Learn to Love the Body You've Got—Naked or Not!
Can you step out of the shower and before you grab your towel, stand in front of the mirror and be happy with the image reflected back at you? If you’re like the majority of women across the country, your answer is no.
According to psychologist Michelle Alberti, PhD, “Most women today have been taught since they were teenagers that there’s something wrong with their bodies. I call it the ‘Barbie-doll effect.’”
Since the 1960s and the debut of the stick-thin supermodel Twiggy, images of women portrayed in movies, magazines, TV, and on the web have encouraged a body type that is unattainable for most.“ Trying to look like a doll or a supermodel is an unrealistic goal,” says Dr. Alberti.
What has resulted is a billion dollar weight-loss industry and a generation of women who measure success by the number on a scale or a single-digit dress size. We describe ourselves as “good” when we fit into our skinny jeans and “bad” when we have to pull out the bigger size skirt from the back of the closet. This drive to be thin puts women on a diet rollercoaster—either they starve themselves to be skinny or feel inadequate because they don’t meet that ideal, and they comfort their pain with food.
“The most important thing you can do is to stop using the word ‘diet,’” stresses Dr. Alberti. “It’s a horrible, negative word that implies restrictions. Food is meant to be used as fuel to power us through the day, and it should be viewed as such.” On the contrary, food shouldn’t be used a “prize” for accomplishment either. “At a very young age, we often teach children that food is a reward, and it’s not,” she says. “Food is just fuel for living – the goal is to choose what’s best to be healthy, fit and strong.”
The U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office on Women's Health quotes a study on girls’ ideas about dieting, and this is what one 5-year-old girl said: “On a diet, you can’t eat.” Thus, bad habits are passed onto another generation of young women. But before we can truly help them, we must begin to help ourselves. “Women have to learn that their bodies are something to take care of and treasure while changing the mindset about the image they see in the mirror,” says Dr. Alberti.
The National Eating Disorders Association provides these helpful tips from the “20 Ways to Love Your Body”:
- Create a list of people you admire. Consider whether their appearance was important to their success and accomplishments.
- Think back to a time in your life when you felt good about your body. Tell yourself you can feel like that again, even in this body at this age.
- Eat when you’re hungry. Rest when you’re tired. Surround yourself with people who remind you of your inner strength and beauty.
Dr. Alberti elaborates, “When women strive to be the best that they can be – as friends, parents, spouses, career-women and in health – they learn that “best” is not based on body type or shape alone. Some women use food as a distraction from dealing with the real issues in their lives. Ultimately, when you stop using food as a reward or as a coping mechanism, you will come to the place that you are meant to be, and that’s when you will reach your true ideal weight. Then you can be comfortable standing naked in front of the mirror and admire you—at your best.”