Nursery Rhymes & Emotional Eating

Marci Anderson - Sunday, May 08, 2011


Emotional eating makes me think of the nursery song, "There was an old lady who swallowed a fly". Just in case you need a refresher:

There was an old lady who swallowed a fly
I don't know why she swallowed a fly - perhaps she'll die!
There was an old lady who swallowed a spider,
That wriggled and wiggled and tiggled inside her;
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly;
I don't know why she swallowed a fly - Perhaps she'll die!
There was an old lady who swallowed a bird;
How absurd to swallow a bird.
She swallowed the bird to catch the spider,
She swallowed the spider to catch the fly;
I don't know why she swallowed a fly - Perhaps she'll die!


And on and on it goes. She swallows a cat to get the bird, and even manages to swallow a goat, until we find that she swallows a horse (she's dead, of course).

Often there's something in life hurting or bothering us, and when we don't know what to do with it, we just swallow something else. But of course, it can't touch the real problem. We keep eating and eating to fix it, rather than addressing the underlying hurts and fears. Short-term, it's a familiar, non-threatening escape, but it's much harder in the long run, because nothing is solved.

When we're little, food may be the only thing we can control, and so at that point in time, the strategy makes sense. We can soothe ourselves and comfort our bodies. And yet as we get older, oftentimes the habit remains. Just like the song, as our life's challenges get bigger and bigger, often the eating issues do, too, until, well, it seems like it would take a horse to fill the hole in our hearts and to leave everything behind for a while.

It doesn't seem that this is in any way a problem limited to people with eating disorders. It seems that people (namely women, but men are catching up) have disordered eating behaviors to try to control the chaos in our lives. Sometimes the emotional eating is unmistakable and sometimes it's more subtle. And yet if we're paying attention, we know the difference between eating because something is delicious and eating for momentary stress relief.

The trick is in realizing what we're doing, and finding a new way of self-care. It takes courage, self-compassion and lots of support. Getting help and trying something new is brave work.

But it beats swallowing a goat.
At least, that's my vote.
(pardon the pun)

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This post is brought to you by Cheryl Harris, a Registered Dietitian in Alexandria, VA. She loves writing on matters near and dear to her heart, including a gluten-free diet, health, self-acceptance and of course, food. For more of Cheryl's musings, see www.harriswholehealth.com, www.gfgoodness.com or follow on Twitter @cherylharrisrd.
 

Intuitive Eating and Eating Disorder Recovery

Marci Anderson - Tuesday, April 26, 2011

I was recently asked by Nina V, owner of the website www.helpforeatingdisorder.com, to write an article on Intuitive Eating and eating disorder recovery. I recently completed my training to become a certified Intuitive Eating Coach and was thrilled to share my thoughts. Enjoy.

Intuitive Eating is a phrase that is famous among many people hoping to recover from an eating disorder. It’s actually a concept developed by two dietitians, Evelyn Tribole MS, RD and Elyse Resch MS, RD. My goal with this blog post is to accomplish four things:
1. Explain the difference between Intuitive Eating and eating that is guided by an eating disorder (ED)
2. Discuss whether or not it’s possible to recover from an eating disorder by becoming an Intuitive Eater
3. Discuss the challenges of incorporating Intuitive Eating into eating disorder recovery
4. Share some tools to address those challenges.

An eating disorder is, by nature, the antithesis of Intuitive Eating (IE). This page from the IE website summarizes the basic premise of what IE is all about. But when I talk with my clients about the differences between IE and disordered eating, here’s what they tell me.

Disordered Eating is:
• Rigid
• Dictated by rules
• Ignores physical cues for eating
• Very judgmental and associated with feelings of guilt and shame
• Cues to eat or not eat are based on external factors or from the head, not the body

Intuitive Eating is:
• Flexible
• Dictated by whether or not you are hungry or full
• Allows you to enjoy a wide-variety of foods, without guilt or shame
• Cues to eat are largely based on your physical need and cravings for certain types of food

Is it possible to recovery from an ED by using IE?
This is a really great question. And this article, written by Evelyn Tribole, gives a fantastic explanation of how IE can be used in the treatment of an ED. It’s written for clinicians, but I use it as a handout with my clients and highly recommend you read it. Within the article is a table that explains how IE applies to EDs. I explain to my clients that when you are in the throes of an eating disorder, it’s too noisy to hear your health IE voice. So we use a structured eating plan (sometimes called a meal plan) as a bridge to walk you away from your ED and towards becoming an IE. However, the structured eating plan is only a tool to get you from an unhealthy eating disordered place, to a place that you can start listening, trusting, and responding to your body. It’s extremely important to note that the very nature of an eating disorder disrupts your biology. And following a structured eating plan is like using “Control-Alt-Delete” on your body, giving it time to heal and reset it’s natural rhythm of hunger and fullness.

I personally feel that it is extremely difficult to do this on your own if you are in the midst of an ED. In fact, I always recommend that anyone with an ED work very closely with a dietitian that specializes in the treatment of EDs. They can prescribe an appropriate structured eating plan, help you learn to reframe disordered thoughts about your body and food, and guide you to a place of trust between you and your body. It is very very hard to do this on your own.

What are the challenges of incorporating IE into ED recovery?
• In the beginning, your hunger/fullness cueing isn’t reliable or accurate so you cannot use that to guide your eating. While that is the goal of IE, it is not appropriate in the beginning stages of recovery.
• It’s easy to confuse your healthy IE voice with your ED voice, especially early on.
• Years of disordered eating create distrust with your body, and trust is the core of IE.

What are some tools?
• If possible, work with an experienced RD who specializes in treating eating disorders
• Read the article I shared earlier and keep the table of how IE applies to ED in mind
• Buy the book “Intuitive Eating” as well as the fabulous IE cds (which are different from the book). Hold this up as your gold standard ad goal for recovery!
• Don’t go it alone. Support is crucial for recovery and you deserve it.

 

#endED Twitter Chat Re-Cap with Harriet Brown

Marci Anderson - Saturday, April 23, 2011

Last week Harriet Brown was our guest expert for our monthly #endED Twitter Chat. She taught us a lot about family based treatment for anorexia and the important roles that families play in supporting their loved one through recovery from an eating disorder. (If you want to learn more about her story, this is a link to the New York Times article that started it all.)

Below are some of the gems from our chat that I wanted to pass along to you. In no particular order...


  • 1. We need more research to assess the experiences and needs of families struggling with an eating disorder. You can help by completing this 15 minute survey online.
2. One of the biggest issues facing family based treatment is that few clinicians are trained. This is an excellent resource page for clinicians interested in learning more. Additionally, information on FBT training from the Institute for Child & Adolescent Eating Disorders can be found here.

3. Feeling confused about family based treatment for eating disorders? This awesome interview debunks myths and sets the facts straight. One of the biggest myths is that you have to be a special type of family to make family based treatment work. But according to this research article, most families can make it work.

4. Another obstacle to making family based treatment work is getting the pediatricians on board. This is a useful guide for community physicians.

5. Want to know what you can do to help your child develop a healthy relationship with food and their body? Banish fat talk, stop commenting on weight and size (it is over-valued in our culture), do not label foods as good or bad and do not use it as reward or punishment, have fun and be curious about food, and appreciate imperfection- it's a part of life!

6. Curious in learning more about family based treatment? Maudsley Parents is your go-to resource.

I hope this summary is useful. Feel free to pass it on and stay tuned for details on our next #endED Twitter Chat. 

About #endED
The goal of #endED is to bring anyone and everyone together who care about ending eating disorders. My hope is to end the silence and myths about eating disorders, create a place for honest and informed discussion, while offering hope and encouragement.

 

#endED Twitter Chat with Harriet Brown

Marci Anderson - Sunday, April 17, 2011

Our next #endED Twitter chat is Wed, April 20th with Harriet Brown. We'll discuss myths and facts about anorexia nervosa, family-based treatment, and ways in which families can positively affect eating disorder recovery. Check out the Facebook Event Page for more details, including how to participate in a twitter chat if you've never done so before. Below are the questions Harriet will be discussing. I hope you can make it!

About Harriet Brown
Harriet is a tremendously successful writer, whose work has appeared in The New York Times, O, Health, Glamour, Vogue, and more. She specializes in writing about issues that affect the lives of women and children.

In her book "Brave Girl Eating: A Family's Struggle with Anorexia" she "recounts her family’s efforts to help their oldest daughter recover from anorexia nervosa." It is one of the best books I have read on the topics of eating disorders, families, and family-based treatment. An absolute must-read for anyone affected by an eating disorder.

Questions we'll discuss during our Twitter Chat
Q1 What do you think are the biggest myths about anorexia nervosa (AN)?

Q2.1 What exactly is family-based treatment (FBT)?
Q2.2 How is it different from other types of eating disorder treatment?

Q3.1 What are the biggest myths about FBT?
Q3.1 What are the obstacles for families to use FBT?

Q4 What should I do if I think my child has an ED? (this would be a great place to share resources/stats)

Q5 How can we help our children have a balanced/healthy relationship with food and their bodies?

Q 6 What has been the most rewarding part of sharing your knowledge and experience with families struggling?

About #endED
The goal of #endED is to bring anyone and everyone together who care about ending eating disorders. My hope is to end the silence and myths about eating disorders, create a place for honest and informed discussion, while offering hope and encouragement.

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Connecting to Ourselves: Hungers

Marci Anderson - Tuesday, April 12, 2011

This past week I had the privilege of attending a conference with the phenomenal speaker Anita Johnston, Ph.D. and author of Eating in the Light of the Moon. Dr. Johnston talked a lot about deciphering our true hunger by using imagery and metaphors.
 
One thing in particular that really stood out to me was when she talked about our two different kinds of hunger.
1) Our physical hunger for food. Our bodies need food to fuel us through the day, and they will tell us through hunger when they are low on fuel (aka energy).
2) Our hunger for our other needs and desires. These can be spiritual, emotional, or relational needs.
When we learn what our hunger cues are, we can decipher whether or not we are physically hungry.

If we are not physically hungry, yet we want to eat—this is the perfect opportunity to get to know ourselves better.

I love this way of looking at eating. Whether we are restricting foods or emotional eating, both are the result of our bodies wanting to tell us something. There is no guilt in this. We just get to be a detective and try to find out more about ourselves.

We can ask ourselves: What feeling or emotion do I not want to feel? Why do I not want to feel it?

Our answer might be “I don’t know”. But overtime, our detective work might show us a pattern of wanting to eat when we are not hungry (or not wanting to eat when we are hungry) when __________________. We are all different and each one of us would fill in the blank differently. People might try to suppress anger after they get off the phone with a certain person, pain when they have an injury, loneliness when they are home alone, or fear when they are in a new situation that they are unsure about. The list could go on and on.

The bottom line: feelings and emotions are uncontrollable and are part of our everyday lives. We cannot control them anymore than we can control an earthquake or a tornado; we can only control our responses to our feelings. Yet, many times we unconsciously suppress them and do not allow ourselves to truly feel them.

Simply taking time to check in with your hunger, both physical or emotional, is a way to get to know yourself better and find out what your needs really are. Food does not meet all of our needs—it only satisfies physical hunger. So, next time you are craving a food but are not hungry, try exploring what feelings, emotional needs, or relational desires you might be suppressing. There is no judgment in eating or not eating whatever you are craving. There is only a great opportunity to explore what other “hungers” you have.

Note: Connecting to Ourselves is a monthly column written by Janet Zimmerman. We are CONSTANTLY surrounded with distractions and negative messages that take us away from what is really best for us (think about all of the icky dieting messages to get you geared up for bikini season, ugh!). Janet will be writing about a wide variety of topics to help you connect with the best ways to take care of YOU!  Janet is a dietetic student, positive body image advocate, and intuitive eating promoter. You can find Janet on twitter @JanetZimmerman where she loves tweeting yummy recipes, positive quotes, and mindful tweets.
 

Binge Eating Disorder Association Re-Cap

Marci Anderson - Sunday, April 03, 2011

*Disclaimer: this post re-caps my personal highlights and gems learned during the BEDA conference. It's much longer than I normally write for a blog post.

I just returned from a trip to Scottsdale, AZ for the Binge Eating Disorder Association (BEDA). Not only was the 90 degree weather therapeutic, but the speakers and networking was nourishment to my soul! I wanted to share with you the many gems that I took away from the conference.

Theme: Coming in to the Light

Chevese Turner is the founder of BEDA, an organization working towards the recognition, prevention, and treatment of Binge Eating Disorder (BED). Eating disorders have the highest suicide rate of any other mental illness. It’s time to bring these issues to light and that is exactly what this conference did.

B. Tim Walsh- chair of the Eating Disorders Work Group for the American Psychiatric Association (APA)

Binge Eating Disorder is not currently a recognized mental illness by the APA. However, it is being considered for the DSM-V which is slated to be out in 2013. It is not too late to share your voice! Recognizing BED as an eating disorder is vital to giving the disease validity, which facilitates appropriate treatment protocols and future research of the disease.

Ralph E. Carson- PhD, RD Registered Dietitian and Neuroscientist

Dr Carson discussed the neurochemistry of a binge. Delving into the science is beyond the scope of this blog, however my take home from his talk is that a person experiences hunger, fullness, and satiety very differently than a person without it. And now we understand that this is due to critical physiological differences in brain structure. The exciting news is that brains are plastic and able to change! A person with BED can change their brain by practicing mindfulness, which will be discussed later.

Reba Sloan MPH, RD

Reba discussed counseling strategies for Type 2 diabetes. She shared some great thoughts:

  1. There are many triggers that encourage us to overeat, including environment and emotions. It is easier to guard against environment than emotions.
  2. Rather than forbidding foods, ask yourself “Do I have the skill level to eat this food in moderation?” If the answer is no, think about ways you can allow yourself to eat the foods you are craving without going overboard (ie going out for it rather than keeping it at home, eating with a friend rather than alone)
  3. Guilt and shame are like quicksand- they immobilize you.
  4. The restricted brain is an obsessed brain
  5. Carolyn Coker-Ross MD, MPH

Dr Coker-Ross spoke about the difficulties and strategies of treating BED and obesity.

Fact: 1/3 of people with obesity suffer from BED

Fact: treating BED with dieting is not the solution. Diets have a 97% failure rate and predict future weight gain
Fact: BED is 57% hereditable

Fact: Individuals with BED have an exaggerated stress response, which is a risk factor for binging, insulin resistance, and weight gain. **Practicing mindfulness through yoga, deep breathing, meditation, or spending time in nature increases cortisol ad decreases the stress response.

Fact: Research shows that utilizing a Health At Every Size model WORKS. Health, not weight is the #1 priority.

Susan Albers PsyD

Susan spoke on learning the art of soothing yourself without food. Check out her book here. And there are some wonderful free resources from UCLA’s Mindful Awareness Research Center.

Wendy Oliver-Pyatt MD, FAED

Dr. Oliver-Pyatt spoke on finding common pathways to address obesity concerns while preventing eating disorders and weight bias. Her talk was the absolute highlight of the conference (for me) and I wish I could share it all with you. If you are concerned about obesity, please read the Academy of Eating Disorders position statement on the prevention of obesity in children, co-authored by Dr. Oliver-Pyatt. Because weight is not a behavior, it is not an appropriate target. We need to appropriately target healthy behavior, regardless of weight.

Michelle May MD

Dr May is full of life, energy, and a common sense approach to food and eating. If you want to improve your relationship with food, buy her book “Eat What You Love, Love What You Eat.” She led us through a mindful lunch. Here were some of my favorite one-liners:

Mindful eating is about eating with intention and attention

Having an awareness of why you’re eating gives you valuable information about your food choices. If you’re eating chocolate for pleasure or reward, eating it in a pleasurable or rewarding way! You can't enjoy it if you swallow it without chewing while rushing to a meeting.

Eating the right amount of food isn’t about being good, it’s about feeling good.

Your desire to binge on food will decrease as you stay connected to feelings of hunger and fullness.

Use nutrition as an awareness tool, not a weapon or religion

Being present with your food is about loving your food more. We obsess over food constantly…yet when we eat we are distracted from the experience.

You can’t enjoy the food in your mouth if you are busy loading your fork with the next bite!


 

#endED Twitter Chat with Evelyn Tribole Re-Cap

Marci Anderson - Thursday, March 24, 2011

In 2004 I was living in Southern California and completing my dietetic internship. I was one of the very few assigned to spend a couple of months working at a residential treatment facility for eating disorders. Not only did I learn that I was passionate about treating eating disorders, but I discovered the book “Intuitive Eating” for the first time. At this treatment facility, eating intuitively was used as the ultimate goal for balanced/healthy eating. I was sold and intuitive eating has informed both my work and my own relationship with food and my body ever since.

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When Evelyn accepted the invitation to serve as our guest expert for the #endED twitter chat, I was thrilled! I know that Evelyn and Elyse’s book and cd have served as beacons of light and hope for thousands of people, including those in recovery from an eating disorder.

Intuitive Eating (IE) is based on 10 principles. You can read them here. It is also rooted in three core concepts:
1. Unconditional permission to eat
2. Learn to cope with emotions without food
3. Rely on internal hunger & satiety cues

While we discussed quite a bit last night, here are a few token gems that I’ll keep with me (IE = Intuitive Eating and ED = Eating Disorder):

  • Public health needs to emphasize healthy behaviors--not a weight, not a size...
  • Decisions based on fear do not usually result in positive outcomes. It just reinforces more fear. 
  • Reject the diet mentality. We are trained by our culture to believe that dieting is not only acceptable, but expected.
  • Health includes, emotional health--flexibility, not perfection.
  • When you really listen and have full permission, your body craves all sorts of food. It craves balance.
  • Kids who diet are 13 times more likely to binge eat... 
  • Important to recognize there is no single time-table for recovery. 
  • Parenting--just eating dinner w/no electronics, gadgets, or tv--promotes attunement and family health
  • If we could promote more HAES & health campaigns we would be healthier & happier vs fear, body hating
  • Fat talk interferes w/ authentic truth. Negative feelings often dumped onto body--ie. Easier to be angrier at body than a friend.
  • People need positive eating experiences to help w/fear. But dieting escalates fear, because the desire to eat intensifies...
  • IE = honoring health, curiosity, & internal wisdom. ED = rigid, judgmental, external or from head. 
  • I think it's important that people learn that dieting predicts MORE weight gain. Several studies show this--in kids, teens & adults.

To learn more about intuitive eating, visit the website at www.intuitiveating.com. It’s an amazing site filled with free articles, research, and tips. Also, an updated version of Intuitive Eating will be coming out this year. And I highly recommend Evelyn and Elyse’s Intuitive Eating CD (which is different from but every bit as amazing as the book!).

If you attended the chat last night, what did you learn? What were your favorite gems?

The goal of #endED is to bring anyone and everyone together who cares about ending eating disorders. My hope is to end the silence and myths about eating disorders, create a place for honest and informed discussion, while offering hope and encouragement.
 

#endED Twitter Chat with Evelyn Tribole

Marci Anderson - Sunday, March 20, 2011

Our next #endED Twitter chat is Wed, March 23rd with Evelyn Tribole. We will be discussing intuitive eating and eating disorders. Check out the Facebook Event Page for more details, including how to participate in a twitter chat if you've never done so before.  Below are the questions Evelyn will be discussing. I hope you can make it!

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Q1.1 What are the principles of intuitive eating?
Q1.2 Which Intuitive Eating principle seems to be the most challenging for people?
Q2 What are the myths of intuitive eating?
Q3 What's the difference between an "intuitive eater" and someone whose food choices are guided by their eating disorder?
Q4.1 What are the obstacles to Intuitive Eating?
Q4.2 Is it really possible to be an Intuitive Eater in today's "toxic food environment"?
Q5 Do you think Intuitive Eating would help prevent eating disorders?
Q6 Can a person with an eating disorder recover by using "intuitive eating"?

About #endED
The goal of #endED is to bring anyone and everyone together who care about ending eating disorders. My hope is to end the silence and myths about eating disorders, create a place for honest and informed discussion, while offering hope and encouragement.

 

Client Spotlight: 5 Lessons on My Path to Recovery

Marci Anderson - Friday, March 11, 2011

Every so often I have the pleasure of sharing with you a client's story. (See the tag on the side of my blog: Client Spotlights). Eating disorder recovery is a long and scary road. Seeing the successes (both small and big), is a vital part of holding out hope and belief in a better life. So thank you J for sharing 5 of the lessons you have learned while on your path to recovery. Your willingness to share your journey is inspiring. And no one should go it alone.

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5 Lessons on My Path to Recovery

"I feel ready" she said. It was her last night as a patient in the Intensive Outpatient Program at the Cambridge Eating Disorder Center (CEDC). She was ready to take back the 9 evening hours a week and let go of the support the Center provided. She was ready to go out in the world and do it on her own. It was only my first week, and I remember wondering if I would ever feel that way. I was still having trouble saying, and truly believing, that I had Bulimia. It seemed like an impossibly long road to recovery. Would I ever be a normal eater? What is normal eating anyway? Was I prepared to make a life change that would reprogram 17 years of emotional eating, negative body image, body-based self-worth and self-loathing, and, more recently, a full-blown eating disorder? Would I ever feel ready? I knew I had to try.

Week after week, I went to the sessions. The support was tremendous and the lessons passed along were invaluable. But week after week, I would express, rather disconcertingly, that I could not see my path to recovery. CEDC was undoubtedly keeping me afloat, but how was I supposed to be ready to go out there and make it on my own if I didn't know the way. I'm left-brained and process-oriented. I wanted steps. I wanted a to-do list. I needed markers of my progress to know I was improving. I didn't even know what recovery looked like. How was I supposed to find something if I didn't know what I was looking for?

With the help and support of the Cambridge Eating Disorder Center and the guidance of Marci, (and I can't ignore - with patience and time), I am beginning to see the road to my recovery. There have been many lessons - these are a few that have been especially meaningful to me.

1. My eating disorder is a part of me, but I am not my eating disorder.

Once I admitted that I had an eating disorder and actually believed it, this was my first, and perhaps most important step to recovery. Shame and guilt melted away and I found a stronger sense of self-worth.

2. I can make decisions based on self-care.

Playing the game of "should" and "should not," guilt and obligation, will often lead you astray. Making a decision based on self-care will bring you back to balance. It can change your outlook, change your day, make you stronger, more confident, more in control. Decisions based on self-care can be difficult, but making the difficult decision, with your own well-being in mind, reinforces the notion that you are important and deserve to be taken care of.

3. I can separate food and feelings.

I have taken to telling myself, "This is how I feel. This is separate from my food choice." Sometimes it works. Sometimes it doesn't. But I am beginning to embrace the uncomfortable feelings and appreciate them for the messages they are sending me, or even, the gifts they are giving me. They are opportunities to learn what I truly need. Numbing with food makes me feel like a prisoner in my own body and a slave to my eating disorder. I'm learning to be comfortable with being uncomfortable. Feeling bad, in a strange way, means I'm getting better.

4. Black-and-white thinking is my enemy.

My diet does not need to be black and white, all or nothing. I can make food choices, moment by moment, and work towards progress, not perfection or ideals of thinness, as my goal. Progress towards healthy living and body-based signals of hunger and fullness through compassion, acceptance, and forgiveness.

My recovery, also, does not need to be black and white. The ups and downs are part of the process. I might fall back into all-or-nothing eating, I might make food choices based on feelings, I might make decisions that are not based on self-care. It's about doing the best I can with what I have in the moment and learning from the highs and the lows. It's about forgiving myself for the times I fall and being my own cheerleader when I get back up. Recovery is imperfect. The downs help us measure the ups and remind us of where we want to be.

5. Progress comes from taking risks.

I could not have gotten this far or learned this much without taking risks. Growth comes from working through the challenges we face, with food and in life, and finding the lessons on the other side. It comes from fighting our eating disordered brain, making the difficult choice, and reframing years of unhealthy thoughts. Growth comes from finding the strength that we never knew we had when we were unwilling to take the path that scared us.

These are the markers of my recovery, the signs I know that I am changing and growing. I am finding that, by taking away my eating disorder's control over me, my body and mind have slowly begun to step up. I understand that the road ahead may still be long, and though I am not yet recovered, I can see the path, I will stay on it as best I can, and I am confident that I will get there. I understand that my eating disorder has served a purpose, and that letting it go might be scary, but it will ultimately be what sets me free.

I am proud that on my last night at CEDC, I was also able to say, "I feel ready."
 

Guest Blogger: IAmGuiltless on Body Image

Marci Anderson - Friday, February 25, 2011

Today’s blog is brought to us by Elizabeth Jarrard, social media diva and co-owner of the blog “Guiltless", my favorite positive body image blog out there!

When was the last time you looked in the mirror and loved every part of your reflection? Who among us has not compared themselves to our peers? Can you honestly say you have a very positive body image? The siren song of "Perfection" calls out to us from every magazine, tv show, billboard ad and website. It is very easy to start second-guessing yourself, and comparing yourself to this bombardment of images.

Stomachs can always be flatter, waists smaller, and thighs slimmer. Positive body image is seen as egotistical, and arrogant. You are much more likely to hear "Does this dress make me look fat?" than "I look great tonight!" We are bombarded with messages that our bodies are not good enough, that we should be ashamed of them, that they need to hidden until we emerge from a 60 day “miracle cleanse” with Jennifer Aniston’s rockin bod. This infects the entire country with a sense of debilitating self esteem, and creates an environment which fosters self-destructive behaviors and disordered eating. We are constantly being sucked into the media’s tornado of beauty and perfection, and it creates a perfect storm.

We must love ourselves and our bodies before we can create positive change. Love is the foundation of healthy weight maintenance, weight loss or achieving new fitness goals. If you hate yourself or your body you will not want to treat it right, with the respect and love it deserves. This hatred can manifest itself in obsessive exercise, binge eating, disordered eating practices, low self esteem, depression or restriction, or any combination of the above.
On the other hand, if you love something you will want to nourish it, respect it, help it to fulfill its greatest potential.

I have decided to block all fat, negative talk from my life. I challenge you to bring some more self love and body appreciation into your life!

• Say It-Shout it from the rooftops, or whisper it to yourself in your bathroom mirror. “I am beautiful, I love me, My body is perfect just the way it is.”
• Write It-write yourself a love letter. Graffiti it on your mirror. Make a list of things you love about yourself, both physical, mental and spiritual aspects of the self!
• Live It! Don't put yourself or others down-stay away from negative comments, and always accentuate the positive.
• Support Yourself! Find a friend and make a compliment challenge-commit to creating a positive body image for the both of you.
• Step away from the scale If your weight needs to be monitored, leave that up to the doctors. Don’t let the number on the scale define you-How much you weigh should never affect your self-esteem or your sense of who you are.
• Take some time for YOU: Put yourself first One a month get a massage, a manicure, or a facial. Pamper yourself to long hot baths by candlelight. Get together with a friend and give each other pedicures. Buy lotions that feel and smell good and treat yourself to some perfume or body mist. Take naps when you need to, just because you can!
• Spread the love! Tell your best friend that she is beautiful, just the way she is. Compliment a stranger. Check out Operation Beautiful for inspiration. Don't tolerate criticism of your body or your friends. Stop Fat Talk in its tracks, maybe even start a Fat Talk Free Week!

Elizabeth Jarrard, BS Nutrition Sciences, co-founder of Guiltless.
 


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