A person with a healthy relationship to food and their body is a unicorn in today’s world. Since the 1880’s women have been pressured to focus on their appearance by controlling their food. Today’s social media augments these demands, targeting younger victims and men as well. Beauty standards constantly evolve so that oppressive industries can profit off of our insecurities.
One approach to confronting these industries is body positivity. Unfortunately, body positivity isn’t as inclusive as it was intended to be. The movement has been co-opted by people who barely fall outside of the current beauty standard. Not to mention, going from hating your body to loving it is a far jump. It’s not realistic to leap from one end of the spectrum to the other. On top of that, as long as we are centering our appearance, we perpetuate the belief that women are bodies above all else.
Body image work is an undertaking. It requires unlearning the conditioning that we’ve carried with us through most of our lives. If you feel overwhelmed by the thought, keep reading for expert advice from 8 professionals:
What’s one thing people can do to improve their relationship to food and/or their body?
Bex Brame
Intuitive Health Coach
I’d say one thing that can have a huge impact on a woman’s relationship to food and their body is to let go of perfectionism. Our ‘diet brain’ has us thinking that if we don’t do something ‘perfectly’ (e.g. eat the ‘perfect’ diet, follow a ‘perfect’ workout routine’) then there’s no point in even bothering. That’s a crazy amount of pressure to put on yourself and inevitably you’ll feel guilty and like a failure when you “fail” – it can lead to a downward spiral.
Instead, focus on doing what feels good to you. Eat the salad, sure – but enjoy the cookie after – one doesn’t cancel the other. Move your body – but it doesn’t have to be an all-out sweat-fest to ‘count’. If a gentle walk or a slow swim takes your fancy, do that instead.
Give yourself permission to slow down, say no to perfectionism, and be guided by what will feel good to YOU, rather than by what you feel you HAVE to do.
Maria Scrimenti
Intuitive Eating Counselor
Imagine caring for yourself as you’d care for a small child. You wouldn’t withhold or restrict food. You’d speak gently. You’d make time for movement and play. Do that for you. You are worth it.
Tara Rivera
Certified Nutritionist
I love this quote from Michael Pollan, ‘The more we honor cultural differences in eating, the healthier we will be.’ Because we live in a land with the indigenous and many immigrants, a one size way of eating doesn’t fit all. Embracing your cultural foods and connecting to the land can help us honor our ancestors. We can find healing in our family’s food stories of survival and resistance, giving a sense of solidarity and identity. Let’s think about how we can decolonize our diets, return to cooking and eating traditional foods, and remove diet culture mentality from our lives by no longer believing that cultural foods are ‘unhealthy’. Give ourselves permission to reclaim our cultural traditions because history and power are in our food stories.
Casey Urban
Level II Eating Disorder Coach
Accepting body neutrality into your life is a beautiful way to improve body image. Recovering from my eating disorder was THE hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life (harder than having a child and going through postpartum depression). The idea of ‘loving my body’ in the beginning seemed damn near impossible. Once I learned about body neutrality, expressing neutral thoughts towards my body rather than negative ones, my recovery started to shift. It felt more natural, rather than forced. I hope you too can work towards body neutrality!
Stefanie Bender
Non-Diet PT Intuitive Eating Coach for Strength Training
To improve our relationship with our body, we believe we must change the way our body looks. This stems from the belief that everyone in a lean, muscular body is happy & has a good body image; which is far from the truth. In reality, improving our relationship with our body is achieved by improving the way we see, think, feel & act in our body. Start by….
- Practicing compassionate self-talk daily
- Being open to the idea that thin bodies are not superior, that all bodies are equal, that you are more than a body
- Practicing gratitude for the functions of your body daily
- Stopping yourself from obsessively looking in the mirror & ruminating about your perceived flaws
- Unfollowing social media accounts that send you into ‘comparison mode’
Know that improving your relationship with your body is a journey; be patient with yourself, be kind to yourself.
Deanna Beaton
Personal Trainer, Intuitive Movement, Eating & Body Image Coach
If you can give yourself permission to rest, to NOT workout, to ditch all the “shoulds,” then it’ll be easier to hear what your body is asking for.
Learning how to listen to & trust your own body when it comes to food & exercise is how you move away from choices made out of fear–fear of being unhealthy, fat, rejected, ugly– and toward choices made out of love for yourself and your body.
And THAT is what is ACTUALLY good for your health!
Denise Wogan
Nutritional Therapist & Life Coach
Having worked on my own relationship with food for some time, looking back I think the one thing that supported me most was taking the focus and power away from food. When lots of parts of my life weren’t making sense, I was controlling food to make things better. One day I realised I had to go out there and find ways to bring fun into my life. And so a journey of discovery began of yoga, sea swimming, education, colouring. So my one thought for you is to actively encourage yourself to think less about food and more about what other fun stuff you want to do with your time.
Ashley Paige
Body Image and Intuitive Eating Coach, Yoga Instructor
Educate yourself about Intuitive Eating and Health At Every Size. Having a poor relationship to food and body is a product of misinformation about what it means to be healthy. There is an extensive body of research that disproves the belief that fat=unhealthy. Learning how the roots of diet culture stem from racism, white supremacy, and patriarchy makes doing this work incredibly liberating.
If you would like support on your journey to healing your relationship to food and body, click here to apply to book a free consultation for my 1-1 coaching program.
