It’s really no wonder we see so many girls and young women with eating disorders in this country. Have you seen the size of the models they use to advertise the clothing they are supposed to want to wear? The pictures are photoshopped to an unnatural size and shape. The ridiculous perfection is unattainable by anyone, including the person posing for the picture!
Body shaming is the act or practice of humiliating someone by making mocking or critical comments about their body shape or size (definition resulting from a Google search of the term ‘body shaming’). This can be done to others and to ourselves. Whether it’s being done to us by another person or by our own critical self-talk, the result can be very detrimental mentally, emotionally and ultimately physically.
When we hold ourselves to an unattainable standard of physical perfection, it can result in all sorts of problems. The negative impact to one’s self esteem can cause a person to engage in dangerous self-destructive behaviors such as self mutilation like cutting, binging and purging, starvation, exercising to the point of severe injury and many other manifestations of self-loathing.
Comparing ourselves negatively to others, either physically or by some other standard, is never beneficial and is often detrimental to our well-being. For one thing, we don’t know someone’s whole story, so we compare ourselves to our interpretation of that person. What we see of them is through the lens of our own experience and is often a skewed view of the other person’s reality.
Don’t participate in the shaming of others or of yourself. Honor yourself by taking care of your body and finding ways to love it. Be thankful that you have a body that has served you through your life. It has gotten you through whatever you have experienced thus far. Treat your body and yourself with respect. Do not speak negatively about yourself to others or to yourself. Your subconscious hears what you say but cannot distinguish the truth from a fallacy so say only kind things about yourself. When talking to others, speak about yourself with the respect you would give to them. You deserve to be treated at least as well as you would treat others.
If you look for reasons to like your body, you will find them. Take care of it. It’s the only place you have to live.
In case you missed my post on June 30th, I am using this 31 day challenge to hold myself accountable for walking my talk. Several years ago, I was able to take off 135 pounds and essentially save my own life. I have regained much of that weight so I am working my way back down.
If you choose to join me on this journey, I hope I am able to impart some nutritional and lifestyle wisdom. Even though I may have gone off the rails temporarily I can still share some of my first hand experience as well as my acquired knowledge and training to help you make the right changes for your best life.
As a health coach, I work with women who are facing serious health challenges like heart disease, metabolic syndrome and diabetes or who have been diagnosed as having a precursor to a serious health issue such as high blood pressure, high cholesterol or high blood sugar. I help them make food and lifestyle changes so they can get healthy, live longer and enjoy a fuller, happier, more energetic life. If you would like to have a free consultation about the health challenges you have and the improvements you would like to see in your health, click here to schedule a no strings attached call.
