…But wait, that means it’s, like, swimsuit season too. UGH.
Oh, the dreaded swimsuit situation. Let me try to recall the time in my life when I cared about this. Oh yes, precisely four years ago and I guess if I’m being honest, I still care about my bathing suit body today, just to a far, far lesser degree.
Okay, so let’s talk about body image and bathing suits. Rewind about four to five years—my freshman/sophomore years of high school. The summers were basically hang out time at our neighborhood pool/waterpark (where I am still technically employed, btw). I remember worrying about one thing in particular: having to wear a two-piece bathing suit. If you couldn’t look good in a two-piece, you shouldn’t even be at the pool. That was the general thought process. So I would search to find a two-piece that hid every identifiable “flaw” on my body. It wasn’t fun. But I knew if I didn’t rock that two-piece, I wouldn’t be rockin’ the pool.
Looking back, I know I would have felt so much more comfortable in something that wasn’t all “stringy” (hence the name “string bikini”) but I wasn’t dressing for my own comfort, I was dressing to fit a norm and an expectation. Today I just figure I need an inexpensive suit I feel comfortable in. What a drastic difference in my own psyche in just a few years. Before, when thinking about my bathing suit body, it was always in the context of being for others. What would they think? How would they perceive me? Today, while realizing I can never fully escape worrying about what others think, I find that accepting yourself, listening to yourself, and basically just loving yourself helps you overcome that notion of being an object for another’s gaze, which I always find heightened around swimsuit season.
Obviously, this is not easy to come by in a society infiltrated with advertisements and campaigns dedicated to constantly reminding individuals that they are not thin enough or pretty enough. We live in a media age saturated with dieting commercials and weight loss programs and pills. Dieting has become the norm—a very, very scary norm. When I look at pictures of friends I haven’t seen in a while who look to have lost a LOT of weight, my first thought isn’t “they look good” (as many people might), it’s “I hope they are okay.” Individuals who have been at their natural weight for years suddenly losing a drastic amount of weight is never a healthy sign, but the prevailing notion is that this is a sign of “health”—that basically, losing weight is directly correlated to becoming healthier. But that’s not the case, however ingrained it is in our psyche. The path to health and well-being involves something other than that and it is just as much mental as it is physical. Health at every size (or HAES) is a concept that I think helps to counteract the harmful images and ideas we are presented with from the mainstream media on a daily basis. As one site describes:
Health at Every Size means:
Health enhancement Attention to emotional, physical and spiritual well-being, without focus on weight loss or achieving a specific “ideal weight”
Size and self-acceptance Respect and appreciation for the wonderful diversity of body shapes and sizes (including our own!), rather than the pursuit of an idealized weight or shape
The pleasure of eating well Eating based on internal cues of hunger, satiety, and appetite, rather than on external food plans or diets
The joy of movement Encouraging all physical activities for the associated pleasure and health benefits, rather than following a specific routine of regimented exercise for the primary purpose of weight loss
An end to weight bias Recognition that body shape, size and/or weight are not evidence of any particular way of eating, level of physical activity, personality, psychological issue or moral character; confirmation that there is beauty and worth in EVERY body
Now this might sound all flowery and too simply “love your body!”–esque. But, I’ll tell you how I try to practically engage with these general guidelines. First off, I had to came to some general realizations about the fact that losing weight does not automatically equate to increased health. While it might be an end result, it is never the sole means. What also must be realized and embraced is the idea that health and happiness is more important that fitting some often unattainable body type. It’s funny when I think back now how much happier I am today with a body a few sizes bigger than my high school one. So much of health is psychological, especially as it pertains to body image.
I especially like the third and fourth descriptions of HAES. In regards to the third description about “the pleasure of eating well”– according to intuitiveeating.com,
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Intuitive eating sounds simple–basically it’s “eat when you’re hungry, stop when you’re full.” But in a society so concerned with diets, disordered eating, and “good” and “bad” foods, eating intuitively takes a definite effort and understanding of the complex nature of body and mind and the physical and the emotional. So I try to eat intuitively as best I can. It’s good in the sense that you don’t overeat and at the same time get to enjoy your food. I think we have two extremes present in our society today–overindulgence in food (overeating, emotional eating) or worried and disordered eating patterns (dieting, eating disorders). Both are not healthy, so it’s important to find that balance and I think intuitive eating helps in that respect.
In regards to the fourth description of HAES, the “joy of movement,” I’ve come to embrace this by learning what activities I like to do–what activities I actually have fun doing–and then learning to incorporate those into my overall health and well-being plan. I’m one of those people who HATE running. At least on a treadmill or around a track. I much prefer playing sports, like volleyball or basketball–but last year, I seemed to think the only way to stay healthy was running at least 20 minutes a day, 3 times a week. There are plenty of other activities one can come to love without even realizing what a benefit it has to their health. I like to walk, so sometimes I take a longer route to class. Or this year, I actually decided to throw a softball around or play volleyball instead of spending torturous hours running. It’s enjoyable (good for your mental health) and at the same time, good for your physical health as well!
I guess what HAES does for me is incorporate the various strands of health into a more holistic sense of total body and mind health. It realizes the intense and important connection of mind and body and doesn’t try to separate the two. Body image is something that everyone must deal with and the pressure for women is especially extreme. Our current social climate is one that is saturated with dieting and weight loss advertisements, extremely thin models and highly unattainable beauty standards. This is all incredibly debilitating to our understanding of true health, but hopefully HAES offers some sanity to you (as it does to me) amidst all the crazy, or at least allows you to question mainstream media’s take on health and well-being.
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