What if You Resolved to Do This in 2021?

Happy New Year!

Whether or not you like to make New Year’s resolutions, here’s one intention for the coming year you may want to consider.

Resolve to be kind to your body.

Really, truly kind.

Here’s what body kindness might look like:

• Rejuvenating your body with abundant rest and sleep.

• Moving your body in a joyful way and breaking free from your Exercise Police (no punishing, painful or compensatory workouts).

• Speaking to your body—and about your body—with respect, appreciation, compassion and tenderness.

• Stepping off the dieting roller coaster and away from the physical and physiological harm dieting can cause.

• Listening to and honoring your body’s needs and desires, including its hunger and fullness cues (versus following external eating rules).

• Eating foods that satisfy your body’s need for both nourishment and pleasure.

• Wearing clothes that you love and comfortably fit your here-and-now body.

• Immersing your body in nature, nourishing it with sunshine and fresh air.

• Relaxing your body with deep breathing, stretching, meditation, a massage, a bubble bath, calming music or other soothing activities.

• Thanking your body every day for everything it does for you (like breathing!).

How Would Your Life Change?
I encourage you to reflect on what body kindness means to you and how your life would change if you were kinder to your body.

And, I invite you to consider that your body is a celebration of your survival and it wants more than anything to be your partner throughout this life journey.

4 Gifts to Give Yourself This Holiday Season

If you’re desiring a more peaceful, trusting and relaxed relationship with food and your body, here are four gifts to consider giving yourself this holiday season.

1/ Silence Your Food Grinch
Silence the Grinch (a.k.a. the Food Police) in your head that says you’re being bad for enjoying the yummy holiday fare.

Unless you stole the food or harmed someone to get it, there is absolutely no reason to feel bad, guilty or ashamed about your food choices.

You also never have to earn the right to eat anything or make up for your eating.

(For more holiday Intuitive Eating tips, click here.)

2/ Ditch Diet Culture Content
To help you move away from diet culture and the diet mentality—and stop spending so much time, energy and headspace thinking about food and your body—ditch any content regarding dieting, food restrictions, good and bad foods, weight loss, the thin ideal, fitspo, etc.

Do an audit of all the content you engage with including social media, videos, TV shows, podcasts, apps, websites, blogs, newsletters, magazines, books, cookbooks, etc.

It's also also helpful to ditch the diet talk; here's how.

3/ Toss Your Scale
It’s so easy to let the number on your scale define you, to dictate how you feel about yourself and determine how you go about your day.

By tossing (or donating) your scale, you're reclaiming your power from a worthless piece of junk that’s completely incapable of measuring your innate worth and overall wellbeing.

If you’re not quite ready to get rid of your scale, put it in an inconvenient spot, like the back of your closet or a high shelf in your garage.

4/ Skip the Dieting Bandwagon
Resolve to not jump on the dieting bandwagon come January. And when I say dieting, I mean any eating, lifestyle or wellness plan with a bunch of food rules and restrictions.

Diets erode your ability to trust your body and your instincts, and negatively impact your physical and psychological wellbeing. Plus, they suck all the joy out of eating and living.

If you are tempted to go on a diet, which is completely understandable given the world we live in, I encourage you to learn about the potential negative side effects—everything the diet companies don’t warn you about—so you can make an informed decision. If you have a history of dieting, you’re likely quite familiar with these outcomes.

Beyond the Holidays
If you want help getting off the dieting roller coaster and giving yourself the gift of a more peaceful relationship with food and your body that lasts well beyond the holidays, I’m here for you.

What I'm Tuning Into [Top Podcasts]

Reflecting on my first corporate job after college, I can vividly recall my co-worker Carol twirling around in a floral dress smiling widely as we all congratulated her on her recent weight loss—the result of taking the diet drug fen-phen.

The celebration didn’t last long, however, as this “miracle drug” was soon banned after research revealed it could cause heart valve damage.

Carol rapidly regained the weight, which sadly left her feeling ashamed and like a failure—something many of us with a history of yo-yo dieting can relate to.

Top Podcasts
Fen-phen, along with SnackWell’s cookies (lived on them!) and the President’s Physical Fitness Test (so humiliating!), are just a few of the topics covered in Maintenance Phase, a new podcast I’m really digging.

In addition to this show, following are a few other podcasts from a diverse range of thought leaders on subjects including diet-culture, fat-positivity, Health at Every Size, Intuitive Eating and more.

It's my hope that their stories, experience, knowledge and wisdom will help support you on your journey toward a more peaceful relationship with food and your body.

>Maintenance Phase
Co-hosted by Aubrey Gordon (Your Fat Friend) and Michael Hobbes (You’re Wrong About), the podcast “debunks the junk science behind health fads, wellness scams and nonsensical nutrition advice.”

As a longtime fan of Aubrey’s work, I’m also super excited about her new book, What We Don’t Talk About When We Talk About Fat.

>Fierce Fatty
Fat activist Victoria Welsby “helps plus-size people feel confident in their body so that they can stop giving a f*ck what other people think and live life with freedom and joy.”

Topics range from fat shaming and fat fertility to celebrity weight loss and dating while plus-size.

>Hearing Our Own Voice
A former wellness coach turned writer, speaker and educator, Melissa Toler describes her new show as “an anti-diet, weight-inclusive podcast that centers the stories and experiences of Black health and wellness professionals.”

Episodes include interviews with Black advocates, authors, dietitians, fitness instructors and more.

A Few More…
If you’d like a few more podcast recommendations, check out Food Psych; Body Kindness; Love, Food; Body Image with Bri and Dietitians Unplugged.

I hope you find these resources helpful!