FREMONT, Ohio (WTVG) – A local student is speaking from experience and using the power of poetry to help others who may be struggling with anorexia.
Brooklyn Foos is a senior at St. Joseph Central Catholic High School in Fremont. She said the goal of this book is to inspire and empower others to love their bodies for how they serve them, rather than how they look.
“There’s not really a look or a size or a shape for anorexia, anybody can have it,” said Foos.
Foos knows firsthand what it’s like to struggle with personal image.
“At the end of eighth grade is when COVID kind of started, and I decided that I wanted to get in shape even though I wasn’t really out of shape, and when the world was kind of in turmoil and everything was out of control, my eating and my exercise was the one thing that I could control. So it kind of became like a downward spiral with my anxiety,” said Foos.
Foos was diagnosed with anorexia when she was a sophomore in high school and spent that entire summer in the hospital getting treated.
“It was really difficult because I kind of lost who I was,” said Foos. “I lost my sense of authenticity and it was a really good opportunity for me to re-create who I want to be when I came out of treatment.”
Foos said it allowed her to feel more comfortable in her own skin. And she turned that message into a book for others.
“Basically talks about and kind of summarizes my time in treatment and the things that I felt and the things that I experienced. And then the book goes through body neutrality statements that I created, but they’re one step deeper and they turn into poetry,” said Foos. “Instead of saying, I love myself the way that I am and the way that I look, it’s: I appreciate my arms because they allow me to embrace and hug the people that I love and my feet let me walk on the beach.”
Her end goal is to help others who may be struggling and show them just how special they are.
“My biggest hope is that they take the time to let themselves see things from a different perspective, and move away from what they constantly see when they’re scrolling through their phones,” said Foos. “And I just hope that people can see how special it is to be alive and to be in the body that they’re in.”
The title of this book is “Enough: A Poetic Journey to Body Neutrality.” Foos has a second book called “The Art of Falling” which is a book of poetry about falling in love. She said the two books bring her story full circle, saying that if you want to love someone else, you have to be able to love yourself first.
You can purchase her books here and visit her personal website here.
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