10 Principles of Intuitive Eating Series, Principle 8: Respect Your Body

Evelyn Tribole, MS, RDN, CEDRD-S; and Elyse Resch, MS, RDN, CEDS-S, Fiaedp, FADA, FAND created the 10 Principles of Intuitive Eating. These principles were developed to act as guidelines and steps for anyone and everyone to learn about intuitive eating and incorporate them into their lives. We will go into the ten principles individually, what they mean to me and what they can mean for you, and how they will help to guide you on your journey through intuitive eating. Throughout this series of blog posts, we will go in-depth on the individual principles. Today, we continue with Principle 8: Respect Your Body.

Respecting our bodies, especially when they do not fit into what society would deem acceptable, can be hard. This can start by accepting what our genetic blueprints look like. Our genetic blueprints include height, eye color, foot size, and weight. Think of it like this; if your shoe size is a 7, you will not try to fit your foot into a size 5, right? How would that feel? Tight, uncomfortable, your toes would feel pinched and rubbing against the walls of the shoe. If you would not do that to your foot, why are we taught to do that same thing to our bodies? While saying all of this, it is good to note that we will be unlearning body comparison and seeing our bodies negatively. Personal gaslighting is a tactic that diet culture has embedded in us to shame and guilt us back into dieting. 

Fully Grieve Your Old Body:

Think back to your body in high school; now imagine your college body and how different those two forms are. Your body is constantly changing; if you have had children, your body has changed through that experience too. Perhaps you are going through perimenopause or have already gone through menopause. Also you may have had health-related changes in your body. When I was in my early 20s, I would constantly compare my body to when I was a senior in high school. I was in peak athletic performance and condition from playing soccer constantly for 13 years, but I also had an eating disorder during this point in my life. In my 20-something mind, I was not healthy enough if I was not that size. During this time, I developed a serious health condition that limited the amount of exercise or exertion I could tolerate. Only 5 years later, I respect my body and appreciate all the crises it has pulled me through. Respecting your body means taking care of your health. 

Putting Life Events Off to Focus on Weight:

What is the most common phrase we hear when most people say they are going to a wedding soon? “I have to lose weight for the wedding! I have to fit into the dress I just bought.” Why do we center life events around our weight and what we wish it would be? This is all because of diet culture and the mindset it tries to keep us in. The echoes spiral around in our minds that if we are not a certain number, we won’t enjoy ourselves at the event, and if we cannot achieve that imaginary number, we should not even bother going. It is the job of the clothes to fit the body, not the other way around. We can enjoy these life events without worrying about weight by pushing aside the dieting mentality that once hounded us. 

Quitting the Body Check Game:

The “Body Check Game” is when we are in a room and begin to judge ourselves and compare our bodies to someone with the body we think we should have. Since body size and privilege can be relative, it is common for lots o folks to engage in this behavior. So many of us are out how our body compares to everyone else in the room. It is common to seek body safety, meaning wanting to have the body of someone you deem good. Stopping the body bashing will help lead us down the right path of respecting our bodies.

Respecting our bodies, especially when they do not fit into what society would deem acceptable, is difficult hard. This can take learning positive self-talk or general body/self-affirming behaviors. All bodies deserve respect and dignity, we must learn how to give it to ourselves and others. If you have questions about Intuitive Eating, please message Robin Harris through email at robin@bodypositiviteacupuncture.com to schedule a workshop. Look forward to more posts like these, which will cover the ten principles of Intuitive Eating.