Body image is important for recovery. Anyone can struggle with poor body image. Having a low sense of self and self-perception can damage the way you have relationships and engage in intimacy throughout your life. Here are a few suggestions for changing your approach to your body image.
Make Sure Your Beliefs Are Consistent
You think you might see some kind of flaw in the mirror. Oh no, you think to yourself, I cannot have this! This makes me unattractive. Yet, you see it in a friend and think they’re so beautiful it doesn’t matter. Or, even more problematically you might think they aren’t very beautiful anyway, so it doesn’t matter. Your beliefs about yourself and about others have to be consistent. Most importantly, they consistently need to look something like this:
Everyone is beautiful.
All bodies are beautiful.
It’s okay to be okay with yourself and how you look
Take A Healthy Look At Your Eating Behaviors
Paying attention to eating behaviors might sound like the opposite thing you need to do to shift body image from negative to positive. Food shouldn’t be assigned labels or emotions. There shouldn’t be “bad” foods and “good” foods which you either feel okay about or completely guilty about. Identifying the way you label and judge your food, as well as yourself when you eat, is important. What you eat directly influences how you feel. You either have to change the food you’re eating in a healthy and balanced way or change the way you feel about the food you’re eating.
Embrace the “All Food” and “All Exercise” Philosophy
What if there was a world where you didn’t have to do a certain workout for a certain number of time followed by a certain protein shake with certain ingredients? Imagine a life where you just ate, in a healthy and balanced way, and got at least 20 minutes of exercise, in a healthy and balanced way. That world is possible and you can create it. Obsessing over doing everything right in regards to diet and exercise can drive you crazy, cause you to be sick, and thwart your positive body image. Let the reins loose a little bit and enjoy the way you live your life, not punish yourself for it.
Give Yourself The Same Love You Give Others
When you compliment and admire someone for the way they look, turn those sentiments back toward yourself. Positive affirmations are a powerful tool for helping you build a more positive self-image and higher sense of self-esteem.
Enlightened Recovery offers holistic partial care programs designed to treat issues of body image and eating disorders in addition to any dual diagnosis issues with substance abuse. We have a solution. It starts with you. Start by calling us today for more information at 833-801-5483.