How to Practice Body Respect (Intuitive Eating Principle 8)

Have you ever been told to embrace self-love, when it seems like the most impossible thing in the world? The idea of self-love can lead to the cognitive dissonance that results in many of us giving up on our goals altogether. Instead of feeling ashamed at not being able to love your body, I argue that body respect and body neutrality are much more attainable and positive goals.

Key Takeaways

If You Want To Learn How To Respect Your Body You Have Too:

1. Give yourself basic care and dignity
2. Find clothes that fit your body right now comfortably
3. Challenge yourself to stop body comparing

Why Self Love Is the Wrong End Goal

The concept of loving yourself is a wonderful idea. But for those of us who have come from or are currently in a state where we hate our bodies because we are stuck in the cycle and influence of diet culture, we blame ourselves and the concept of love feels incredibly foreign.

You Deserve To Be Taken Care of as You Are Right Now

No matter what society, influencers, and diet culture have taught you to believe, you deserve to be taken care of as you are right now. You deserve the same basic care, basic nourishment, and basic dignity that some people provide more of to their pets than they do to themselves. Get some clothes that fit, stop staring at the scale, and believe that you are worthy of love, respect, and care even if you don't love yourself as you currently right now.

The Problem With Body Comparing

Comparing your body, whether it is to a past version of you or to someone else, can only do harm. While respecting the current state of your body isn't always easy because of the messages sent to us by diet culture, it is only by rejecting the notion that smaller bodies equal better bodies that you can start to appreciate how your body is serving you. Next time you are in a conversation that results in people comparing or shaming other people's bodies that are nobodies business, I challenge you to remove yourself or stop that conversation in its tracks. While it can be hard to muster up the courage, I promise you will feel better for it.

Are you ready to replace self-love with body respect and start treating your body with the dignity and care it deserves? You can do this, I promise. Let me know your thoughts about Intuitive Eating Principle 8 in the comments on the episode page.

In This Episode

• Why the idea of body respect is more attainable than the idea of self-love for many of us (7:40)
• The importance of support when learning about and implementing intuitive eating (10:48)
• Tips for distancing yourself from people and places that perpetuate diet culture (12:20)
• Health-promoting habits that you can engage in that are weight neutral (14:33)
• How to respect your body by wearing clothes that suit it right now (18:02)
• Why you need to stop comparing your body and stop being the hero (23:45)

Quotes

"Intuitive Eating is not a new concept, it has been around for a long time. And humans are innately intuitive eaters so this isn't just some other diet.' (2:58)

"I wish that the idea of body neutrality and body respect was in my lexicon, was something I had learned about, even back then. Because I think it would have been a much faster stepping stone to get to the point where I was more comfortable with my body." (8:45)

"We don't want to make wellness another set of boxes to tick, but really making it fit for your life and doing the best you can right now. So maybe that means talking to somebody about your struggles, maybe that means getting out and moving your body in a way that feels really good for you. But coming back to basic care and dignity." (15:41)

"You deserve to be taken care of and you deserve to care for yourself right now." (16:56)

"The more we stop this constant body comparison, the easier it is for us to respect our bodies." (27:27)

Links

Join the Listen To Your Body Newsletter

LTYB 288: How To Ditch Dieting (Intuitive Eating Principle 1)

LTYB 289: Honoring Your Hunger (Intuitive Eating Principle 2)

LTYB 292: Make Peace With Food (Intuitive Eating Principle #3)

LTYB 293: Challenging The Food Police (Intuitive Eating Principle 4)

LTYB 296: 3 Ways to Make Eating More Satisfying (Intuitive Eating Principle 5)

LTYB 297: 3 Ways to Honor Your Body's Fullness (Intuitive Eating Principle 6)

LYTB 300: 4 Questions to Ask About Emotional Eating (Intuitive Eating Principle 7)

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