purging as a way to try to empty myself of all of myself that disgusted me.

Eating disorders aren’t about the food, and they aren’t just a phase that someone gets over. They are serious illnesses about much more than the calorie content and carb count of every item on the table, and the effects—on body, mind, and spirit—run deeper and broader as well. But in the midst of all the pain an eating disorder can cause to those who suffer from it and those who love them, there is a bright light of hope in recovery.

Body
Eating disorders are a physical manifestation of an intangible problem. Because women often can’t fix something they can’t see or touch, and because some situations are out of their control, they aim for the closest thing they can fix and control: their bodies.

“Satan is so jealous of our bodies that he wants us to hate our bodies and to mistreat them, and he uses eating disorders as a way for that to happen,” explains Beth Allen, a recovered anorexic and bulimic who now leads a 12-step eating disorder recovery program in Arizona through the Church.

And mistreatment is an understatement. The documented effects of eating disorders upon the body are devastating.