Let's change the conversation about our bodies

for ourselves, and future generations

Hi sweet friend,

Before I get into today’s topic, I’d like to preface that I will be speaking about body image and disordered eating patterns, so if this will cause you in any way to feel any yucky emotions, feel free to skip on reading this one. I am sending you so much love wherever you are!

For as long as I can remember, I have always been surrounded by individuals whose relationship with food and their bodies was disordered and something that brought them shame, whether they were conscious of it or not. Family members would be on diets and constantly wanting to lose weight. Comments would be made about not eating certain foods in order to be “able” to eat another one at the dinner table. Vocalizing the fact that they were restricting themselves to change their bodies before vacation. All these habits were engrained into my subconscious and affected how I saw my body. It wasn't until a couple of years ago that I realized just how harmful these habits are that so many individuals believe are the answer, and that have made their way through generations to affect the youngest of us today. 

Fortunately, the body image/acceptance movement is quite strong in this generation, but the voices of the past are still infiltrating young individuals every single day. I have journeyed through my own path with disordered behavior, partly because I noticed a lot of foods made me feel ill, and partly due to the fact that I believed skinny equaled healthy because that’s what social media and the patterns of family members led me (and many others) to believe. Now that I have worked through a lot of those beliefs and gained a new relationship with food and my body, I have become quite passionate about changing the conversation nearly everywhere I go, because it comes up a lot! I have learned through personal experience just how powerful the words and actions of those close to us can be, and how early on our perspectives can shift into ones that are not supportive of the bodies that we came on this earth with, and it needs to change.

Something that I have had to continue to rewire into my brain is that each and everybody is so uniquely different and health looks different for everybody. Due to social media, we are often given this perception that health looks a certain way and we hold ourselves up to that standard regardless of if it works for us or how it makes us feel. Oftentimes, we are doing it for the wrong reasons – to make our bodies look like someone else's, rather than taking care of ourselves out of love for the beautiful vessel that we get to live this life in. Health is so much more than our bodies; health is how we take care of our minds, our bodies, our spirit, our emotions, our connection to purpose, and so much more. At the end of the day, life is far too long (yes, you read that right) to be spending our time feeling anything less than content in ourselves. 

The thing is, I send so much love to the past generations who knew no better than to think that their bodies were the problem. It is by no means anyone’s fault for the patterns that have presented themselves. But with that being said, our voices do matter and the way we speak about our bodies impacts those around us so much more than we think. For those of us who have struggled with self-image, I believe many of us think about the fact that we would never want anyone else to feel negative about themselves, especially those who are younger. So for the sake of doing our very best to break the cycle of negative body image, let’s change the way we speak! Let’s talk about how amazing our bodies are, and what they can do, and how nourishing and medicinal food can be. For ourselves, and our future generations. When someone is shaming themselves, if it feels right for you, let’s add a positive spin instead of feeding into the shame. It can be as simple as saying “There is no need to change anything about yourself, you are beautiful exactly as you are!” Because it’s true!

Somehow, we have been conditioned to believe that in order to be worthy, we need to look a certain way and it’s just so far from the truth. Caring for ourselves and our bodies is a beautiful thing, but it doesn’t and shouldn’t be out of shame or forcefulness. We all deserve to live a life where we feel free and content and do not feel the need to change any part of ourselves. Something that Liz Moody says all of the time that stuck with me is that we are for living, not for looking, and I think that statement says it all.

You deserve to feel so content within yourself.

You deserve to live a life free from restriction.

You deserve to surround yourself with people who accept themselves as they are.

You deserve to live a full life — whatever that means to you.

You are so loved, in so many ways. The way we speak affects more people than ourselves. Let’s do our best to speak lovingly, and contribute to creating a more positive conversation about the place we all call home.

Sending love and hugs,

Bella xx