Body Acceptance? Get Real.

“It may sound simplistic, but a 2009 study compared people of similar age, gender, education, and rates of diabetes and hypertension and found that body image had a much bigger impact on health than body size.”

In other words, two equally fat women would have very different health outcomes, depending on how they felt about their bodies. Likewise, two women with similar body insecurities would have similar health outcomes, even if one was fat and the other thin.

body acceptance: approving of and loving your body despite real or perceived imperfections

It's a nice idea, but often easier said than done. How can one practice body positivity if they don’t like what they see in the mirror?

1. Start small: Start with appreciation for what your body does if liking how it looks is out of reach for now. Maybe we worry about flabby arms, but think about how they allow to embrace the people you love. Maybe we worry about “thunder thighs,” but think about everything your legs have carried you through in this life. Recognize what your body can do and what you can work toward.

   “More specifically, work out because you love your body and not because you hate it should be considered an achievable goal, not something to add to today’s to-do list that you can check off with ease. It’s a tedious process for many, not a simple mindset change.” —Nia Shanks

2. Be mindful:
   Pay attention when negative thoughts show up. Don't beat yourself up for it. Acknowledge the thought without assigning value to it, and let it float away as if trickling downstream.
3. Affirmations: a declaration of something that is true and used to practice positive thinking One of my favorites: “I’m not messed up; the world is.”
   “I acknowledge my own self worth.”
   “I release myself from outside expectations.”
   
4. Fake it ’til you make it:
   You don't have to believe your affirmations, but with practice and repetition, they'll take root for you. The longer you act confident and practice positivity, the likelier you are to really feel and believe those things.
   
5. Set boundaries: With the holiday season coming up, many are dreading critical comments from their families. Depending on your family's unique dynamics and how many spoons you have on a given day, you can absolutely say, "That is inappropriate and offensive. Do not comment on my food choices." Stand up for yourself. Ragen at Dances With Fat has a lot of excellent resources and scripts for dealing with friends and family who comment on your body and food.
   
6. Recruit “Team YOU”: Team You consists of friends, family, coworkers, community members, and health care practitioners who are kind and supportive in helping you live the most positive and beneficial life you can in the ways that you choose to. It's difficult to learn body acceptance when everyone around you thwarts your efforts, so work on cultivating positive relationships in your life.
   If people who claim to care about you can't get on board with what you need to take care of yourself, then they don't really need to spend time around you.
7. Practice compassion: We're human, and success doesn't happen overnight. Remind yourself that it's a journey, that it's okay to trip, fall, and backslide. It's what you choose to do next—get up and keep going—that matters most.

It's not just new-age, self-help, woo-y, feel-good advice. Science supports body acceptance as a key part of overall well being:

“By learning to value their bodies as they are right now, even when this differs from a desired weight or shape or generates ambivalent feelings, people strengthen their ability to take care of themselves and sustain improvements in health behaviors.” (source)

What actions have helped you on your journey?

Science and Music

I had a fun-filled, jam-packed weekend.
Friday night: Science of Music at the Perot Museum of Nature and Science!

Perot exterior in the early evening light

I sat in on some lectures in the theater but enjoyed the incredible acoustics of the theater itself more than the material presented. Two scientists discussed the use of sound for analyzing geography and other data, which is inherently very interesting stuff. I could tell they were passionate about their work, but I giggled inwardly because they are researchers and not very good at simplifying everything for a lay audience, so it was a terribly dull lecture, unfortunately. I'm glad I went.

I got to play a violin and a trumpet! UNT music students were there with instruments to share and glorious bottles full of antiseptic for use between uses.

I'm a lefty; this is weird.

I attended with a friend and really enjoyed the rare opportunity for some solo time with her. She sat in for one more lecture while I wandered the other exhibits. We briefly saw a dance company warming up but never happened to see their improv performances that night. There was supposed to be a silent disco, but it included people in fancy clothes walking around with headphones while looking at the minerals hall instead of dancing. I got no headphones, but I like the cool rocks, and at least this area was quiet.

Cool rocks

There was a pretty cool, creepy, dark video about the use of sound in video game development, specifically how the audio designer filters out high tones when your character drowns in order to simulate the sound of being underwater so that you will sympathize with your character, though you should be thoroughly desensitized to his dying by that point in the game.

Stuffed peacock in a hall of dead animals.

Stuffed cheetah in a hall of dead animals.

The Animals Inside Out exhibit from Body Worlds is also going on in the museum right now, with only slices of a giraffe visible in the lobby. The doors to the exhibit hall opened briefly as a teaser and I got to see the ostrich. It was too cool. The special exhibit costs extra, so I'll have to talk someone into taking me.

Horizontal cross sections. Giraffe hearts weigh 25 pounds.

Lobby interior at night

Exterior of the Perot at night.

Did you know the frogs outside light up? Neither did I.

Have I mentioned that the Perot Museum of Nature and Science is just about the coolest thing ever and that I've already been three times and want to go more several more to see Animals Inside Out and watch a science film in the gorgeous theater? It is, and I do.

Chocolate milk

Chocolate milk has gotten a lot of hype in recent years as an ideal post-workout recovery beverage. This is awesome and I totally love drinking chocolate milk . . . except the study that promotes this finding specifically found that men benefited from consuming protein shortly after a work out.

"The effects of consumption of MILK after endurance exercise . . . suggest unique benefits of milk compared with a CHO-only beverage" like sugar-salt-water sports drinks, which are very specifically designed only to rehydrate and replenish your sodium balance.

Aaaand subsequent studies have failed to replicate the milk results in women:

"The women showed no clear benefit from protein during recovery. They couldn’t ride harder or longer. In fact, the women who received protein said that their legs felt more tired and sore during the intervals than did women who downed only carbohydrates."

And a single glass of chocolate milk has as much fat as it does protein and as much sugar as soda. And when a thirsty athlete needs to recover, who's going to chug only 8 ounces?

But that's OK for me because fats actually boost brain power, beauty, and vitamin absorption. Yay!

So after a brutal 6-mile trail run up and down hills and hills and hills and hills yesterday, I stopped off for a quart of thick chocolate milk on my way home and enjoyed it straight from the jug. And I gotta say, I'm feeling much better today than I should after such exertion. Sure, it could be due to my extra attention to stretching or my new calf compression sleeves, but the chocolatey milk probably contributed, too.