Does body acceptance lead to healthy eating?
Categories: Womens Health, Diet & Weight Loss, Nutrition & Supplements
A new study has tied body acceptance to healthy eating habits in women, based on surveys of college-age women. Healthy eating, within the context of the study, was equated with intuitive eating, meaning that the women who accepted their bodies looked to their body for cues about hunger and satiety, rather than to outside sources.
One problem with the study is that it clearly states that the women reported "receiving more positive messages from parents and others regarding their bodies," which seems to indicate that not all their cues were internal ones. The bigger problem is that it puts body acceptance first. If accepting your body automatically meant that you would follow a healthy diet, listening to "internal cues" about what you should and should not eat, than fewer people would be overweight and obese. The body does not tell people that they need to eat a super-sized double cheeseburger meal at a fast food restaurant, and a lot of the people eating those meals aren't too concerned about achieving acceptance of their bodies; they accept their bodies and are eating what they want to eat.
The reality is that those "cues" tell different people different things, and even the most accepting woman is going to get a "cue" telling her that she really wants a Snicker's bar, a creme brulee or other unhealthy food from time to time. Healthy eating is about choosing the foods that make your body - and you - feel good. You choose to eat healthy and accept the body that comes with that, whatever it may be.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
AnaBell 9-02-2006 @ 9:17PM
I do not know where you (the writer) stand in terms of weight "efforts" (gaining, losing, don't mind, don't care)
I'm currently obese and working to remedy the situation. And this study makes total sense to me. Fat people are, for the most part, not in touch with their body, let alone have an accepting attitude towards it. I've come to realize that we are kind of dettached of it. Yes it's my body, I feed it good or bad and it takes me to places. But it wasn't until recently that I started really "listening to it".
How many "success weight loss" stories have you read where people said: "I do not know how I got to be x hundred pounds" or "It wasn't until I saw myself on those photographs I realized how big I was". It may sound stupid or even unvelievable but it just shows how out of tune some people are with their body.
Also, body acceptance is a blurry term to define. Does it means "I am fat/thin/whatever, deal with it" or does it mean "hey, look at my body, it kinda needs more water/fiber/exercise"? You know those two options will lead to two very different answers.
The other thing I get from your article is the attitude to label good and bad food. Is a super-sized double cheeseburger meal at a fast food restaurant? No. Why would it be bad? But if you are in touch with your body you will listen those cues and realized you don't need a cheeseburger twice a week.
Finally, and sorry for the long post, could you do something with the comment box? The font size is *tiny* and I've read others have the same problem.
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