Learn To Love Your Body!

Hey, so this one will be longer and more scientific because science helps me process what is happening to me.

I want to chat to you today about Your Inner Critic. AKA The world's biggest Dongbasket. Pardon my french.

They way we talk to ourselves Matters. Did you know what plants respond to positive and negative intentions? They did a test once, two identical plants in a school, same exact watering etc and the students were encouraged to insult one and praise another. Guess what, The praised plant thrived. The insulted plants withered. This is proven over and over again, You are the plant.

Don’t believe me, get a plant and test it.

But let's get into it! Also the worksheet is attached for you!

Exercise. Nothing can help you connect with your body like fitness. Pure physical power.

Let's start with a quote that I adore and read like 10 years ago and can’t remember properly. The premise is that there is nothing worse than a woman licvng her full life and never experiencing her full physical potential.

You may be somewhere on the fitness spectrum, maybe you never tried it, maybe you hate it, maybe you regularly train.

Today, I want to talk about the benefits of exercise and why it's so important to enjoy exercise rather than just training to look a certain way.

How is exercise good for body Acceptance?

Your body is built to move. You are an animal that is built to run, move, climb, dance. That is one of the primary functions as a human being and as a result, your body rewards you.

Doing exercises releases these chemicals in your brain:

Endorphin: Endorphins mask physical pain and promote feelings of happiness.

Dopamine: Dopamine boosts our mood and makes us feel great. It contributes to the feeling of accomplishment and elation from completing a task, achieving a goal, or winning in a game.

Serotonin: Serotonin boosts our confidence and makes us feel awesome. It also supports a sense of pride, status, and gratitude.

Oxytocin: Invokes feelings of love and loyalty. This chemical drives us to be around people we like and trust. Oxytocin is produced through human touch and acts of kindness or generosity.

Exercising = Finding Food in our DNA so our body rewards us for exercising. By getting moving, you get that heart rate up and then you can use it to your advantage to handle stress, improve your mood, increase your confidence and help you feel more abundant and in love with life.

Now. Self care doesn’t mean bubble baths and shopping sprees. I mean by all means, do that. But by self care, I mean doing the hard things too.

I love coffee but it makes me really anxious, caffeine does that and when I noticed that I was anxious on days I had coffee, I made the decision to quit coffee. I. Love. Coffee. This was hard but as a result, no anxiety. This is what I mean by self care.

Activities For Self Care!

1. Make a routine that is ideal for you and actually do it.

2. Get a plant, take care of it and complement it

3. Exercise, Find a fun fitness!

4. Social Media. Clear up your social media feed so when you open your phone, it's all about those loving, supportive vibes.

5. Journaling Exercise. Cast out those old beauty ideals.

Mantra: My Body Is Important And DESERVING of Love, Praise and Care.

Work Sheet Attached!

I always start with this but I want you to treat your body as if it was a child, your child. Some of you may be younger so think of your body as someone you love. It is important because when you love and want to protect someone, you don’t think about their shortcomings, unless they have bothered you. You see them for their beautiful selves. Once you shatter the illusion of beauty, you see people not how they aren’t good enough but for all they are and the world brightens.

This is where the power of gratitude comes in. Gratitude is the superpower that makes the world a better place. We live for more, better, stronger, newer, cooler, now. It is the instant society we live in, when I was young, we would listen to albums thousands of times. Now I am like 4 times and I am over it. I want new and better. With this attitude it is so easy so forget all we have as we search for more, like dragons hoarding treasure.

Gratitude brings us back from a mindset of lack and not good enough to abundance and fulfillment.

Worksheet is attached!

First Up. I am not a doctor or a medical professional. This is me talking about my personal experiences and sharing information that helped me.

TRIGGER WARNING: This whole topic covers things that could trigger an eating disorder, from talking about my experience to science of weight loss, this could be very triggering. Although this is they story of my recovery and all the things that helped me recover, you have to watch it at your own choice. You could be triggered by anything and I Do Not want to cause you harm in anyway. This is a topic I have struggled with so much of my life so I want you to be safe more than anything. If you are feeling vulnerable, please feel free to skip it.

If you are struggling, please reach out and get support from professionals who can help you.

Beat:

Helpline: 0808 801 0677

Studentline: 0808 801 0811

Youthline: 0808 801 0711

Our Helplines are open 365 days a year from 9am–8pm during the week, and 4pm–8pm on weekends and bank holidays. If you are in need of urgent help for yourself or someone else outside of our Helpline opening hours, please contact 999 or the Samaritans on 116 123 if you or someone else is in immediate danger.

Others: 

Bolster – a telephone coaching service for sufferers, designed to build confidence through their recovery. Find out more.

Nexus – a telephone advice and coaching service for carers supporting their loved one. Find out more.

Solace – a peer-supported video group for carers, facilitated by experienced eating disorder clinicians. Find out more.

Raising Resilience – a new workshop for anyone caring for someone with an eating disorder, so they can learn the skills to help their loved one towards recovery. Find out more.

National Centre for Eating Disorders

Helpline: 0845 838 2040

eating-disorders.org.uk

Everything you need about eating disorders treatment, information and professional training in the help & treatment of eating disorders. Eating disorders, such as compulsive overeating, binge eating, anorexia, bulimia, obesity, orthorexia & failed dieting affect people in every walk of life. There are millions of men and women suffering from chaotic eating disorders, perhaps harbouring persistent weight problems and obsessed with food and weight who need help to beat their symptoms.

SEED

Helpline: 01482 718130

seedeatingdisorders.org.uk

We are a group of ordinary people with first hand experience of eating disorders, who make a difference to those people whose lives are blighted by this devastating illness. All services can be accessed through self-referral. We provide support and services for people living in Hull East Riding and Out of Area.

Overeaters Anonymous

oagb.org.uk

Overeaters Anonymous is a fellowship of individuals who, through shared experience, strength and hope are recovering from compulsive overeating. Welcomes everyone who wants to stop eating compulsively.

Weight Concern

weightconcern.org.uk

The charity is committed to developing and researching new treatments for obesity. It is also working to increase the availability of the successful treatments it has pioneered in the UK via self-help programmes, self-help support groups and family based childhood obesity treatment.

Weight Wise

bdaweightwise.com

An independent site, managed by the British Dietetic Association (BDA), with unbiased, easy-to-follow hints and tips - based on the latest evidence - to help you manage your weight for good. It will help you take a look at your current eating habits and physical activity levels, and offer a practical approach to setting your own goals for lifestyle change.

British Nutrition Foundation

nutrition.org.uk

Promotes the wellbeing of society through the impartial interpretation and effective dissemination of scientifically based knowledge and advice on the relationship between diet, physical activity and health.

Recover Your Life

recoveryourlife.com

One of the biggest and best Self Harm Support Communities on the Internet, offers help on a variety of topics surrounding self harm, including self injury, eating disorders, mental health issues, abuse and bullying, as well as drugs and alcohol and first aid.

YoungMinds

Parent’s Information Service: 0808 802 5544

youngminds.org.uk

Supporting your child with eating problems

National charity committed to improving the mental health of all children and young people. Services include the Parents' Information Service, which is a free confidential helpline for any adult with concerns information about the mental health of a child or young person.

Family Lives

Helpline: 0808 800 2222 (24 hours)

parentlineplus.org.uk

Eating Disorders

Offers support to anyone parenting or helping to raise children, from newborn babies to young adults. There are free telephone and email helplines, parenting courses and information leaflets. The website offers lots of advice, real-life stories and relevant news as well as a helpful A-Z of related topics.

ChildLine

Helpline: 0800 11 11

childline.org.uk

Eating Problems

ChildLine is a counselling service for children and young people. You can contact ChildLine in these ways: You can phone on 0800 1111, send us an email, have a 1-2-1 chat with us, send a message to Ask Sam and you can post messages to the ChildLine message boards. You can contact ChildLine.

The Mix

Helpline: 0808 808 4994

themix.org.uk

Eating disorders explained

(Source: https://www.itv.com/thismorning/articles/eating-disorder-helplines)

The ideal of beauty is a construct and a malleable one at that. It means we decide what is beautiful

This is very important, very loud and proud. I want to say this.

Other people's opinion of your body is none of your business. If someone doesn’t like your body, that is their opinion. Most of the time it is rooted in 1. Society is ideal of beauty and they are just parroting the same crap they always see. 2. They have suffered too. They are reflecting their own self hate onto you. In the words of Katy Perry. When someone says a comment about how you body isn’t good enough, It Is Not about you.

If someone doesn't like your body, that is their issue. Your body is still beautiful, wonderful and amazing. If someone repeatedly tells you that your body isn’t good enough. Ask them to stop, bro down style and be like, those comments aren’t helpful to my mental health, please stop.

If they persist, cut them from your life. You don’t need that negativity in your life. Sometimes its a partner, sometimes it's your mother. It may be a shit friend or a co-worker. If you ask them to stop making comments and they continue, that is bullying. Don’t be afraid to stand up for yourself.

And that is just the intro! Let's break it down.

Let's talk about the body positive community

This is a community of people who want to celebrate all body shapes, from color, to queer to size, all bodies are too be celebrated. They want to encourage all people to love their bodies no matter what shape her size. I find that amazing and I love this community.

It's not just for plus size or fat people (words recently reclaimed by the community), it's for everyone.

The fat acceptance movement was pioneered in the 1960s by black and queer women to fight discrimination in public spaces. The workplace and doctor's offices. Fat positivity, which is more of a reaction to fat shaming and body positivity, which is more of a commercial self-esteem movement came later.

The body positive was first created in 1996 by Connie Sobczack and Elizabeth Scott and trademarked by Debora Burgard in 1997. From there, a beautiful movement and community flourished. Since then, we have had loads of body positive activists, models, artist all pop up and encourage and influence people to love their bodies.

This is short and sweet because I want you to go out and explore the community for yourself!

Back in the chill zone and this video is like a recap

To love yourself is to experience freedom. Freedom from doubt, self hate and oppression created by you.

To love yourself is to no longer hold yourself back from what you deserve.

To love yourself is grow and enjoy your life.

Self love is a necessity if you want to live a truly happy life. Self love is a choice, a commitment to yourself that you are going to love yourself, despite all the social and biological obstacles in your path. It is not found in a place, person or item.

Worksheet is attached for you!

Further Musings on Self Care and my issues with it. This video isn't essential, it's just a little bonus video talking about my mysterious skin care issue and how its affected me. I made this whole video with one purpose in mind, it would drive me nanas if someone alluded to something and never explained so here it is! 

Thank you So Much for starting your journey into body acceptance. You are wonderful, powerful and magical. You deserve happiness. Go find it!