Welcome back to Rebuilding Trust With Your Body. We need to have a conversation about summer and vacations and body image. Because I’ve been hearing from so many of you that you’re having a hard time with body image right now.

And I get it – it’s hard this time of year when we are switching into shorts, and tank tops and swimsuits, and we’re less covered up so we feel more vulnerable and exposed. 

• You don’t want to be in the family photos on your vacation or at your family reunion (you might not even want to go to the reunion because you’re worried that family members you haven’t seen in a while are going to judge you)
• You don’t want to wear the swimsuit because you feel so self-conscious about how your stomach looks.
• You don’t want to get in the pool or lake.
• You don’t want to be seen. You’re self-conscious going out in public. You wear leggings to your kids baseball games because you’re so insecure about your cellulite or varicose veins and you sit there sweating your butt off because you’re so hot. 
• You don’t want to book the trip because you feel like your body needs to look different before you deserve a vacation.
• You’re worried that by going on vacation you’re going to gain a bunch of weight, so you figure you should try and lose weight before the trip to offset it. 
• You don’t want to wear shorts or sleeveless shirts because you hate your legs and arms so much.
• You don’t want to date because you can’t imagine anyone finding you attractive in your current body..
• You don’t want to post pictures of the wedding you attended because you hate how flabby your arms look in the dress you wore.

In your mind, your body is the reason you have to avoid all these things. But here’s the thing – your body isn’t what’s stopping you from doing these things. Your brain is. It’s because of the stories you’re telling yourself about what you’re allowed or deserving to do vs what you’re not. And you’re missing out on your life because of these stories and conditions you’re placing on yourself.

Dieting doesn’t fix that. Cutting out carbs for 2 weeks before your vacation doesn’t fix that. Telling yourself you need to tone your arms before wearing a dress doesn’t fix that. I’ve seen multiple videos of brides lately lifting weights in their wedding dress right before they walk down the aisle…

STOP. Enough already with this craziness. It’s not helping you, it’s keeping you stuck. And in this episode we’re going to talk about what to do instead. 

Before we dive into our main topic for today, you know what time it is…We’ve got some Wellness Woo to talk about. 

Wellness Woo is the stuff that diet and wellness culture tells us we should do in the name of health, but it’s really based on pseudoscience, exaggerated claims, or just nonsense. 

Today’s Wellness Woo is: Wild yam cream – s/o to Tori!

This wild yam cream is all over the internet and social media and it claims it will “balance your hormones” – side note the phrase is a red flag for wellness woo

Wild yam “naturally supports progesterone production – fixing the root cause of menopause, PMS, and PCOS symptoms”

• No Synthetic Hormones
• 100% Natural/ No Chemicals
• Organic – Non GMO

Wild yam itself as an ingredient herbaceous vine, and it’s different from the yams we have in grocery stores.You’re not going to find this at TG dinner

scientific evidence doesn’t support its use as a direct hormonal replacement in humans, despite its promotion for menopause and menstrual issues.

I would caution you against taking ANYTHING that alleges to do anything to your hormones that isn’t FDA approved or prescribed by your doctor. First of all the likelihood that wild yam creams do anything is low, but let’s pretend it does – you don’t want to be playing doctor and messing with your own hormones. 

Risks of supplements that mess w/ hormones:

• Liver toxicity – black cohash
• Hormone sensitive cancers
• Rx interactions – e.g. ginko baloba that’s frequently added to supplements reduces your seizure threshold and can interact with blood thinning meds
  • Evening primrose oil can also be dangerous for people w/ seizures or on blood thinners
  • Phytoestrogen supplements can increase thickness of the uterine and endometrial lining and can be dangerous for hormone sensitive cancers

Bottom line is that wild yam cream and supplements are wellness woo until we have more science and data to back it up for safety and efficacy. And you’ve got to also keep in mind that a lot of these women’s hormone and menopause supplements have a bunch of other supplements in them that aren’t necessarily safe either. It’s most likely not going to do anything for you, even if it helps it is probably a pretty insignificant improvement, and it carries pretty significant risks in a lot of ways. It’s not worth it to me, and because of that I’m calling this wellness woo.

If you have an example of Wellness Woo that you want to share, DM it to me

Ok, that’s enough of that. Moving on to today’s main topic…What to do instead of dieting before summer or vacations

You’re basically telling yourself if you suffer now then you’ll earn the right to enjoy your summer later. At this point you might be on summer #43 of your life where you are waiting for your body to change so you feel good enough. 

Instead of continuing to repeat the same thing that’s gotten you nowhere, I want you to humor me and try a different approach. And I’m not just making this up. It’s actually science-backed, and it comes from the world of DBT (dialectical behavior therapy) and ACT (acceptance and commitment therapy). It’s called “opposite action” which is a DBT skill, and “committed action” which is an ACT skill. (explain each one)

Here’s what this would look like in real life: 

• Take the trip now.
• Get in the picture now.
• Wear the shorts now.
• Get in the pool now.
• Eat the ice cream now.
• Be seen now.

Doing the thing needs to happen BEFORE you feel good about yourself. You’ve been thinking about this backwards waiting to feel good enough before you’ll let yourself live life freely and enjoy your summer and vacations.You need to do the opposite, and do the things you’ve been avoiding EVEN IF you don’t like your body. (explain how this will help them feel more comfortable and confident…)

You need to start living your life like someone who already is confident and comfortable in their body. And when you embody this you’re going to start actually feeling that way. I’m not talking about faking body positivity. I’m talking about fully participating in life, rather than continuing to tell yourself the untrue and unhelpful narrative that you need to lose weight before you’re allowed to feel comfortable doing things. 

I don’t feel like hot stuff when I walk around on the side of the pool or at the beach. I don’t love every photo I see of myself. I have cellulite on my legs. But I no longer let these things alter my behaviors. I do what I want to do anyway. 

Nobody gets to the end of their life and wishes they had spent more summers hiding. They wish they had gotten in the water. They wish they had been in the pictures. They wish they had stopped waiting and had lived their life more fully.

So before you start another summer diet, ask yourself one question….

How many more summers am I willing to miss while trying to earn the right to enjoy one?

I know that it is HARD when you are struggling with body image and that voice inside your head is loud and you feel so insecure and unworthy. That’s why I created my body image journaling guide with specific journal prompts that are going to help you to heal your body image from the inside out. Go grab it at nondietacademy.com/bodyimage. It’s totally free. These journal prompts are different than anything else out there. It’s not surface level fluffy stuff. It’s the types of things you need to be reflecting on and working on that will actually help you start to feel better about your body. But I also want you to remember that journaling alone is not enough. You also need to take the actions we discussed here today – even when you don’t  feel like doing it. 

And if you’re inside NDC this month we’re doing our Summer Body Image Bootcamp all month long with special trainings, activities, and accountability in our community chat. I’ll be doing a special live training on body image strategies for the summer, we’re going to do some activities with clothing, and some mindset reprogramming specific to body image. I’m so excited for this and I know that it’s going to make this a different summer than you’ve ever had before for those of you inside this program. If you want to jump in and join us, reach out to me and I’ll give you all the details that you need. I want you to understand this is how the work is done – by leaning into it, doing the uncomfortable things, and challenging your old body image narratives. Not by going on another diet. 

So before you start another summer or pre-vacation diet, ask yourself that question I said earlier that I’m going to leave you with….

How many more summers am I willing to miss while trying to earn the right to enjoy one? I really want you to think about that.

In case nobody has told you today – you are ENOUGH ALREADY in the body that you have right now. We’ll talk again soon.

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