"The body positive movement is making great strides to promote size diversity, body acceptance, and a healthier body image for all ages, genders, races, abilities, etc. It is important that we continue to embrace body diversity by recognizing all bodies as good bodies. While we all may have our days when we feel awkward or uncomfortable in our bodies, the key to developing positive body image is to recognize and respect our natural shape and learn to overpower those negative thoughts and feelings with positive, affirming, and accepting ones." - NEDA Blog

For more insight into navigating eating disorder recovery and body image, check out the resources below!

Looking Glass Resources

What is this "Self-Love" Thing Anyways?:"It is SO important in recovery to learn to connect back with the needs of our bodies and to learn to listen for our internal compass/intuition."

Ways to Slow Down & Decompress after a Stressful Day: Physical Practices:"Engaging our senses (site, smell, hearing, touch, taste) has always been an affective way to bring our focus into the present moment and kick on the parasympathetic nervous system."

Ways to Slow Down & Decompress after a Stressful Day: Mindfulness Techniques:" One thing that is for sure, life is unpredictable. By building an inventory of skills and supports that help keep us balanced and wind down at the end of the day will support us to better manage stress and stay strong day to day!"

 

External Resources

Forget Body Positivity: How About Body Neutrality?: An excellent article that explains what body neutrality is and how to strive for body neutrality if body positivity feels a little out of reach at this time.

Working Through Body Image Distress During Eating Disorder Recovery: This article talks about the challenge of healing your relationship with your body in eating disorder recovery, and offers suggestions for working through this including embracing your suffering, crying for healing, being intentional about the media you consume, reading body positive books and blog posts, learning to view you body with a beginners mind and more.

How to Find Peace With Your Body During the Age of Social Media: This blog talks about the influence that social media can have on body image and offers advice on how to help this.

Our Bodies, Ourselves by Carolyn Costin: This article addresses the topic of body image, how body image is affected in individuals with eating disorders, the clinicians relationship to their own body, how to handle comments patients make about the clinician’s own body, the use of self-disclosure and authenticity, and embodied awareness as a tool for recovery.

Raw Beauty Talks: Talks, resources, and coaching for women struggling with disordered eating or self-esteem and body issues.

Health at Every Size Community: Health at Every Size is the new peace movement. It supports people of all sizes in addressing health directly by adopting healthy behaviors. It is an inclusive movement, recognizing that our social characteristics, such as our size, race, national origin, sexuality, gender, disability status, and other attributes, are assets, and acknowledges and challenges the structural and systemic forces that impinge on living well.

 

Resources for Caregivers & Families

Free to Be: Training, resources, and facilitation training aimed at elementary school-aged youth around body acceptance, media literacy, and resilience building.