Let's Talk About Body Image
If you’re familiar with my content, you’ve heard me talk about the link between body image and our relationship with food.
In short, when we feel triggered by negative body image, we begin to try and control, or at the very least judge, our food in hopes of making the uncomfortable feelings of shame and fear around our physical body go away.
What we know for sure is that messing with our food or feeling guilt and tension around our food decisions doesn’t lead us anywhere remotely good, (and if you’re not convinced of that yet check out THIS blog post or THIS one).
So what DO we do when we feel shitty about our bodies, and we know that dieting isn’t the answer?
I have plenty of responses for that, in fact there’s a whole module in the Free From Bingeing Program dedicated to Body Image alone, but for now, I’ll break it down into two categories for you:
How do we change our perspective on negative body image thoughts
How do we increase positive body image thoughts
#1 is important, because it sets us up for success--where success means feeling more emotionally stable and less triggered about our physical appearance.
And what I want to share with you first and foremost, is that your relationship to your body and body image is a life-long journey.
There isn’t a magical place we get to where we just 100% stop having any negative thoughts about our body. In our society, that’s nearly impossible. So the more you normalize these thoughts, the less up in arms and the less “omg omg I need to fix this” you’ll get when they come up.
Once you start to get more comfortable with those thoughts being there, you can do some nervous system regulation to help the physical and emotional symptoms of being triggered.
For example, if you’re at the beach and freaking out about taking your cover up off, cultivating presence and talking yourself through the moment can be really helpful.
Ask yourself: “How DO I want to feel in this moment? What are some things I want to experience while at the beach?”
So for me it might be focusing on the sand between my toes, on playing with my nieces or nephews, on getting a tan or going swimming. And this might all happen while I do some deep belly breathing, while I focus on my 5 senses, and even maybe doing some EFT Tapping! (google this technique if you haven’t heard of it).
So essentially you’re helping regulate your nervous system and focusing on how you want to feel, rather than the things that you’re freaking out about in your head.
And when it comes to #2, building a positive body image, I have one huuuuge tip for you.
This change was probably the single most powerful thing I did for my body image at the start of my recovery, and it’s fairly simple:
Curate the images you see.
Our brain works in a way that when we see an image enough times, we believe that image is the “right” one.
So if you are seeing the same image of beauty, of happiness, of abundance as thin, white, wealthy women...well what else are you trained to believe?
This actually has no standing in the “real world”.
All up and down the weight spectrum we see happy relationships, we see disappointment and heartache, we see confidence and insecurity, we see wealth and poverty…
Your weight doesn’t actually mean anything about your life, other than what you make it mean.
So surrounding yourself with body positive influencers, fat activities, plus sized models etc etc, will help you accept and love YOUR body for its own unique beauty, instead of feeling ashamed for not fitting into some 0.000001% mold that will drive you absolutely batshit trying to obtain.
Ya with me?
If you need inspo or suggestions for accounts to follow, email me [email protected] and I’ll gladly share the curated list I give all my Free From Bingeing clients!
Also feel free to email me if this was helpful, or if you have any other questions about body image work. I love hearing from you!
XOX
Natalie