Body Image
This is just a quick PSA to say that improving your body image is possible.
(even when it feels like it isn’t)
It is not easy.
It takes undoing harmful beliefs and learning new tools.
It means realignment from needing to like how your body looks to knowing your body IS good.
It takes practice. Sooo much practice.
You don’t have to know everything to start. Here are some low-hanging fruit ideas to get you going:
- Listen to fat-positive podcasts (like Dietitians Unplugged!).
- Read fat-positive books about body image.
- Follow anti-diet and fat-positive social media accounts (there are sooo many).
If I were to pick one resource that would be super helpful right now, I’d say this podcast we did with Kristina Bruce about challenging unhelpful beliefs is at the top of the list.
I also recently created a guide with some simple practices that can help get you on your way: 6 Quick Strategies to Improve Your Body Image Now.
With practice and a ton of self-compassion, body image healing is possible.
Body Image
When we think of eating disorders, we so often imagine someone who is younger and struggling. After all, aren’t we supposed to have our lives completely figured out by the age of 35?! (spoiler alert: no)
Meg Bradbury joined us in this Dietitians Unplugged podcast episode to discuss her experience of having an eating disorder and orthorexia as an older person.
Meg Bradbury is a Certified Body Trust Provider®, anti-diet nutritionist, Accessible Yoga® Teacher, and registered Yoga Alliance yoga and meditation teacher. Meg is in private practice working with individuals, groups, and families, advocating for body acceptance, eating disorder/disordered eating/body shame recovery, freedom with food, joyful movement, and stillness/breathwork. She also co-leads the Elderqueer project, an online gathering space for 40+ queers to connect and build community through conversations about aging in body, relationships, emotions, transitions, trust, and cultural relevance. Meg’s practice is fat positive, weight neutral, and LGBTQIA+ affirming.
In this episode, we discussed:
- Meg’s experience of developing an eating disorder
- What is orthorexia, and how it took over her life
- Why orthorexia has become so pervasive in our culture
- The effects of aging on eating disorders
- The tyranny of the anti-aging industrial complex
- Using breath and yoga to connect with the body
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Why you overeat …and what to do about it
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Body Image
Aaron and I reached out to you from home during the global COVID-19 pandemic in this episode of the Dietitians Unplugged podcast. This is clearly a time of stress and fear for everyone, and it can really bring up a lot of distress around body image, food insecurity and scarcity, and eating in general.
In this episode we discussed:
- Our personal experiences of navigating scarcity at the grocery stores and the emotional roller coaster we’ve both been on
- The hard work and ingenuity our clients and so many others are putting into their healing while stuck at home
- The uptick in body image issues and how many of us use worries about food and body as a way to control anxiety and distract from bigger worries
- Dealing with anxiety and difficult feelings during this time
- How we can use this time to feel better about our bodies
- How some people actually find themselves thriving in the slowed pace
- How diet culture doesn’t go away even in extreme times of uncertainty and worry
Show Notes:
Virtual meal support on Instagram: @covid19eatingsupport
Article: Why You Should Ignore All That Coronavirus-Inspired Productivity Pressure – great advice for dealing with traumatic times
Headspace is offering free support during the global pandemic
Other meditation apps: Insight Timer, Calm
Listen on:
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Why you overeat …and what to do about it
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Body Image
In episode 73 of of the Dietitians Unplugged podcast, Aaron Flores and I were joined by Whitney Catalano, RDN. In this episode, we discussed:
• What it means to learn to trust our bodies
• Tackling emotional and binge eating
• Dealing with the weight-stigma that can show up when visiting medical providers
Show Notes:
Learn more about Whitney Catalano
Listen on:
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Why you overeat …and what to do about it
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Body Image
We are social creatures, and community is important. But when you are divesting from rampant diet culture and are in a larger body, how do you find community when so many people are spouting off about their current diets and body dissatisfaction?
On the Dietitians Unplugged podcast recently, we discussed this issue with our colleague, Dr. Rachel Millner. She shared with us her thoughts on the importance of fat-positive spaces for clinicians and individuals and how weight stigma continues to negatively impact those working on healing from their eating disorder.
Rachel Millner, Psy.D., CEDS-S, CBTP (she/her) is a psychologist/activist, a Certified Eating Disorder Specialist and Supervisor, and a Certified Body Trust Provider. Dr. Millner has been practicing as a psychologist since 2005 and has been specializing in treating people with eating disorders throughout her career. Dr. Millner works with people struggling with all eating disorders as well as those trying to break free from diet culture. Dr. Millner is a fat positive provider who works from a Health at Every Size® and Body Trust® lens.
Show Notes:
Dr. Rachel Millner’s website
Follow Dr. Millner on Instagram
Be the first to hear about the Self-Care for Diabetes program (Launching in early 2020)
Listen on:
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Why you overeat …and what to do about it
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Body Image
Aaron and I welcomed Kristina Bruce to the Dietitians Unplugged podcast to help our listeners learn to challenge negative, unhelpful beliefs about themselves and their bodies.
Kristina is a certified Integrative Life Coach, Body Acceptance Coach and Certified Body Trust® Provider. She employs Byron Katie’s method, The Work, to help clients question beliefs that cause them stress and to help see those beliefs for what they are — thoughts, not reality. During this interview, we were so grateful to Kristina for sharing an important tool to help do this work and this episode will be pivotal for anyone hoping to get free from the negative beliefs they feel about their body.
Show Notes:
Visit Kristina Bruce at her website
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Why you overeat …and what to do about it
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Body Image
The Dietitians Unplugged podcast was excited and honored to host Jes Baker, aka The Militant Baker, author of the books Landwhale and Things No One Will Tell Fat Girls: A Handbook for Unapologetic Living to talk about what body liberation means and how it can change our lives for the better.
Jes is a positive, progressive, and magnificently irreverent force to be reckoned with in the realm of self-love advocacy and mental health. She is internationally known for preaching the importance of body liberation, hard conversations, strong coffee, and even stronger language. Jes burst onto the body image scene when she created her own ads mocking Abercrombie & Fitch for discriminating against all body types – a move that landed her on the Today Show and garnered a loyal following for her raw, honest, and attitude-filled blog missives.
In this fantastic episode, she tells us about her revelation that she hadn’t been a fat child, turning insults into cool nicknames, and how talking about mental health can be healing.
Show notes:
Learn more about Jes Baker
Read Jes’ writing at The Militant Baker
Check out Jes’ books Landwhale and Things No One Will Tell Fat Girls
Subscribe and get my free guide:
Why you overeat …and what to do about it.
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Body Image
Nike recently unveiled a new plus-size line of athletic clothing and with it, a plus-size mannequin on which to display the clothing. Makes sense, right? A plus-size mannequin to display plus-size clothing.
One journalist, however, railed against this move as “promoting obesity.” In this Dietitians Unplugged episode, Aaron and I talk about the reaction to the mannequin, both good and bad, how promoting obesity is not actually “a thing”, and the role that internalized weight stigma may have played in this reaction.
Show notes:
I’m not linking to the original article because it’s pretty mean, and you can search the Tanya Gold/Nike article if you want to read it (it’s pretty easy to find). Instead, here are some great articles clapping back.
Telegraph’s Fatphobic Take On Nike’s Plus-Size Mannequins Receives Backlash
The Real Issue With Nike’s Plus Size Mannequins
Dances with Fat: Nike’s Plus Size Mannequins Uncover the Truth About Weight Stigma
Study showing lower mortality in “overweight” category (referenced)
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Why you overeat …and what to do about it
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Body Image
I’m a long-time TV fan but as I get older, my time is precious. I want to watch things that I find really entertaining. And with the rise of more fat representation on TV, there are more things for me to think about watching. But just because something includes a fat person doesn’t necessarily mean it will be a great show.
So in this episode, Aaron and I discussed the viewing options presented over the past year (thanks to streaming!) and offered up some criticism to help you in deciding what to watch. And it is summer after all, which, if you’re old enough, you remember as the time of summer reruns and trying to figure out what’s on that’s good (apparently this is no longer a problem, but nostalgia dies hard in my home).
In this episode, we talked about the TV show Dietland, based on the book of the same name by Sarai Walker, that aired last year on AMC and now streams on Hulu, and Shrill, which debuted this spring and runs on Hulu as well. We also mention a few shows with dubious fat representation that we have not and will not be watching (return of The Biggest Loser, Insatiable) for a variety of reasons.
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Why you overeat …and what to do about it
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