February 22, 2023
Welcome to The Balanced Dietitian Podcast! Hello friends. If you are listening to this when it first airs (February 25, 2023) I am currently in Aruba with my husband and family really disconnecting and living my best life. I am so pumped that you are listening to this podcast episode.
As I was preparing for this trip, something I really wanted to talk about is body changes because our bodies are made to change however we were taught and made to believe that our bodies should never change. That is extremely harmful messaging. No matter where you are on your journey, body change is hard.
[03:56] Body changes can be hard no matter where you are on your journey
Body changes can be hard no matter where you are on your journey. Body changes are hard for most humans and depending on the body that you live in, you will probably live it a little bit differently. That’s something that’s important to name whenever we talk about body image because I do believe that everybody can work on healing their body image. I do think this work is accessible to everyone but I don’t want to underplay the impact that society has on this work.
[07:00] Looking at body changes in a neutral way
We need to look at body change in a more neutral way. Our bodies do change normally over time. Our bodies have a set scale so our bodies will naturally go up and down within that range. If we get outside of that range, I don’t think it’s a bad thing to question it and kind of get curious. We want to be curious in a good way, not shameful. I think it is also really important to not blame food or see ourselves as a personal failure. We really need to see it as something more neutral and then we can put things into perspective.
[08:22] Dealing with body changes and taking care of our body
Then we need to deal with the body changes. On a body level, if my body changes, one of the things I want to be sure of is that I am wearing things that my body currently fits in. I’m not going to try to push myself into things that are smaller. I’m going to wear things that make my body feel good and comfortable now. We don’t save things from the past and make goals to get back into them. Instead, we let it go, make peace with it, and get things that fit our bodies now. We also need to make sure we are taking care of our bodies. Body changes often bring discomfort and we want to be sure that we’re not going back into a place of restriction.
[10:07] Working on our thoughts and beliefs
Then we can do a lot of work with our thoughts and our beliefs. Body gratitude can be a really good practice to really support that relationship with our body. Making sure that we’re coming back to the things that we can be grateful for and connecting that with our body. We may really feel disconnected in these times, so we want to make sure that we’re coming back and connecting to our bodies. We can also add some reminders and affirmations around our bodies. Then we get to cope and take care of ourselves. What can we use in our toolbox to cope with and tolerate these emotions? We also look into getting support.
[14:18] My body is not my worth
My body is not my worth. My body is just my body that’s allowing me to experience this world outside of me. Body changes are normal. They don’t say anything about me or my value as a person.
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