21 Jan 2011

Intuitive Eating and Body Acceptance

Hi all! First of all, thanks so much for your supportive comments on my last post about coming to terms with my new weight. The wonderful women who wrote Intuitive Eating (Evenlyn Tribole an Elyse Resch) have some really interesting things to say about how to reach and accept a weight that is healthy for you. Since a few of you aleardy expressed an interest in learning more about intuitive eating, I thought I'd share a bit of what they had to say.


1. Be realistic - don't strive for a weight, dress size or body type that is totally outside the ball-park you know you're supposed to be in. Put simply: 'If maintaining or obtaining your weight requires living on rice cakes and water while exercising for jours, thats a glaring clue that your goal is unrealistic'


 To 'get realistic', Tribole and Resch advise you to do some research into what weight and shape is likely to be nartural and healthy for you: for example, look at your parents size and shape; think back to the weight you were before you started dieting; think to a weight you've maintained in the past without any effort.


2. Get comfortable - For ex-anorexics like me, who are now getting bigger, this means chucking out your old clothes the moment they get too tight. You'll never learn to love your new body if you're not dressing it properly!


3. Quit the body check game - STOP comparing yourself to other people. You might think another woman looks good, but you have no idea what's going on inside her head. She may have an ED too; she may be tortured by hunger; she may have no time to see her friends because she's always at the gym; or she may hate her body and wish she had yours. Anyway, bodys are diverse and we should celebrate that. We celebrate cultural diversity, religious diversity, racial diversity etc - why should bodies be any different. The bottom line is, body comparison is a peculiarly cruel form of torture. And torture's illegal. So stop. 


4. Stop Body Bashing -  Every time you catch yourself thinking about a body part you hate, force yourself to think about a body part you like instead. If nothing comes to mind, then take some time to come up with something. It can be as small as an eyelash. It doesn't matter, just focus on it instead.


I found all of those tips very helpful, especially the first one. I hope you all do too!

3 comments:

  1. These were all very helpful.
    For me especially, I need to come to terms with what my body weight should be while still maintaining a healthy diet and exercise regime. I think at this point I still expect myself to be underweight, and it's frustrating that it seems to be taking so long to get there again.
    Maybe my body is telling me something? Hmm :P
    Anyway, thank you for this post :)
    You seem to be doing great. Keep it up!
    <3 Haley

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  2. I really think I know how you feel Haley. I spent years and years trying to convince myself that I was the one person in the world for whom the 'healthy' range of BMIs does not apply. I found all sorts of ways to argue that a BMI that would put anyonw else in the underweight catagory, was actually a fine BMI for me. Deep down, however, I knew that I wasn't the exception to the rule. Afterall, if I was, why would I be feeling so exhausted, weak and hungry all the time? Why would people always be commenting on how skinny I was? Why would I always feel dissatisfied after meals? You have to trust that a lot of research has gone into working out what BMIs are healthy and what BMIs are unhealthy. The doctors and nutritionists do know what they're talking about and we need to learn to trust them. That way, we can use the time, knowledge and research they've put in, to benefit ourselves and live full and healthy lives.

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  3. Thank you for the tips! I need to stop the body bashing and focus more on positivity! It's been hard watching my body gain and become healthy. But I'm learning to love it and defeat the negative view of it. :D

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