Body Image: Eat mindfully and embrace who you are

Wherever we turn there are messages everywhere about what we should eat and how we should look.  It is no wonder men and women alike are always aspiring for some magic number on the scale or for a particular body shape.  Whether it be a larger chest or a rounder bottom, it seems many are not satisfied with their body image and are striving for something that may not be attainable or healthy.   Social media now more than ever is constantly bombarding us with “bad foods” and images of how we should look.  Why is this bad and why should we be more mindful of how we approach body image and nutrition?

Firstly, no two humans are alike, so why should we look alike?  Genetics plays a huge role in how we look with 25 – 75 % being determined by our genes.  For this reason, focus should be on health, not size, the only person who can change your attitude towards your body image, is YOU. Work on modifying your beliefs and attitudes about yourself.  Show yourself the respect you deserve and don’t compare yourself to friends, family members, and images in the media.  You are unique, embrace that uniqueness which is you. 

Wanting to attain the ‘’perfect body’’ often causes people to look for quick fixes, something that will help them lose weight fast or achieve a desired look or image.  This is the wrong approach; the aim should be health since quick fixes are never the solution to a healthy diet. 

Extremely calorie-restrictive diets, low-fat diets, and diets that replace meals with shakes and pills are simply counterproductive.  Quick weight loss generally results in muscle loss not just fat loss.  Muscle is a very important component in maintaining our metabolism, therefore we do our body good to maintain muscle, not lose it.  Extreme low-calorie diets can also leave us feeling emotionally and physically depleted, which could result in binge eating. 

Most of the calorie-cutting strategies used can also result in the following:

1. Reducing Essential Fat:  Often fats are one of the first items people on a diet tend to eliminate.  Especially since fat is perceived as “high calorie’’.  The problem with this is that fat is generally eliminated indiscriminately, removing healthy fats as well.  Healthy fats are essential to hormone production as well as thyroid and adrenal health.  Low-fat and non-fat items in the market can also harm health since fat is generally replaced with artificial ingredients and additives to mimic fat. 
2. Eating a diet lower in protein:  Protein is the building block for muscles, bones, and cartridge.  Protein also can contribute to better blood glucose regulation along with helping us stay full.   
3. Consuming artificial sweeteners: Low-calorie foods and diet products often contain artificial sweeteners.  Sweeteners like aspartame do not occur in nature and the body therefore has a hard time breaking them down.  Several studies have also found artificial sweeteners to be associated with migraines, joint pain, nausea, and depression.  This doesn’t mean we should indulge in refined sugar however, it would be best to use fruit, honey, and maple syrup as a sweetener since they are better broken down by the body. 

A healthy body aims to be more mindful and intuitive about eating.  Drop the ‘diet culture’ that has developed over the years and that has planted a seed in our minds that being thin is tied to being healthy.  Approach food positively looking for nourishment and look for whole foods that are linked to improving wellbeing.  Nourish your body with what it needs and stop being hard on yourself when everything isn’t perfect.  Most importantly love yourself for who and what you are.  Your self-worth isn’t tied to how skinny your thighs are or how big your bicep is, you are worth so much more than that.