SOUTH TAMPA THERAPY FREE RESOURCES BLOG
Body Neutrality: An Alternative to Body Positivity in Eating Disorder and Disordered Eating Recovery
Body neutrality is shifting your perspective towards appreciation and respect for your body. It is honoring the body as it is and taking a few steps down the body image continuum towards a more neutral zone.
Recovering from an eating disorder or disordered eating is both emotionally turbulent AND a highly rewarding journey. When it comes to recovery goals mental health practitioners tend to focus on food, weight, and other disordered compensatory behaviors (think: over exercising, purging, body checking, food rules, etc.) When it comes to body image, I have noticed a lack of strategies for addressing poor body image other than loving your body or other inherently positive body image perspectives. I am so grateful that body neutrality skills are a growing trend in the treatment of disordered eating and eating disorders, but it doesn’t hurt to raise awareness and provide education about the benefits of adopting body neutrality.
So, what is body neutrality and why is it helpful in supporting recovery goals?
Body neutrality is an intentional perspective you can learn and practice so that you can train yourself to feel more neutral about your body. It is self-evident that feeling neutral is a far superior feeling than hatred, fear, disgust, loathing, or even pride.
If you are one of the few that can achieve unconditional love towards your body, then keep up the good work! Most people struggle to do so as changes in our bodies over time are inevitable thus creating a shaky foundation for body positivity and body love. Not to mention how difficult this would be for people in marginalized bodies.
I love the body neutrality perspective because it untangles all the emotional and mental drama placed on the body during an eating disorder and neutralizes bodies in general. Objectively our bodies are our physical structures. Some could call them our vessels, the things we travel around in during our lives. Body neutrality is a state of not supporting either side of the conflict and disagreement (body love vs. body hate).
The shift towards body neutrality takes time and effort. It is certainly uncomfortable. Some of this has to do with the repetition and habit of body hate in our brain patterns but also it has to do with the normalization of negative labels and biases from society and social media. It is terrifyingly normal for people who identify as women or people in larger bodies to report negative body image thoughts every day and even more so to report the actual evidence they have of being labeled or judged by others.
I have sat with clients and seen the struggle, frustration, and sometimes rage in their faces when I open the door to potentially widening their lenses and looking at themselves differently. When you are fighting a war with your body it feels just or right that you punish yourself. On the flip side, if the alternative is body love and you are in a marginalized body, the chasm between you and loving your body feels insurmountable
Does this scene sounds dismal? Don’t worry there is a way out, but the question is what do we do? The first step is that you try to be open and willing to shift your perspective.
What I have seen with clients is that if they don’t at least TRY to shift their perspective, they will continue to spend the rest of their years trying to fit into someone else’s ideal and remain trapped in the prison of their own self-hatred.
Body neutrality becomes a resting place from the constant chaotic chatter and criticism of the mind. It’s a space where you can find some peace and take some pressure off yourself thus simultaneously lowering your stress levels.
Body neutrality is shifting your perspective towards appreciation and respect for your body. It is honoring the body as it is and taking a few steps down the body image continuum towards a more neutral zone.
Body neutrality is the space where you do not support your body hatred anymore.
Below are five practical steps you can start on if you want to begin shifting your perspective.
1. Call a truce on the war with your body. You can’t hate yourself happy, successful, thin or anything else. Step away from living in the body hatred camp. This doesn’t mean you have to now love your body, just make a conscious commitment that you do not want to be stuck in that camp.
2. Start a daily body appreciation practice. Write down 5 things every day that your body can do.
3. Counteract your negative self-talk with some body neutral phrases. For example:
Thank your body, for taking care of me today.
My thighs are strong and help me walk.
Thank you belly for holding my organs.
My arms allow me to hug the ones I love.
My weight does not define my worth.
4. Focus on your strengths. What are your unique talents, and what are you good at? What do others like about you? Essentially, what do you bring to the table that is not your body. This could be getting clear on your values or looking at your positive character traits or even exploring your passions and dreams.
5. Clean up your social media feeds. If there are people or sites that make you feel bad about yourself, or that you compare yourself with delete them. What you look at impacts your ability to shift your perspective. Finally, seek out the support of a therapist who specializes in eating disorder and disordered eating recovery. Ask potential therapist if they are Health at Every Size informed and what their perspective is on body image.
Best of luck and please reach out for a free consultation if you have any questions about therapy or what the process of recovery might look like.
-Shaundra McGuire
To book with Shaundra McGuire, RMHCI: https://shaundratherapyandwellness.squarespace.com/
The Starved Brain: Why does your loved one with Anorexia think, feel, and act the way they do?
Literally Starving to get needs met. Self sabotage into self compassion. We can help.
The Starved Brain: Why does your loved one with Anorexia think, feel, and act the way they do?
If you have a loved one with Anorexia, you know more than anyone that eating disorders impact the entire family. It can feel like everything you know and have come to expect from your loved one changes overnight. I have had family members report to me:
“It’s like he is a whole different person”
“Is my precious happy girl still inside that body?”
“My wife has always been the life of the party. That’s one of the reasons I married her, now I can’t get her to leave the house”
It can be tremendously confusing and sometimes feelings of hopelessness emerge. That is very normal. It is scary. To understand these jarring changes, it is helpful to remember that Anorexia is a physical illness. It manifests, if not treated early, in significant weight loss and calorie restriction. Your loved one is acting, thinking, and feeling the way they are because of what research tells us about The Psychology of Hunger.
The Psychology of Hunger: The Starved Brain
The most notable study conducted the starved brain was undertaken in 1948 by Ancel Keys, called “The Biology of Human Starvation or popularly known as “The Minnesota Starvation Experiment.” The purpose of the experiment was to demonstrate how the body and mind are affected by not eating, or by restricting food. In this study, healthy young men were observed under normal conditions then exposed to caloric restriction (1570 calories a day for 6 months). After the semi-starvation period, they were rehabilitated with the purpose of determining the most successful form of nutritional rehabilitation. Such a study would never be conducted in modern research, but the results were foundational in shifting perceptions and guiding modern treatment interventions for Anorexia.
The Results
Below are the symptoms that were found at just 1570 calories a day for 6 months. *It is noteworthy that most sufferers of Anorexia eat far less than 1570 calories a day*
Physical: Less energy, reduced heart muscle mass, lower heart rate and blood pressure, headaches, decreased hormone levels, sensitivity to noise and light, a feeling of being cold all the time, loss of strength and greater fatigue and hair loss and dry skin.
Emotional and Cognitive changes: Depression, anxiety, irritability, increased mood fluctuations, intense and negative emotional reactions, decreased enthusiasm, reduced motivation, impaired concentration, problem solving and comprehension, increased rigidity, obsessional thinking, and reduced alertness.
Attitudes and behaviors related to food: Thinking about food all the time, eating very slow or very fast, increased hunger, unusual food routines and rituals, binge eating, increased use of condiments for flavor.
Social changes: Feeling more critical of others, withdrawn and isolated, loss of sense of humor, feelings of social inadequacy, neglect of personal hygiene and strained relationships.
These men had no previous mental health diagnosis, significant childhood trauma, or any health conditions that would skew the results in any meaningful way.
Implications
When working with sufferers and their family members I always share this study and pay special attention to highlight the results in the emotional/cognitive changes and social changes sections. I have seen the implications of this study reduce shame and destigmatize the individual suffering. I try to communicate that your loved one is still the same person you know; they are just experiencing the brains response to starvation. With appropriate nutritional rehabilitation and patience there is no reason to believe that most, if not all, of these symptoms will go away completely. The first step to treating Anorexia is weight restoration. Getting stuck in the “Why” vortex is tempting because the sufferer and family want to believe that if they knew why their loved one developed Anorexia it would give them the solution. Sometimes family members blame themselves: endlessly analyzing and hypothesizing about some unknown error they made. It is important to make sense of or peace with your loved one’s diagnosis but if there is anything you can do to support your loved one, it is to encourage them to seek nutritional rehabilitation first and foremost. I ask family members to avoid pathologizing their loved one. Going to therapy once a week while severely malnourished can be unfruitful because of the starved brain. A therapist role is to encourage motivation for recovery, educate and normalize Anorexia, and celebrate the little wins. Once your loved one is weight restored, the deeper work can be done from a healthy nourished brain. Should you be a family member of a sufferer in early stages of recovery, the primary take-away is to remind yourself and your loved that their brain is starving and the way they feel, think, and behave are survival responses. Remind them that it is not their fault, and it will not feel like this forever. Your loved one is not ‘CRAZY’ nor has their character or personality fundamentally changed they are just starving.
By Shaundra McGuire, MHCI
Book an appointment with Shaundra Mcguire:
https://SouthTampaTherapyBOOKAPPT.as.me/ShaundraMcguireMFTI
Additional resources for you and your loved one:
https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/
https://www.gaudianiclinic.com/videos-press
References:
https://eatingdisorders.dukehealth.org/education/resources/starvation-experiment
SELF COMPASSION IN EATING DISORDER RECOVERY
Self compassion helps with eating disorder recovery. Overcome the internal battle with peace of mind and these helpful tools.
SELF COMPASSION IN EATING DISORDER RECOVERY
Many of my clients express to me that as their symptoms and eating disorder behaviors increase so does the volume of the eating disorder “Ed” voice. Let me tell you, Ed’s voice could not be further from one of compassion but rather it is critical, shaming, cruel, persuading, and even violent. Some clients have told me “It’s like a drill segreant. If I do not obey my safety feels threatened.” I am not suggesting that people suffering from eating disorders literally have another person living in their head, but once eating disorders are triggered the thought patterns that fuel the behaviors are par for the course and addressing Ed’s voice is a fundamental part of treatment and treatment outcomes.
I will make a quick statement that as one becomes nutritionally rehabilitated (regardless of weight) with a balanced meal plan provided by a registered eating disorder dietician the voice will quiet naturally. Addressing malnourishment is the first step of recovery but that does not mean that starting the work of self-compassion cannot go hand in hand. Self-compassion is a life practice not just a recovery practice.
WHAT IS SELF-COMPASSION?
Dr. Kristen Neff is widely recognized as one of the world’s leading experts on self-compassion. She was the first person to operationally define and measure the construct around 20 years ago. You can check out her website here. Here is how Kristen understands self-compassion.
“Self-compassion is extending compassion to one’s self in instances of perceived inadequacy, failure, or general suffering.”
Kristen’s three key ingredients to self-compassion are:
Mindfulness -a non-judgmental, receptive mind state in which individuals observe their thoughts and feelings as they are, without trying to suppress or deny them.
Common humanity-suffering and personal failure is part of the shared human experience rather than isolating.
Self-kindness -being warm towards oneself when encountering pain and personal shortcomings, rather than ignoring them or hurting oneself with self-criticism.
TIPS TO START PRACTICING SELF COMPASSION IN RECOVERY
Imagine you are carelessly strolling down the street and suddenly you catch your reflection in the shop window and BOOM Ed voice says…
“I can’t believe you chose to eat that gelato with lunch. I told you not to and now look at you, you’re bloated. Honestly your stomach is disgusting. You are so weak. I can’t believe you have the nerve to be out in public right now. You need to get your act together and (insert ED behavior) exercise, restrict, purge, isolate, cut etc.”
Instead of mindlessly obeying Ed you could instead take a Self-Compassion Break. Even if you end up following through with the behavior pausing and trying something different is building towards your recovery and diminishing the power of ED.
SELF COMPASSION BREAK:
Mindfulness: Recognize you are experiencing some form of struggle. Emotional, physical, or mental pain. Identify the pain and in a compassionate tone, you might say “This is scary, I am afraid I gained weight. I am afraid if I don’t punish myself for the gelato I have failed. I feel guilty.” The goal is to recognize and validate the difficulty with a compassionate tone.
Common Humanity: Remind yourself that everyone (especially others suffering with ED’s) have experienced this form of suffering and know how you feel. You are not alone, and it is exactly suffering and relating to one other through empathy, validation, and compassion that binds humans closer to one another.
Self-Kindness: The final steps is offering yourself kindness amidst the suffering ( fear, guilt, and ED’s mean voice) through giving yourself kind words and actions. Kristin Neff has called this the yin and yang of self-compassion. The yin being kind words to oneself and yang being kind actions. Kind words could be “You are brave for facing your fears and pursuing recovery. You enjoyed that Gelato and it was so such a fun lunch with your friend. There are others who would be inspired by your recovery action today.” For a kind action you can choose any out of your self-care toolbox as long as it represents kindness towards self-amidst the suffering and goes against the will of Ed’s voice.
I encourage you to try using Self-Compassion Breaks as much as you can. The Ed voice will not get any weaker unless we become mindful of it, validate and feel our feelings, and respond with kindness.
Follow this link for more tools to practice self-compassion!
By Shaundra McGuire, MHCI
Book an appointment with Shaundra Mcguire:
https://SouthTampaTherapyBOOKAPPT.as.me/ShaundraMcguireMFTI
REFERENCES:
https://www.edcatalogue.com/3-mindful-self-compassion-tools-eating-disorder-recovery/