Today is all about Intuitive Eating In Real Life Principle 8 Respect Your Body.
In case you missed it:
- What is Intuitive Eating?
- Intuitive Eating Principle 1: Reject the Diet Mentality
- Intuitive Eating in Real Life: Principle 1
- Intuitive Eating Principle 2: Honor Your Hunger
- Intuitive Eating in Real Life: Principle 2
- Intuitive Eating Principle 3: Make Peace with Food
- Intuitive Eating in Real Life: Principle 3
- Intuitive Eating Principle 4: Challenge the Food Police
- Intuitive Eating in Real Life: Principle 4
- Intuitive Eating Principle 5: Feel Your Fullness
- Intuitive Eating in Real Life: Principle 5
- Intuitive Eating Principle 6: Discover the Satisfaction Factor
- Intuitive Eating in Real Life: Principle 6
- Intuitive Eating Principle 7: Cope with Your Emotions with Kindness
- Intuitive Eating in Real Life: Principle 7
- Intuitive Eating Principle 8: Respect Your Body
Intuitive Eating In Real Life Principle 8 Respect Your Body
The snapshot of Principle 8 is: “Accept your genetic blueprint. Just as a person with a shoe size of eight would not expect to realistically squeeze into a size six, it is equally futile (and uncomfortable) to have the same expectation about body size. But mostly, respect your body, so you can feel better about who you are. It’s hard to reject the diet mentality if you are unrealistic and overly critical about your body shape.”
It is so important to shift the mindset. Rather than “when I have X (a different body, a better job, a loving partner, etc.), THEN I will treat my body with respect,” to treating your here-and-now body with respect and care TODAY. Your current body is your only body. You can continue to spend hours, months, and years fighting against your body – trying to change it, thinking and saying negative things about it, comparing it to others, not treating it well, etc. OR you can begin to accept and respect your body as it is now.
On page 201 (of the 4th ed. IE book), the authors give some examples of respecting your body:
- My body deserves to be fed.
- My body deserves to be treated with dignity.
- My body deserves to be dressed comfortably and in the manner to which I am accustomed.
- My body deserves to be touched affectionately and with respect.
- My body deserves to move comfortably.
Additionally, in the Intuitive Eating Workbook, there are a lot of good exercises for this principle to help you begin to respect your body. These exercises help you examine your current beliefs and behaviors, and begin to reframe and show your body some respect! What do you think might happen if you start respecting your body rather than blaming it?
In this Principle, they also begin to talk about the Health at Every Size (HAES) movement. Have you heard of this before? It puts the emphasis on health-promoting behaviors rather than solely on weight loss because, as we all know by now, weight loss alone doesn’t contribute to better health but health-promoting behaviors, regardless of weight loss, does contribute to better health.
HAES does not mean or say that everyone is healthy at every size, but rather that people can be healthy at a variety of sizes and we really cannot tell anything about someone’s health just by looking at them or knowing their body weight. I encourage you to check out the HAES website to learn more about this movement.
In what way(s), big or small, can you respect your body today?
REMINDER
This blog and Instagram series I am doing is not meant to be a replacement for reading the Intuitive Eating book or working through the Intuitive Eating Workbook. Rather it’s to provide an overview of the Intuitive Eating concept and principles to bring more awareness to the fact that there is an alternative to dieting and restricting.
As always, if you need additional guidance and support via individual nutrition coaching or counseling, please reach out or join the waitlist for future Intuitive Eating Virtual Small Group Coaching cohorts!
