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Now believe me… with my body image issues, going naked wasn’t even vaguely on my radar screen and neither was going to a clothing optional resort. Listen, in those days I even changed in the dark! Heaven forbid hubby saw me and I sure didn't want to see myself.

I begged and pleaded to leave but it was my fault we were there and hubby wasn't budging. He had no qualms going naked and whether I liked it or not- we were there to stay for 4 days! Eeeech!

Here was my dilemma - firstly I'd been brought up in a staunch Catholic environment so I just 'knew' that nudity of this nature had to be sinful. With that background I can't blame myself for thinking that all nudists were sex perverts. So, as you can imagine, I was incredibly fearful. All I could think of was that I wasn't leaving the camper for 4 days.

But damn, peeking out from behind the curtains, I couldn’t see anything about social nudism that looked anything other than a lot of pretty normal looking people having fun. Um... everyone except me, that is!

Hubby was having drinks with the neighbors and their little boy kept coming over to remind me his family were waiting for me to join them for a drink.

A drink? At this stage I thought I'd probably need something like ten double gins before I was getting out there in my 'birthday suit'! Anyway to cut a really long story short, wishing my Creator had thought to give me way bigger hands, I eventually ventured out wishing I was anywhere else but here.

Social Nudism was initially excruciating...
BUT then something changed!

Then the second miracle happened.

I’d been to my fair share of 'bikini beaches' with their before and only ever noticed all the firm and gorgeous bodies that in my eyes, I looked absolutely nothing like. I was this fat and disgusting blob!

But here at this clothing optional resort (where no-one chose to wear clothing I might add) suddenly with everyone going naked, I suddenly noticed something I'd somehow never registered before.

Bodies came in all shapes and sizes and mostly looked nothing at all like models. Surprise! Surprise! the vast majority of bodies looked comfortingly like mine. It was such a relief to feel so normal, to suddenly find myself fitting in. To feel so blissfully comfortable and free in my body was the most incredible feeling.

With the wisdom of hindsight, I can say I was doing what humans do naturally – pick up on information that fits in with what our 'truths' and disregard any evidence to the contrary. No wonder my 'truth' that: “MY body wasn’t good enough,” had only grown stronger.

But the miracles weren't over yet.

After a while I no longer noticed people’s shapes and sizes but what started to jump out at me was the depth of their spirit and the size of their personalities. It’s not to say I didn’t notice bodies, it’s just that they became so irrelevant.

You won't believe what changed me

She was vibrant, she laughed, she was fun to be around, and most importantly, as I discovered, she was in love with herself and life.

If she could love herself, fat wobbles and all – why couldn’t I? By comparison, my body was tiny and yet I was wasting my life wrapped in self-disgust.

She blew the myth that men don't like fat women right out the window. Wherever she went, she drew people (and plenty of men) to her like a magnet. When I got to know her and I asked her about her body image and how comfortable she looked going naked, I discovered her secret that made me sit bolt upright.

"Cari," she said, "show me one holy text that says that 200 kgs makes me any less worthwhile in God's eyes than someone who weight only 70 kgs. So until someone proves me wrong - if God can love me, then surely I'm allowed to love myself!"

Zero eating disorders

I'd developed a burning desire to understand and share with others what it was about clothing optional resorts and social nudism that so successfully dissolves body dissatisfaction that eating disorders don’t exist?

And in this little paradise, as well as another clothing optional resort, Laguna del Sol, I discover that nothing has changed... it still feels amazing freeing to go nude. I still feel more comfortable going naked in this context than I do wearing a swimsuit on a bikini beach.

• allows you to see other bodies but somehow not pass the same kinds of judgment on them that happens in a clothed society.

And here finally was the answer to why you don't find eating disorders within a social nudism environment: YOU DON'T GET EATING DISORDERS WHEN YOU AREN'T JUDGING YOUR BODY.

Have you ever tried nudism? How as it? What was your experience -

share your views and see what others have to say!