Improving Body Image and Body Positivity

Speaker 1 0:00

Body image . It's something that we all have some good , some bad but we all have it and that is part of being human . We all look at ourselves very , very differently , but in today's episode , I want to discover negative body image and also body positivity , and give you some strategies To help you to cope with negative body image . Shift work can be brutal , but it doesn't have to be . Welcome to a healthy shift . My name is Roger Sutherland , certified nutritionist , veteran law enforcement officer and 24-7 shift worker for almost four decades . Through these podcast , I aim to educate shift workers , using evidence-based methods , to not only survive the rigors of shift work but thrive . My goal is to empower shift workers to improve their health and well-being so they have more energy to do the things they love . Enjoy today's show . Welcome to a healthy shift podcast . I am your host , roger Sutherland , and , as always , I get such great pleasure in personally welcoming you to this episode of the show and I thank you for listening .

Speaker 1 1:21

Now , today , I've just turned the mic on and I would like to just give you a few pearls of wisdom From what I have learned around body image and how it impacts on us . Now , negative body image is awful and it leads to so many disorder behaviors in our lives . The research is clear negative body image is one of , if not the main contributor to eating disorders Such as anorexia , bulimia nervosa and also binge eating disorder , as well as Disordered eating . So let's go back a step from dieting and look at the body image side and give you Strategies to improve that and to improve your relationship with food , because , believe it or not , that is actually the first step to fix the problem . We actually do it all in the wrong order . Now . What I want to do first up is get this out there that negative body image is not the opposite to body positivity , and this is really important to understand .

Speaker 1 2:26

Body image is a subjective picture that you have of yourself in your mind , whether it's true or not . It's your own thoughts and this is very subjective . Now do you honestly think that your friends think what you are thinking about your body ? Do you think that about them , or are you just looking forward to catching up with them for what they offer ? So what's an example of negative body image ? Well , obsessing over food , what ? Obsessing over your weight , restrictive dieting , freaking out when going out with friends on what to wear , where you're going and what are you going to eat ? What about when you stand in front of the mirror checking yourself out , pinching body fat , criticizing yourself ? Question yourself where do these thoughts actually come from and what's the root cause of the problem ? And then , while you're thinking that as well , when you're standing there , just ask yourself what purpose are these thoughts actually serving me ? Are they helpful or are they harmful ?

Speaker 1 3:35

Now , the research is also very clear that bullying yourself does not work . How do you respond when someone bullies you ? You fight back . You can't beat yourself into submission , because it simply does not work .

Speaker 1 3:51

Now , would you allow someone to walk around you like you turn side to side in the mirror and check you out ? No , would you walk around somebody else and check them out like you do to yourself ? No , so why do you actually do it to yourself ? Also , while you're standing there and you're talking to yourself , would you speak to someone else that way ? And if your absolute closest friend came to you , absolutely buckled and distraught with their body and dieting , what would you say to them ? Would you speak to them the way you speak to yourself ? And you've got to question yourself why is this any different and what will make this better for you , oh , I know . Or if I lost 10 kilos , I'll feel heaps better . But the research also shows that that's not true either . You will never be happy until you fix the root cause of what causes you the actual issues .

Speaker 1 4:56

Now I want to be clear as well . It's natural that you want to recomposition your body . It's part of being human as well . But if you focus primarily on that , research shows that that does not work long term . Now I coach my own clients with a weight neutral approach , because this is what the research supports , is the absolute best strategy , and I have enormous success with this . But I also want to be clear on this too .

Speaker 1 5:26

Weight neutral does not mean that we're not trying to lose body fat . Weight neutral literally just means that what we are doing is we're not weighing , we're not doing photos , we're not making anything about weight , we're not making it about food . We're making it all about everything other than a weight . It's everything other than anything to do with weight or body . What we're doing is we're actually working on body positivity . Our body positivity is a proven method out of a negative body image and onto a happier life . So what is it ?

Speaker 1 6:09

Body positivity is appreciating our body for what it does every single day . I can walk While you're walking , feel your feet walking on the ground , feel your legs , feel your heart beating your breathing . You can see , you can hear , you can actually hug your partner or you can hold hands . Not only that , you get to drive a car , you can ride a bicycle , you can lift weights , and let's not forget the simple things that we just forget our body for altogether . You cut your finger , your body repairs it , you get sick and your body recovers from it .

Speaker 1 6:51

Our body is fighting for us every single second of every single day , and there is so much that our body does for us that we are completely ignoring . Your body is an incredible unit , but we pick on ourselves for not looking a certain way , and what even is the way that we should be looking ? What on earth are we comparing ourselves to Social media ? Are you following people for inspo , fitspose , or are they actually doing you more damage ? That's something that you need to question .

Speaker 1 7:29

These people don't have jobs . They work . That is their job to train , to look a certain way , paint their faces on , make themselves look fantastic dieticians , nutritionists , to cook for them . Tell them what they want , what they need . They don't have to think . They're not like you , they're not working shiftwork , they're not running families , they're not running households . Their life is fairly easy for them . So I'm just going to offer you two simple strategies here to help you to improve your body image with body positivity .

Speaker 1 8:05

Number one is next time you go to the shop , next time you walk into the supermarket , I want you to look at , not the person that your eye is drawn to . I want you to look at Everybody in the shop , everybody that's walking up and down every aisle . I want you to look at every single one of them . Take it all in the men , the women , the children . Have a listen to the bickering that's going on between couples . Have a listen to the problems that people are creating for the cash register people , but also have a look at everybody's bodies and you will probably more than likely find that you are someone who fits into the above average zone . The reason why you noticed that genetically blessed biatch with her two young children that looks an absolute million dollars in the supermarket is because she's a genetic blessed biatch and she's just doesn't matter what she does . It all just works out beautifully for her . She can eat whatever she likes , or she's got someone looking after the kids while she goes to the gym . Someone cooks for her , someone does it always . Keep that in mind .

Speaker 1 9:26

The person that you have drawn your eye to is the person that stands out because they're different . They don't stand out because they're overweight . They don't stand out because they're joe average . They stand out because they are genetically blessed . They've just come out of the gym , they're wearing their tights and their crop and they just look absolutely fantastic . And that's why your eye was drawn to them , because they're not the norm , and the reason why you don't notice anybody else in the supermarket is because they're joe and Betty average . That's what they are . So I want you to keep that in mind and try that strategy next time you go into the supermarket or go into it , into a shopping center .

Speaker 1 10:13

The next strategy that you can do here is to start to adjust your neural pathways and to change your own reticular activating system in your brain to start noticing the things that your body is doing for you every single day , instead of picking on what it isn't looking like . How about we start writing down three things every single day that our body is actually doing for us ? So when you do when you at work , you're typing . When you're you're on the phone , you're able to write , you're able to see , you're able to hear , you're able to think , you're able to make good decisions .

Speaker 1 10:58

What I implore you every single day , when you get home , to open up an exercise book and just write down three things every day that your body did for you . It allowed you to drive , it allowed you to to fill a glass . It allowed you to grab a glass out of the cupboard . It allowed you to hold that . It allowed you to make a cup of tea . You knew what order to put things in your brain was working . Always think of those things . It allows you to hold your partner , to kiss , to hug , to do whatever . Your body is allowing you to do all of these things . That pain that you had that you don't have . Now your body repaired that . If you write down three things every single day , your body will start to notice those things and you will find it easier and easier and easier to have three things every single day to write down . Now the challenge is this you can't write down the same three things every day . They've got to be three separate things every single day . And that , my friend , is literally how you improve your body image with body positivity . Start to appreciate your body for the things that it's doing for you every day . When you go for a walk or you complain because you couldn't go for a walk , I want you to remember that there's people in wheelchairs that will never walk again . I'll just leave you with that one .

Speaker 1 12:24

Now let's move on to the problem that shift workers have . Majority of shift workers wear a uniform , don't we ? And it is a constant reminder to us every single day that we are either lost weight or we've put on weight . We're either doing the belt a buckle up one or we're undoing it , and then we get to the stage where we can't . Now we are not who we used to be . Yesterday you were a day younger than you are today , and our bodies change as we get older . Look at your parents , look at your grandparents . We change and it's inevitable . Our bodies are aging and we are changing , all right , and I'll give you a strategy around that Get the next size up and be comfortable . This is not giving up . What it's doing is it's removing the constant , daily reminder from you that the uniform's tight and you need to go into a restrictive phase . A tight uniform brings feelings of disappointment . It gives you a need that you need to restrict , to go on a diet . Does that work ? No , it might last a while and you drop a kilo or two because you've lost a bit of water , but it won't last forever .

Speaker 1 13:45

Now I'll give you an example of myself . Three and a half years ago , I went through a massive fat loss and body transformation and kept going down uniform sizes . My pants were two sizes smaller and as was my shirt . I had 12% body fat . I had abs . I was eating chicken , broccoli and rice and I thought I was killing it , but , god damn it , it was friggin' high maintenance . Now I'm now possibly three sizes bigger than that and I feel like an elephant , am I ? No , but I feel like that because of where I was at . But because I was that small and I'm now nowhere near that , I now battle with myself psychologically daily . Am I happy now ? Hell yes . Do I enjoy life and food ? Hell yes to that . Again . I'm healthy and I'm happy , and that is all that I want . I genuinely appreciate my body for all that it does for me and carries me through every single day , because every time you yo-yo diet . It brings a worse result and it gets more and more damaging .

Speaker 1 15:06

You've noticed people in your friends group and your circles around you that lose a drastic amount of weight and then they seem to rebound very quickly to more than what they started at . And that's actually science . That's what happens when we lose body fat . We don't actually lose it , it actually just disappears or we burn it out of our adipose cells but that adipose tissue remains . What they are is they're like water balloons full of fat , and they get the fat sucked out of them and we burn it off , but the water balloons are still there . All those tiny little balloons full of fat are still there . Now , it never disappears . But then what happens is when you go back to eating again because you've lost the weight , those little suckers multiply and they multiply and they absorb as much of the fat as they can possibly absorb it . And this is why we can end up putting on twice as much body fat as we do Twice as much body fat as where we start , in half the time from where we started .

Speaker 1 16:15

Just get the uniform size up so you're not constantly reminded that your body's changed . Be comfortable and be happy . All right , it's not giving up . It's just ignoring what you think society is actually expecting of you Body image . It's so cruel to where you are forming your expectations from and who is dictating that expectation . That's what you need to be looking at . You are you and we love you . And we love you for who you are as a person , not for how you look . We could not give a toss how you look . Always remember to be patient and kind to yourself as you navigate the challenges of shift work and prioritize your mental health and well-being .

Expressing Gratitude and Encouragement

Speaker 1 17:02

And , as always , I want to thank you for tuning into a healthy shift . I hope that you found this episode helpful and inspiring and , if you did , please share it until the next time . Keep moving and make yourself a healthy shift . Thank you for listening . If you enjoyed this episode , be sure to subscribe so you get notified whenever a new episode is released . It would also be ever so helpful if you could leave a rating and review on the app you're currently listening on . If you want to know more about me or work with me , you can go to a healthy shift dot com . I'll catch you on the next one .