Hello friends! Today I am bringing you Part 3 in the Intuitive Exercise Series. (You can read the intro here and part one here.) The third principle of Intuitive Eating is to Make Peace with Food. In Movement world, we want to make peace with our bodies. This one is, admittedly, easier said than done for most of us (myself included). But it is important to at least understand what this means so we can hold ourselves accountable when we struggle.
Make peace with your body. That’s a loaded statement. In fact, I considered skipping this one until later. But I thought there are many reasons to rip this band-aid right off. First and foremost, there are too many of us who have hated or hated on our bodies for far too long. And that’s gotta stop. The sooner the better.
Second, and as I’ve mentioned already, Diet and Exercise Culture have told us we aren’t worthy if we don’t fit a certain ideal size/shape. And the medical community has perpetuated the idea that body weight is THE most important indicator of health. (Spoiler, it’s not.) Those also gotta stop.
And the more I sat with this, the more I realized that making peace with your body doesn’t mean making peace with its size or shape. I have written about my own tormented relationship to certain parts of my own body. Not loving how my thighs looked has stopped me from wearing certain things or feeling amazing in a swimsuit. But not once, ever, has it stopped me from moving.
At various times in my life I have walked religiously, run, played numerous sports, kickboxed, strength trained, stretched, practiced yoga, swum, and biked. All powered by my legs. And I never questioned if I could do it.
During my undergraduate and graduate education, I was one of the larger bodies in my classes. Courses which included movement labs that tested our endurance, strength, power, and abilities in various tortuous ways (including cycling for an hour and a half in a 100 degree room while classmates took blood pressures, heart rates, and finger stick blood draws every ten minutes.) But not one of them ever commented on my weight or size. Because I could do those tortuous things.
Making peace with my body meant being grateful for the things it could do. My most maligned body part has allowed me to do some pretty awesome workouts. I fully appreciate how lucky and privileged I am to say that. But, most of us (fully and differently abled alike) probably have something that we can be grateful that our body can do.
And that’s where making peace with your body starts. Every body is different. Different in size, shape, and ability. But every body is able to do something that we can and should be grateful for. If your heart is beating and brain is working to keep you alive, you should be grateful.
Making peace with your body also means accepting that bodies are living things. As a living thing, your body changes every single day. Digestion changes based on what you did or didn’t eat for dinner last night. Hormone levels fluctuate and change how hungry or thirsty we feel, as well as how quickly or slowly we metabolize what we consume. Factors outside our control (like a global pandemic) affect daily routines of exercise and meal planning. All of these things determine what the scale says.
And yet we give the scale, and by extension Exercise Culture, the power. You aren’t good enough if your weight fluctuates up a pound this week. We call ourselves beached whales in the days leading up to our periods. And what did we do with ourselves if we came out of quarantine needing bigger pants? But we are not meant to maintain one weight our entire lives.
By giving Exercise Culture that power, you take it away from your body. And your body is the single most amazing thing you possess. Bodies, of all shapes, sizes, and abilities, are incredible things. They are all different and yet, they all allow us to be here.
If you are lucky, your body allows you to move, too. Depending on your age and how often you have moved it in the past, you might need to grease the hinges a bit, but being about to walk, run, bike, swim, lift, bend, stretch, and play is awesome. Bodies that can move and play should be celebrated by allowing them to do just that. Regularly.
Moving our bodies and the parts that we are able to, is the single best way to make peace with them. It is hard to be angry at a body that allows you to train for a race. It is hard to be frustrated with a body that allows you to feel strong, or even tired, after a workout. It is hard to be upset at a body that allows you to play with your kids (or grandkids).
Ultimately, making peace with our bodies isn’t about making peace with what they look like. Making peace with our bodies is about appreciating all the things they do for us every day.
Tell us in the comments, what do you appreciate about your body? Stay tuned for part four and until next time, be well, friends!
