Developing A Healthier Body Image
Have you ever felt insecure about your body? Worried about your appearance? Wanted to cover up or curl up in a ball to hide your hair, face, body, etc.?
The answer is probably YES.
It is likely that we have all felt insecure about our appearance at some point in our lives. Some people may experience this more than others, but for all of us, these kinds of insecurities tend to begin around puberty. As we become more aware of our bodies and begin to compare to others, these insecurities appear, and it can be hard to know what to do with them once they start.
Although they are so common, we don’t often seek out professional or adult support at the beginning. As early as our pre-teen years, we might develop unhealthy coping mechanisms, such as restricting our eating, avoiding social and extracurricular activities, or over-exercising to try to deal with the body insecurities that we are experiencing.
Many unhealthy habits are shared by peers, on social media, or passed down by family members. In my current Body Image & Self-Esteem group, the group members had a great discussion about how food insecurity and food rules in their families has impacted their own eating habits, relationships with food, and body image.
Let’s talk about some healthy ways to manage (and hopefully improve) body insecurities.
Unlearn unhelpful ideas about eating and appearance.
There are a lot of unhealthy ideas about eating and appearance in our cultures. Dieting culture alone can be one of the most unhealthy. Just last week, one of my clients shared with me that a trainer at her gym recently started a diet that encourages people to eat just 800 calories per day! It’s amazing the things that people will put their bodies (and minds) through in the pursuit to the “perfect” body.
Try to unlearn the idea of the perfect or idea body. It doesn’t exist! If you are constantly in pursuit of this impossible goal, you will never be satisfied with what you have. Instead, remind yourself that your body is meant to change throughout your life. You can find literature that will support this. Our bodies change for a number of reasons, including lifestyle changes, puberty, child-bearing, and more.
Choosing to learn about and implement ideas, such as Health at Every Size, intuitive eating, and mindful eating, will be much more helpful for your mindset towards eating and body image. For anyone who is interested, I highly recommend Health at Every Size*. It does a great job of educating on why dieting often doesn’t work and that our body size is greatly impacted by factors out of our control. Engaging in resources like the books and social media pages below can be a huge help in educating yourself about these healthier ideas. If you don’t connect with the resources listed here, search Google or Amazon to find some resources related to body positivity that you do feel more connected with.
Practice self-acceptance and self-compassion.
Working on accepting yourself as you are, being kind to yourself, and not comparing yourself to others will all be helpful in developing a healthier body image.
Remember that comparing what you eat and how you look to others will not be helpful. It just won’t be! Everyone’s bodies are different. We can’t expect to look like anyone else on this Earth. And honestly, it would be pretty boring if we all looked the same.
Self-talk is a big part of self-compassion. Try to be mindful of how you are talking to yourself, and notice how that impacts how you feel toward yourself. Words are powerful, and we talk to ourselves more than we talk to anyone else. Make sure what you are saying to yourself is compassionate and uplifting, not critical and degrading.
Even as you work on self-acceptance and self-compassion, you will not be accepting and kind to yourself every single day, and that is okay! Expecting perfection from yourself will be a barrier to your success. The important part is how you recover from days when you aren’t feeling so accepting or kind.
Only follow social media pages that are healthy / positive influences.
If you find that any person or page on social media is negatively impacting your mood or how you feel about yourself, unfollow asap.
On Instagram:
@beauty_redefined
@thebodylovesociety
@intuitively.eaten
@thebodypositive
Most of the most beautiful qualities in a person are not related to how they look. If you are truly accepting of who you are, that will be apparent in how you treat yourself and others and the energy that you give off. These are the kinds of qualities that make a person beautiful. Let your inner beauty shine through.