Worthy At Any Weight

As we sat in the dentist’s office the other day, we noticed piles of magazines with slim, sun-kissed models trying to sell us on their new “diet hacks.” No matter where you go today, you cannot get away from the newest diet craze, the magic pill that will burn all your fat away, going vegan, going paleo, eating no fat, eating a little fat, eating clean, eating the lowest calorie foods, or completely un-junking your diet.

What ever happened to eating for what our body needs? Eating to fuel our brain? Cooking and eating together to connect with loved ones and share family traditions? Having grandma’s favorite melt in your mouth, real butter, chocolate chip cookies without feeling guilty?

Day to day it has become the norm to hear beautiful teenagers express “I can’t eat that, it’s so high in calories” as we walk through a mall. Maybe a patient or friend will tell us “I shouldn’t have eaten that but I did” or “I can’t believe I ate that, I have to go exercise now” as if it is a sin to enjoy a treat and exercise is the punishment. We’ve even had people make comments about our personal weight without knowing what we eat or how we eat. And we have worked with healthy healthcare professionals who express “I’m getting so fat,” as if it means nothing to say that about themselves.

Weight and body shape are a misguided, misinformed focus in our society. We are often praised by our healthcare team, family, and friends when we lose weight or are on a new diet, which further reinforces a focus on weight. But when did it become okay to put ourselves down, expect ourselves to never overeat, never have a treat, feel guilty when we do have a treat, eat less than we want to or need to, or go to the gym every single day?

The environment we live in encourages us to be unhappy with ourselves and compare our bodies to unrealistic standards. Some of us may even believe that we are only valuable, beautiful, or appealing if we look or eat a certain way. Whether it’s Facebook, Instagram, magazines, billboards, children’s toys, or TV, we are bombarded with images of what somebody thinks we should look like, what a magazine thinks is the most beautiful man or woman in the world, or how somebody thinks we should attain that beauty. We are exposed to thousands of images, diet programs, or celebrity books that sell an unrealistic picture of health, happiness and beauty. This marketing can appeal to many of us since it leads us to believe that this is what we could look like, and maybe this will also make us happy and healthy. Once we realize that these expectations may be unattainable, many of us are left unsatisfied and our focus shifts to our imperfections rather than our accomplishments.

When we base our worth on our weight, diet, or comparing ourselves to others, our thoughts about ourselves can become negative and our relationship with food can become an overwhelming, anxious mind game.

We encourage you to truly reflect and assess how dieting, guilt, or ignoring your body’s needs make you feel. It can be scary to change our views and believe that there is space for all foods in our lives, but we want you to ask yourself- how would it feel to love and accept yourself, the way you are, at whatever shape and size you are? How would it feel to believe that regardless of what your body looks like, healthy, happy, beautiful, accomplished, fulfilled people come in all shapes and forms. What if you shared that message with your family and your children?

Research suggests that those who are satisfied with themselves regardless of weight may be more likely to make positive lifestyle changes, have better health outcomes, and report higher levels of well-being.

If you’re ready to make a positive change for your mind and body, try beginning with one of our 8 steps.

1) Know:
A person’s weight tells you nothing about them, what they do, who they are, what they’ve accomplished, or what they can do. Practice making fewer comments or compliments about your own or anybody else’s weight.

2) Make a list of accomplishments you are proud of and the personality traits you love about yourself. Read this to yourself to help place worth on who you are and what your body has helped you do in your life.

3) Live 80/20:
Strive to be consistent, not perfect. 80% of the time work on making choices that support the health of your mind and body, and 20% of the time allow for flexibility because life, travel, guests, birthdays, exams, holidays etc happen.

4) Reconnect with your body:
Begin to notice when you start to feel hungry instead of ignoring your hunger. Feed your body when it signals you for food. The communication between the brain and stomach can become disconnected if we’ve ignored our needs for too long. Work on rebuilding this connection by having regular meals every 4-6 hours and checking in with yourself to notice when you feel hungry and when you feel satisfied.

5) Add enjoyable activity into your life with the purpose of decreasing stress, improving mood, boosting “feel-good” hormones, supporting bone and muscle strength, improving heart health, building social connections, and having fun with the family!

6) Taste each bite:
No matter what you choose to eat, take time to sit down away from distractions and enjoy every single bite. Slowing down our pace and focusing on only eating while eating reconnects us with our bodies. You will be more able to tell when you’ve had enough food if you are paying attention to the meal and how your body feels while you eat.

7) Redefine normal eating in your life:
“Normal eating is to eat when you’re hungry and stop eating when you’re satisfied, not just stop eating because you think you should. Normal eating is about having nutritious food but not being so restrictive that you miss out on enjoyable food. Normal eating is to sometimes overeat or eat because you’re happy, sad, or bored and it is to sometimes undereat and wish you had more. Normal eating is to leave some cookies on the plate because you know you can have some again tomorrow, or it’s eating more now because they taste so wonderful. Normal eating is flexible and it is trusting your body to make up for your mistakes in eating” –Ellyn Satter

8) Lose the inner critic:
If you’d never speak that harshly to the people you truly care for, it’s time to start treating yourself with the same acceptance, patience, and unconditional love.

References
http://ellynsatterinstitute.org/hte/whatisnormaleating.php
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/22909926
http://www.hindawi.com/journals/jobe/2013/291371/
http://novascotia.ca/psc/pdf/employeeCentre/healthyWorkplace/healthyEating/03_14_Bodyweight.pdf
http://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/bhcv2/bhcarticles.nsf/pages/Body_image_and_diets?open
http://thebodyisnotanapology.com/magazine/9-common-mistakes-parents-make-about-their-kids-weight/
http://eatq.com/
Image from youwall.com quote from http://quotesgram.com/