I want you to think back to 2011. What were you doing a decade ago? I was unhappy with different aspects of my life, feeling restless, and starting to think I should do something else. It took me two years, but in 2013 I changed my career and haven't looked back since. If you have an inkling that something isn't quite right in your life but are getting stuck on the road to making that change, this is the episode for you.

Key Takeaways

If You Want To Get Out Of the Information Overload Stage You Should:

1. Do your research but know when you have done enough 
2. Be honest with yourself about where you are at in the stages of change
3. Meet yourself with grace and compassion
4. Challenge yourself to take action

Finding Your Intuitive Eating Sweet Spot

When making a change in your life, big or small, there is a tendency to get caught up in the learning phase. Often we don't want to jump into something until we feel 100% ready, but the truth is that if you wait to feel completely ready, you will be waiting forever. 

Diet culture tells us to outsource our health decisions which creates a ‘one size fits all’ approach to our bodies. This is simply not the case, and intuitive eating encourages you to find the sweet spot between those external values and your own body's attunement. While information can help you prepare for this next phase of your life, it is important to remember that you need to find the middle ground between preparing and actually taking action.

The 6 Stages of Change

Consuming information makes us feel like we are doing something when it is really aiding us in procrastinating on making the change we are contemplating. There are six stages of change, and it is important to be honest with yourself about what stage you are at and remember that after every speed bump comes a new cycle. 

Doing your research is great. But when you are able to take the information you have gathered and challenge yourself to take action, that is where the real magic happens. Intuitive eating is a combination of active learning and experiential learning, and it's up to you to get out there and do the thing.

What stage of change do you feel that you are at with your relationship with food? Let me know in the comments on the episode page.

In This Episode

• How to move from gathering information to practicing and taking action (5:40)
• Discover the sweet spot of authentic health and how to achieve it (10:30)
• The stages of change and how to gain insight on where you are in your journey and what next steps you should take (14:00)
• What to do if you are ready to take action but are getting stuck in the preparation phase (21:55)
• Why you shouldn’t wait until you are 100% ready to start your intuitive eating journey (30:12)

Quotes

“There are so many places that you can get stuck, and one of them is information overload.” (2:02)

“How can we find that middle ground? How can we find the overlap? That is really why putting intuitive eating principles into practice is so important, because it helps to combat only loading yourself with information.” (13:22)

“Where are you at with your own relationship with food and coming to a kinder place that isn’t so ‘all or nothing’? I want you to think about that.” (21:48)

“At the end of the day, you can read the book, you can read the workbook, you can listen to all of the podcasts, you can read all the anti-diet books, you can do all of that. And some things may change...but intuitive eating by its very nature is an active experiential process.” (24:42)

“Give yourself grace, it is a process. If you feel like you are going to wait until you are 100% ready, you are going to be waiting forever.” (30:28)

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Related Episodes

LTYB 304: What is Gentle Nutrition? (Intuitive Eating Principle 10)

LTYB 257: Taking A Good Look At Your Relationship With Food with Rachel Dash-Dougherty

LTYB 242: Limiting Beliefs with Allegra Stein

There is a big difference between feeling positive about your body and the body positivity movement, but it can be a very nuanced topic to understand. While diet culture is part of a more extensive set of oppressive systems to people with marginalized identities, the body positivity movement has moved so far away from how it started. Social justice and body positivity are heavily intersected, and it takes some time to unpack just how deeply that runs in our society.

Key Takeaways

If You Want To Understand The Difference Between Body Positivity and the Body Positivity Movement, You Should:

1. Educate yourself about the history of the body positivity movement
2. Understand the systemic ways that people in marginalized bodies are oppressed 
3. Unfollow anyone who is co-opting the body positivity movement with disproportionate motivations

The Difference Between Body Positivity and Systemic Oppression

The body positivity movement has started to center around people who don’t represent the individuals that this movement was really created by and for. Although originally created for people in marginalized bodies, we have seen a change in the ‘face’ of body positivity shifting away from marginalized bodies and towards others that are co-opting the movement. 

While it is still totally possible and common for people in straighter size bodies to dislike their bodies and relationships with food, it is not the same as experiencing the kind of systemic discrimination and oppression that people in larger bodies experience every single day.

What You Can Do To Stop the Co-Opting

There is still judgment for people in larger bodies who embrace the body positivity movement in the same way that people in non-marginalized bodies do. By being clearer and discerning with the terms that we use on social media and in real life, we can stop the systematic oppression found in the body positivity movement and start including the people who might not look like you. 

With some learning, some listening, and some questioning, you can start to peel back the layers of the body positivity onion and understand the time and place of these hard things.

How are you going to dig deeper into the differences between body positivity, fatphobia, and the systemic oppression of marginalized bodies? Share your thoughts with me in the comments on the episode page.

In This Episode

• A brief history of the body positivity movement and why you shouldn’t co-opt it if you are in a straight size body (5:54)
• How social media has impacted the body positivity movement and plays into oppressive narratives (14:35)
• The difference between systemic oppression and discrimination because of the body that you are in (17:58)
• How movements aimed at people with marginalized bodies are being subsumed by people who they were not designed for (20:20)
• Suggestions to help you be more clear and discerning around your understanding of body positivity (24:27)

Quotes

“It is kind of important to bring up this idea of co-opting, and how it removes the emphasis away from the people or the concepts that it was really designed to support.” (7:52)

“You start to see that predominantly thin, white, young, cisgender people who are being featured as the ‘faces’ of body positivity. And that is so different from the origins of the fat acceptance movement.” (15:46)

“What I am trying to say in this episode is that yes, you may have negative feelings about your body. Even if your body is very thin, you may still have body dysmorphia, you could still have an eating disorder, you could still have disordered eating, you could still not like your body. But it’s still not the same as experiencing the kind of systemic discrimination and oppression that people in larger bodies experience every single day.” (19:10)

“There is a difference between feeling bad about your body and experiencing systemic discrimination.” (22:23)

“I don’t want you to just listen to me; I want you to really go seek out and follow and listen to people who are in larger bodies as a start.” (27:44)

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Related Episodes

LTYB 313: How To Stop a Bad Body Image Day in Its Tracks with Brianna Campos

LTYB 320: Why You Can’t Shame Yourself Into Changing Your Body

LTYB 302: Finding Joy & Acceptance in Fitness for Every Body with Kanoa Greene

Are you feeling shameful around your body and trying to use that shame as a motivator to make changes? I have some bad news for you; it is not going to work. Shame not only has a profoundly negative impact on our mental health, but it is also harmful to how we see ourselves as people and our ability to make long-lasting change.

Key Takeaways

If You Want To Stop Shaming Yourself Or Letting Others Shame You, You Should:

1. Block and delete any negative talk or energy out of your life
2. Get curious about where your shame and where your self-judgment is coming from
3. Start to notice what is truly coming from inside of you 
4. Get clear on your personal values and your 'here and now' motivators

Why Shame Doesn’t Work

Shame comes from a very internalized place of believing that you are inherently flawed. Shame is different from guilt, which is a contextualized feeling about something you did rather than who you are. 

Shame is scientifically proven to be a debilitating emotion that can come from external and internal narratives that are systematically pushed upon us. Shame, especially when it comes from the outside, negatively impacts how we see ourselves as people, and makes us hide, get smaller, and remove ourselves.

How To Create Sustainable Change

Shaming yourself or hating yourself into change simply does not work and can greatly impact how you see yourself and others. Social media and the patriarchy are only exacerbating this issue, which is why it is essential to treat yourself with kindness and approach change in a way that feels good to you.

Instead of operating from a place of shame, challenge yourself to create change in a way that feels sustainable and good. Block that body-shaming Instagram account, stop engaging with ‘concern trollers’, and get curious about where your thoughts are coming from. When you have patience with yourself and stop linking your self-worth to your body size or shape, real change can happen.

Are you ready to stop using shame as a motivator, only to end up feeling worse about yourself? Share how you are going to tweak your mindset away from shame with me in the comments section of the episode page.

In This Episode

• How guilt and shame play out in how you feel about yourself and changing your body (9:03)
• Scientific examples of how shame and guilt can impact your physical and mental health (13:15)
• The difference between guilt and shame and why shame is harmful to who we are as people (16:50)
• Why concern trolling is a serious problem for those in marginalized bodies on social media (23:20)
• Simple tips if you are falling into patterns of shame for yourself and negative self-talk (30:55)

Quotes

“Shame is a normal human experience, but this chronically feeling shameful can be really harmful for our health, especially the mental health aspect of our overall health.” (14:30)

“That was so powerful, and really put it into perspective of why shaming people for their bodies does damage, and why shame for ourselves is really something to investigate and heal if it is persistent.” (16:47)

“Guilt may be more powerful in terms of helping us make change, and maybe less harmful to us if we are really able to make things right. But shame, especially when it comes from other people, is so damaging to us, and it can be really harmful to our health, really harmful to our mental state, and really harmful to how we see ourselves as people.” (20:59)

“Thoughts affect feelings and feelings drive our actions. So if you feel guilty, or shameful or shitty, generally speaking, how do you act or react? It is typically not going to be a change you feel really great about.” (30:24)

“Getting clear about a motivator in your life that is coming from a place of expansiveness, possibility, curiosity, growth, and transformation is far more powerful than hating yourself into change.” (34:59)

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Related Episodes

LTYB 318: How Diet Culture Fails Us

LTYB 313: How To Stop a Bad Body Image Day in Its Tracks with Brianna Campos

When you think about diet culture, do you think about how it has affected your relationship with fitness? Often times we focus on how diet culture impacts our relationship with food, but it also has a profound effect on our connection to exercise and fitness. 

The fitspo mentality promotes a narrow ideal that is widely unachievable, keeps us stuck in the patriarchal system of having to prove our worth, and harms us by taking us further away from listening to our bodies.

Key Takeaways

If You Are Ready To See Fitspo Die You Should:

1. Get curious about how diet culture shows up in your life in a non-judgemental way
2. Redefine what fitness means to you and how you can enjoy it without trying to change your body
3. Reject the ‘no days off’ mentality and start listening to the signals from your body telling you what it needs

The Real Meaning of Fitness

Dan John defines fitness as your ability to do a task. That’s it. Nothing about the way you look, the amount of muscle you have, or your ability to look like the ‘fit’ people you see on Instagram. 

Society has adopted coded language around fitness that seeks to limit and control a woman’s ability to show up in a certain way when it comes to fitness. In reality, you can include movement in your life in a way that is healthy for you right now and has no connection to the way you look. Your relationship with exercise should bring you satisfaction and make you feel good in your here and now body without the pressure of intentional weight-loss or body changes.

How Fitspo Harms Us

Fitspo harms us in more ways than one. Firstly, it promotes a narrow and privileged version of a certain ‘look’. It also promotes a ‘no days off’ mentality, that scares us into believing that if we rest, we are not worthy, are not strong, or are going to lose our gains. This is simply not true and keeps us stuck in the mentality of proving our worth and exercising solely to change the way our bodies look.

One of the biggest ways fitspo harms us is by preventing us from listening to our bodies. Your body will tell you if it needs rest and if it is enjoying the type of movement you are engaging with. While getting to know your body in the physical exercise capacity is very personal and takes time, listening to your body’s signals is the only way that you are going to get over the fitspo mentality.

Are you ready to embrace a version of fitness that is accessible, inclusive, and doesn’t focus on changing your body? Share how you are embracing movement for the sake of movement and rejecting the fitspo life in the comments section of the episode page.

In This Episode

• Defining what fitness really is and why we need to broaden our understanding of it (3:55)
• Why the words used around fitness and fitspo promote a narrow ideal look (9:36)
• How the ‘no days off’ mentality continues to keep us stuck in proving our worth and value based on our fitness (13:40)
• The role of social media when promoting fitness as a weight-loss tool (18:56)
• How fitspo is harming us by preventing us from listening to our bodies feedback (22:44)

Quotes

“Diet culture doesn’t just impact your relationship with food, it also has a prevalent impact on how we see fitness talked about, displayed, and some of the mentalities that are related to fitness.” (3:01)

“Dan John says fitness is your ability to do a task, so right there, your ability to do a task, your ability to complete a specific physical task typically is what fitness really is. And yet we as a society constantly reduce fitness to a look.” (7:49)

“If you are pursuing a specific type of fitness because there is a promise of a specific aesthetic look, is that actually 1) realistic for your body type? And 2) is it actually really bringing you a sense of fulfillment?” (12:45)

“It’s worth thinking about how pushing through and saying ‘I can’t take any days off, I am not allowed a rest day if I take a rest day I’m lazy, I’m a loser, I’m a slacker, I’m going to lose all of my progress’, how does that mentality keep us from really tuning in and listening to our bodies?” (24:00)

“The other way that fitspo harms us is it takes the emphasis off all of the other reasons why exercise can be fun and beneficial that have really nothing to do with weight loss or body size control.” (28:55)

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Related Episodes

LTYB 318: How Diet Culture Fails Us

LTYB 302: Finding Joy & Acceptance in Fitness for Every Body with Kanoa Greene

LTYB 295: Changing The Way You View Fitness with Simone Tchouke

LTYB 162: Toning

Diet culture is a symptom of an oppressive system that underpins so many of the ways we show up in the world. It prevents us from being present, enjoying the people we love and the things we enjoy, and stops us from caring for ourselves. Although we do not consent to diet culture, we have to deal with the fallout of generations of both men and women playing into the ‘rewards’ of diet culture, while ignoring all of the risks.

Key Takeaways

If You Are Ready To Reclaim What Diet Culture Has Stolen From You, You Should:

1. Filter your feed and the messages you receive to stop perpetuating the cycle of diet culture
2. Stop living your life based on what you think is okay or not okay with your body
3. Acknowledge the ways diet culture has stolen your life experiences and step away from that oppressive system
4. Find a support system that will encourage you to reclaim what diet culture has taken from you

What Diet Culture Steals From Us

Diet culture keeps us small in every sense of the word. It keeps us striving for an unattainable and constantly changing body ideal, it keeps us distracted and dulled from using our power, and it keeps us from enjoying life experiences and the people we love. 

We were not put on this Earth to achieve a perfect body and then die. Often we don’t even realize what diet culture is stealing from us because we are so immersed in it. I guarantee that when you look back at your life, the people you love will not remember if you have cellulite, they will remember how you made them feel and the memories that you were able to enjoy together.

The Real Risks of Diet Culture

Diet culture doesn’t just make us play small or hold back on our dreams and chase impossible body ideals; it can actually take our lives from us in every sense of the world. Eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of any mental illness out there, but the corporations and companies that fed us this swill only focus on diet culture benefits, not the downsides.

Unpacking and unlearning diet culture takes time and requires self-compassion and connection. While it is not going to happen overnight, just understanding the risks that are very real if we continue to let diet culture perpetuate our lives is a great first step.

Are you ready to stop letting diet culture steal your zest for life? Share which of my suggestions you are going to implement to step away from diet culture and reclaim the things that diet culture has stolen from you in the comments section of the episode page.

In This Episode

• Breaking down what diet culture is and what it has taken from us (5:40)
• A shortlist of the ways that diet culture has stolen from us as a collective whole (14:00)
• Understanding why diet culture promotes an ideal that is not attainable for many of us instead of health-promoting behaviors (23:40)
• Why you shouldn’t mistake body bashing for bonding (30:45)
• Statistics explaining the toll diet culture is taking on us around disordered eating and eating disorders (33:10)

Quotes

“I think we need to name how we are harmed by diet culture in these ways, how diet culture has failed us.” (13:59)

“Diet culture makes us play small and it makes us hold back on our dreams.” (17:39)

“Diet culture steals our life from us, it makes us pull back from having the experiences and participating in all of the things that we love, the people we want to be with. And those are really the experiences that stick and that matter.” (21:34)

“When you decide to start unpacking diet culture and start moving away from these practices in your own life, you need support. Do not do this on your own because you will quickly become overwhelmed and subsumed by this larger dominant system.” (32:17)

“The toll that diet culture is taking on us is heavy, and the corporations and companies and diet industry, they are not forthcoming about the risks, they are not forthcoming about the downsides.” (34:06)

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Related Episodes

LTYB 317: Diet Culture and the Patriarchy 

LTYB 316: What Food Freedom Is (And Isn’t)

LTYB 298: How to Show Up More Authentically with Grace Edison

Have you ever stopped to consider that dieting and the diet industry work to keep us busy and distracted as a result of the patriarchy? The constant pursuit of body perfection tries to keep us spinning on a hamster wheel so that we do not have the time or energy for anything else, and that needs to stop now.

Key Takeaways

If You Want To Start Uncovering How Dieting and the Patriarchy You Can:

1. Stop equating healthiness to weight
2. Accept that you have a skewed perception of your body
3. Challenge yourself to think about how you perpetuate diet culture in the patriarchy
4. Take steps to actively put your time and energy into something different than body perfection

The System Was Built To Make Us Fail

When we are preoccupied with the scale and food restrictions, we shrink ourselves literally and metaphorically. The ideal body comes from decades of the patriarchy that is reinforced by everything around you. The system is designed to oppress women-identifying folks, while the ideal body keeps changing. The time, resources, and attention that pursuit of body perfection takes is just simply not worth it. It is about damn time that we get off this hamster wheel and focus on something other than our bodies.

Reinvesting Your Energy

How often do you compliment someone on their looks as the first thing you say about them? Can you imagine how much time and energy you could get back if you started questioning the influence of the patriarchy on our endless pursuit for body perfection? 

Instead of focusing on what could go wrong or what you could miss out on if you start feeding into this internalized intersection of diet and the patriarchy, think about all the things you could gain if you stopped focusing on controlling the way you look. 

I truly believe that we were not put on this planet to work ourselves to achieve the perfect body. Your energy, your spirit, and your magic could all be being wasted on the patriarchal view of body perfection, and you are worth so much more than that.

How are you working to stop internalizing and perpetuating the intersection of diet culture and the patriarchy? Let me know how your challenge went this week in the comments section of the episode page.

In This Episode

• Examples of ways that diet culture keeps us distracted from the world around us (6:10)
• The role of the patriarchy and how it is woven into oppressive systems (11:50)
• Why we need to tease apart health and weight and accept body diversity (17:42)
• The problem with BMI and how it plays into body dysmorphia (20:00)
• A special challenge for you to take away from this episode (23:23)

Quotes

“Dieting for the sake of body perfection keeps us distracted from everything else going on in the world because it is all-consuming.” (6:15)

“We have this constantly being reinforced to us from a very young age that if we look the part if we look a certain way like these body ideals and beauty ideals, that we will be more worthy, that we will be better people. And it is absolutely a tool of the patriarchy.” (11:58)

“Because of body diversity, some people in larger bodies are in great health, just like some people in smaller bodies are in terrible health.” (19:06)

“We live in a patriarchal society, we live in a fatphobic society, we live in a white supremacist society, where all of these things are consistently reinforced. So it is not our fault.” (22:42)

“How can you take your idea of worth, your own worth or what you appreciate about someone else, and expand that? What energy would that buy you back?” (27:14)

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Related Episodes

LTYB 316: What Food Freedom Is (And Isn’t)

LTYB 214: 6 Reasons BMI is Bullshit

LTYB 313: How To Stop A Bady Body Image Day In Its Tracks with Brianna Campos

Finding true food freedom is a nuanced discussion that has roots in many important conversations. The patriarchy, race, gender, body autonomy, and diet culture are just a few of the systems involved in bringing awareness to the food you are eating and how you are treating your body.

Key Takeaways

If You Want To Find Food Freedom You Should:

1. Lean into your bodies wisdom and give yourself permission to shake off diet and exercise extremes
2. Relearn how to connect with yourself and what you enjoy through mindful eating
3. Question the voices of the food police and start embracing nutrition from a non-diet perspective
4. Focus on health-promoting behaviors instead of intentional weight loss

Listening To Your Body’s Signals

I want you to feel the freedom to question what we have been taught about the ‘right way to eat’. Mindful eating is a great place to start, and it can help you relearn how to connect with yourself and what you enjoy. Nutrition from a non-diet perspective may seem like a strange concept, but it is only by raising your awareness and opening the door that you can stop pursuing perfection and start listening to your body’s signals.

What Is Food Freedom?

Food freedom does not mean restricting yourself, going back to eating ‘regularly’, and then if you begin to feel yourself ‘falling off the wagon’ or ‘losing control’, that the solution is to go back to the restriction. 

Food freedom is embracing the freedom to eat foods that make you feel good, that are enjoyable and satisfying, and are without unnecessary restriction. Food freedom means eating in a way that enhances your life, and that is helpful to your mind, and body, and emotions, and spirit, and culture.

Health Over Perfection

Young girls should not be growing up in a diet culture, fatphobic world. You are inherently worthy and valuable no matter what, and we deserve better than a lifetime of hating our bodies and thinking we are worthless because we don’t fit the mold. 

Instead of focusing on intentional weight loss, I challenge you to focus on embracing health-promoting behaviors. The pursuit of perfection isn’t getting you anywhere, and it is time to stop denying our own magic just because we don’t fit the mold diet culture has laid out for us.

What conversations are you excited to have in 2021? Share your thoughts with me in the comments on the episode page.

In This Episode

• Defining what I mean by ‘food freedom’ and the importance of nuance when discussing it (6:31)
• The role of intuitive eating and mindful eating when incorporating food freedom (10:37)
• Why food freedom is not an individualist pursuit and instead is about the larger community (14:50)
• Breaking down the reason why I do this work and why I feel it is so important (19:25)
• The problem with intentional weight loss and the complex world of body autonomy (27:15)

Quotes

“The freedom to eat foods that make you feel good, foods that are enjoyable and satisfying, the freedom to eat without extremes, the freedom to eat without unnecessary restriction, the freedom to eat in a way that is enhancing to your life and not detracting from your life, the freedom to eat in a way that is helpful to your mind and your body and your emotions and your spirit and your culture, the freedom to eat foods that are important from your culture… that’s what I mean by food freedom.” (9:31)

“No matter what body you are in, no matter your health status, no matter your size, no matter your ability or disability, you f*cking deserve respect, and you need to give other people respect in return.” (12:25)

“Can we individually think about our food behaviors and practices and what we eat, while also holding that there is also a larger context? That is going to be really important going forward.” (15:18)

“We only get one shot at this life, as we are right now, and to live with such dissatisfaction of our own magic, and our own gifts and talents and worthiness because we don’t have perfect bodies, crushed me. And at that moment I said, ‘you know what, this has to change’.” (25:52)

“If I am critical on this podcast of diet culture and the influence of the patriarchy on how we live our lives, especially as women, it is not a criticism of you as an individual.” (29:53)

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With the new year here and 2020 in the past, I'm looking both back and ahead. In this solo episode, join me as I share three lessons I learned during the challenges brought by 2020, the top five episodes of last year, and a sneak peak of what's to come in a new season of the podcast starting next week.

Key Takeaways

1. 2020 brought demands to shift and pivot; to embrace the both/and; and to ask a lot of questions and get curious
2. The top five episodes of last year centered around non-diet intuitive eating and body image
3. A new season of the podcast starts next week with a bit of a shift...stay tuned

Top 3 Lessons from 2020

There's so much to be said about 2020. A year of so much unexpected change, upheaval, loss, and sadness. I learned a lot about having to be flexible, the challenge of holding competing emotions simultaneously, and the importance of creating meaning based more on what comes from inside when I ask questions. It was not easy. By no means did I shine at these lessons like a star pupil. Quite the contrary. It's all messy. 

My hope is that these lessons will resonate for you or at the very least, help you see things from a different perspective.

Dismantling Diet Culture

The top five podcasts of last year definitely had a theme: diet culture...specifically looking at diet culture from many angles and seeing the need to move toward a kinder, more compassionate, and more inclusive version of nutrition and fitness.

Between guests and solo episodes, we shared many aspects of moving away from dietary and exercise extremes and toward an approach where we listen more to our bodies and let our inner wisdom lead. 

The top five episodes were:

• 268 - 5 Ways to Build Body Respect
• 275 - The Anti-Diet Approach to Eating with Evelyn Tribole
• 287 - Top 5 Things to Know Before You Start Intuitive Eating
• 289 - How to Ditch Dieting (Intuitive Eating Principle 1)
• 313 - How to Stop a Bad Body Image Day with Bri Campos

A Look Ahead to the Podcast in 2021

I'm excited to share that a new season of the podcast is kicking off next week with episode 316. There will be a refreshed content focus, new guests, and maybe even a new look. 

Stay tuned for the unveiling!

Share your key takeaways from this episode with me in the comments section of the episode page.

In This Episode

• Celebrating a major milestone 
• 3 lessons I learned in 2020 
• The top 5 podcast episodes of 2020 
• What's coming in the new season of the podcast 

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Related Episodes

267 - My 2020 Theme + Meditation

With the new year rapidly approaching, you might be thinking about your goals for 2021. What if those goals had nothing to do with your pant size? I challenge you to reframe how you are working on your health without directly connecting them to your body size.

Key Takeaways

If You Want To Set Health Goals That Don’t Include Weight Loss, You Should:

1. Reframe your mindset by unraveling diet culture and embracing what feels true to you
2. Approach your mental, emotional, and spiritual health in the same regard as your physical health
3. Work toward a mindset of self-care on all levels and focus on total body health rather than weight loss

Creating Goals That Aren't Based On Your Size

A fellow Steph is here to help me unpack what it means to set health goals that have nothing to do with weight loss. Steph Dodier is an intuitive eating coach who went from being culturally embedded in diet culture to radically reframing what it means to work on your health without it being connected to your body size. Steph is passionate about helping women live healthy without being on a diet and sharing her techniques for living a healthy lifestyle separate from society's desire to fit into a smaller body.

Unraveling Diet Culture

Change is only possible when it happens at the core of who you are. Unraveling diet culture can genuinely shake the foundation of who you are or what you thought you believed in. While this can seem daunting, it is important to see this new mindset as an opportunity to analyze where your previous thoughts have come from and whether they truly align with what you want.

Viewing your mindset as an opportunity to break away from the definition of health that diet culture has co-opted and instead embrace your own definition of health is the first step to understanding what true health really is.

Food Freedom in 2021

How do you define health? While advertisements tell us that your health is solely physical, it is truly a combination of the four bodies, including mental, emotional, spiritual, and physical health. By redistributing your energy to all four components of your overall health, you can work towards health in every aspect of the term.

2021 is the year that you can work towards freedom and focus on being healthier rather than just smaller. Steph’s voice is the voice you need to ring in the new year and can help you reject diet culture, set goals that don't include weight loss and help you feel better outside of your physical body.

Are you ready to enter into the new year focusing on what makes your body feel good? Share your key takeaways from this episode and this year with me in the comments section of the episode page.

In This Episode

• How to liberate yourself from diet culture through feminism (7:46)
• Dismantling the possibility of rejecting diet culture while still desiring to be in a smaller body (13:21)
• How to set goals for your health in a new and different way (17:40)
• Discover how your mental health, emotions, and spirituality play into your physical health (23:55)
• The difference between moderation versus abstaining when it comes to your food choices (26:19)

Quotes

“I teach it from that place of feminism, and that place of empowerment. And that connects with a certain group of women that are willing or at that place in their life where they are seeking power and seeking power for their own life.” (10:13)

“Remember, it is a thought, it is not a fact. And I think that is where the power lies, is recognizing that your desire to lose weight is just a thought, and you don’t have to believe in it, grab it and entertain it. It does not have power over you.” (15:10)

“The World Health Organization defines health as both mental, emotional, social, and yes, physical. Yet we are trained through tv advertising, marketing, even through my own medical training, to see health as just physical.” (19:48)

“There is physical restriction and there is psychological restriction, and moderation to me is a psychological restriction. It may have to be where you live at until you are willing to trust yourself more until you do the work to trust yourself more, and then gradually moderation will go away.” (27:52)

“I can help you be healthy. Here are all the things that you can do to be healthy, and none of it is going to give you a smaller body, but you are going to be healthier. You are going to move your body easier, you are going to have less inflammation, you are going to have all the things! Do you still want to lose weight?” (33:55)

“What if, in 2021, we focus on everything else but the size of your pants. What would happen? That’s my challenge to people.” (36:40)

Links

Join the Tune In Membership Here 

Going Beyond The Food Podcast

Stephanie Dodier Website

Conquer and Thrive Community Program

Join the Listen To Your Body Newsletter

Steph Gaudreau Website

Check out the full show notes here! Follow Steph on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | Pinterest

I'd really love it if you would take 1 min and leave us a rating and review on iTunes!

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LTYB 294: How To Unf*ck Your Brain with Kara Loewentheil

In these challenging times, body image struggles can get amplified fast. But, if you are prepared with practical ways to get through and understand a bad body image day, you can stop those gremlin thoughts in their tracks and reclaim the power you give your body.

Key Takeaways

If You Want To Stop A Bad Body Image Day In Its Tracks, You Should:

1. Acknowledge your gremlin dialogue and question why you are allowing yourself to believe the stories diet culture has told you
2. View body positivity as a social justice issue and embrace body positivity for all bodies
3. Allow space for the grieving of what society celebrates and venture into the tidal wave of your emotions
4. Give yourself permission to listen to your body and do what feels right for your body in the here and now

Body Image With Bri Campos

Brianna Campos, or Body Image with Bri, as she is known on Instagram, is a mental health counselor, therapist, and body image coach. Bri is passionate about helping others maneuver through their body image journey and heal the relationship that her clients have with their bodies.

Getting Over Your Gremlin Thoughts

Bri views the nasty thoughts or critical self-talk we engage with as your ‘gremlin voice’. These thoughts can often be messy and uncomfortable, which is why we cover them up with the stories we have been told by diet culture. 

If you want to push through these gremlin voices, you need to acknowledge your inner dialogue, allow space for grief, and give yourself permission to be where you are right now, regardless of where everybody else is. By auditing your thoughts and focusing on the ones that align with your core values, you can choose to love yourself in a way that feels right for you.

Healing Your Body Image Relationship

Body image is not just about how you look. Body image encompasses everything from body positivity to privilege and your relationship with diet culture. The work begins when you start to question the stories that you tell yourself and take the leap into the tidal wave of grief and acceptance. 

While it is not always easy, dismantling how we treat ourselves and our bodies is essential in healing your relationship with your body and getting over your bad body image days with grace.

How are you giving yourself permission to be where you are now during this holiday season? Share which of Bri’s tips and techniques you are going to implement with me in the comments on the episode page.

In This Episode

• How to stop having a bad body image day by acknowledging your ‘gremlin’ thoughts (9:56)
• Why you should view body positivity as a social justice movement (11:46)
• Acknowledging the downsides of diet culture and weight cycling (24:12)
• The importance of allowing yourself to leave space and truly feel grief (28:54)
• Tips for navigating the holiday season and the pandemic when having bad body image days (34:40)

Quotes

“People look to me not because I am perfect, but because I am vulnerable and I am honest.” (9:51)

“Body image is not just how you look. Body image is also how you believe others view you, how those belief systems have you show up in the world. And there is a piece of body positivity in society of how accessible life is for you in your body.” (12:31)

“I never believed that I could love my body until it looked the way I wanted it to. And it’s five years later, and I love my body. I don’t always love the way it looks or the way it moves, but I love my body, I love the vessel that it is and how it brings me closer to the values of connection and relationship and bringing good to the world.” (26:13)

“Grief is sort of like a tidal wave. If you resist it, it persists. It pulls you deeper and deeper. As opposed to if you just ride out with it, eventually, it puts you back onshore. Because that is what emotions do, we don’t stay in one place forever.” (31:50)

“I am going to honor my body, and this is how I am going to choose to love myself this holiday season.” (37:05)

Links

Join the Tune In Membership Here 

Body Grievers Group Coaching 

Body Image Supervision Cohort

Follow Body Image With Bri on Instagram

Unpacking the Knapsack of Privilege Article

Join the Listen To Your Body Newsletter

Steph Gaudreau Website

Check out the full show notes here! Follow Steph on Facebook | Twitter | Instagram | YouTube | Pinterest

I'd really love it if you would take 1 min and leave us a rating and review on iTunes!

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