Taking care of your body image
Learn how to take care of yourself and your body - without changing anything about your body.
It’s Body Image and Eating Disorder Awareness Week (BIEDAW) 2024.
It’s almost expected if you live in this society that you will struggle with your body image, but it doesn’t have to be that way - it’s possible to learn how to take care of your body image in helpful ways.
While learning how to take care of your body image may be a long journey - we want to encourage you to take one small step in the next week that can nudge you along towards a kinder, more accepting relationship with your body. This might look like:
Practicing self-compassion when you’re struggling with your body image. We’ve created this handout to help you write a self-compassionate letter when it’s feeling hard.
Giving your body some thanks and appreciation. Literally say “thank you body for …. “ or you can get more specific e.g., “thank you stomach for holding my organs in”, “thank you heart for pumping my blood”, “thank you brain for organising my to-do list this morning”, “thank you legs for walking to the cafe”. Even if your body doesn’t look or function the way you want it to, it is still doing so much for you to live your life.
Prioritising your own experiences over your appearance. As Lindsay and Lexi Kite say “your body is an instrument, not an ornament”. For example, go swimming even if you think your body doesn’t look okay in swimwear, let yourself prioritise your own comfort and joy when choosing clothes rather than sticking to the “rules” of what you think you should wear.
Reading a helpful book. We love More than a Body, The Body is Not an Apology, and Anti-diet. Fat Talk is also useful for parents raising children in this appearance obsessed society.
Throwing out your scales. Honestly, there are very few times that your weight actually matters (one of them is when you need a general anaesthetic but they will weigh you at the hospital for that). Focus on taking care of your body and living your life instead.
Influencing your social media algorithm by taking steps like 1) unfollow any accounts that trigger critical thoughts and feelings about your body 2) unfollow accounts that promote disordered eating (including dieting) and/or unrealistic body standards 3) follow people in diverse bodies who promote body acceptance and non-dieting approaches to developing peaceful relationships with food. We love @meganjaynecrabbe and @laurathomasnutrition.
Checking out helpful websites such as The Butterfly Foundation and InsideOut institute if you think you might struggle with disordered eating
Seeing a GP, psychologist or other eating disorder-informed professional if you feel you need help with your relationship with your body or food.
Taking care of your body image can go a long way as an act of self-love.