I am excited today to be featuring a guest post from a very special friend of mine. Chantell is a dietitian and recently posted on her Facebook page about this topic. I asked her to share something with us. I love what she has written as it is something I have been thinking about lots lately. I hope you enjoy it as much as I did.
How many conversations have you had in the past week (even
if it’s just between you and you) where someone has made a negative comment
about their body? I find I’m constantly surrounded by beautiful, intelligent
people who are somehow dissatisfied with their weight or shape and feel as
though they need to do something to ‘fix the problem’. The only issue is that there ISN’T a problem
to fix!
Our thriving ‘health and beauty’ industry has us all
believing that the body we were given is just not good enough. They dictate
what is beautiful and happily sell us the products to replicate it at home. This
ranges from make-up to fashion and the latest weight loss craze. As a dietitian
with a clinical specialty in eating disorders and disordered eating behaviours
it pains me to know that these ubiquitous messages are potentially contributing
to the anguish my clients and their families face. It didn’t take me very long working
in this field to realise that prevention would be far more effective than
whatever treatment we can offer.
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We need to be aware of the types of messages we’re sending
to the children we have contact with. This will mean being a little
counter-cultural as dieting is so widely accepted that I’ve had parents of
adolescents with anorexia decline treatment at the thought of having to
reintroduce saturated fats into their diet. This is an extreme example but
let’s be honest, how common is it to see people taking unnecessary risks with
their bodies for the sake of ‘health’?
True health does not equate to restriction, avoidance of
certain types of foods and flogging yourself to keep ‘in shape’. It’s about
nourishing your body with all the nutrients it needs (including fats) according
to your appetite, if you’re hungrier one day than another there’s probably a
reason for it. It’s about moving because it feels good and not because of the
‘no pain, no gain’ philosophy. It’s about being thankful for what your body can
do, even the parts of it you don’t particularly like and it’s about acknowledging
that health can come in every size so comparisons are pointless. A lifetime is
a long time to live somewhere you hate...so why not join the revolution and
LOVE your body?
For more information on body image awareness week, negative body image or an eating disorder see thebutterflyfoundation.org.au
For more information on body image awareness week, negative body image or an eating disorder see thebutterflyfoundation.org.au
Chantell is married to Mark and they think their kitten, Zoe is pretty cute. Chantell loves drinking tea, walking around the Wollongong beaches in the sunshine and, like most dietitians, is a bit of a foodie. She also loves her work which focuses on helping clients to ditch dangerous dieting and have a healthy, positive relationship with food, regardless of their size.
*Mission Australia youth survey https://www.missionaustralia.com.au/annual-youth-survey
**A. Dando et al Adolescent
dieting behaviour: Associations with physical activity and screen time
behaviours Deakin University School of Psychology (unpublished data).
