Myths I Bought Into with Body Image

The million dollar question for me has always been – why do I think about my body all the time? And why do my yoga clients? And why do my performing arts students?

You probably won’t be shocked to know that I chose to deep dive into this work because of my own challenges and struggles with body image and chronic dieting, so figuring out how I could do this? How I could figure it out for myself, and my yoga clients, my music students, my beautiful daughter, and still feel like I could enjoy food and life without all my mental band width being taken up on body image and confusion about what to eat. That was something I really wanted to solve and I did and I have and I want to share it with you.

I started worrying about body image in my early Teens when I was cast in our high school musical as the lead, Miss Lolita Banana of Havana, Cuba and learned that I would have to traipse around the stage, dancing and singing in a bathing suit. The musical is called Damn Yankees and I didn’t know anything about it when I auditioned. I had no intention of landing a role, I just wanted to be in the chorus with my best friend – but as things went – I got the part and there was no turning back; it was sink or swim.

Now – I’ll have you know, I’m really shy.

I’ve always struggled with shyness.

But something happened to me in that musical production, and I discovered how fun it was to play a part, to drop my own persona, and become someone else on stage. So, I did the part of Lola who is the exact opposite of my true nature, the character of Lola, and it was strange, but I found some confidence in me that I never before knew I had. I loved that feeling. I’ll never forget it.

But then reality struck on the last night of our cast parties when the show closed, I watched a video of me on stage, and I was mortified seeing my body in a bathing suit. All I could see was all of the things I didn’t like about my body and it didn’t matter who complimented me on my performance, I was embarrassed.

That is when I started my first diet. I basically spent all of the rest of my Teens on different diets – and most of my 20’s hating my body. I lost touch with my hunger and would be a vegetarian for a few months, or go on a juice fast for a few days. I intertwined dieting with being healthy, and I just couldn’t figure out food and what was best for my body because I felt like crap a lot. I didn’t know why other women didn’t seem to struggle with what to eat as much as I did.

Myth: Dieting and eating healthy are the same thing.

Truth: Not even a little bit. The wellness industry has high-jacked our thinking in this regard, which is why it can be so confusing to figure out what to eat. Throw out diet books and magazine articles that offer you false hope of losing weight quickly, easily, and permanently in the name of being more healthy. This mentality prevents you from being an Intuitive Eater.

It was a struggle for a long time, and I experienced infertility for six years with difficult losses. During those years, I tried all kinds of nutrition solutions and believe me when I say – I tried every style of eating and diet out there. Thinking back, I have to say, my favorite diet of all was the pie crust diet I invented myself, which is where I experimented with losing weight by only eating homemade pie crust cookies and dough for a few days. I know, it sounds weird, but believe me when I say, I’ve tried it all.

When I finally figured it out and figured out a solution that worked for me and not only for me, but left me in a much better head space, a much happier place with food and body image, I wanted to bring this work to other women and that started my journey as a life coach and intuitive eating.

Myth: We can change the we way we feel about ourselves by changing the size of our body first.

Truth: When we cultivate self-respect, we learn to feel better about ourselves first, then incorporate changes in how we nurture ourselves with food, which is the ultimate self-care.

The Dare Greatly Society has been longtime in the making, and I’m excited to get this work out into the world. I founded the Dare Greatly Society in my private coaching practice and will continue to teach Intuitive Eating principles, tools and techniques that are proven with my coaching clients, but I am really dedicated to this work on behalf of the younger generation of girls who are inundated with messages about their self-worth being tied to their body.

I’m interested in going against that mindset, I am really passionate about this issue and I want to bring this message and these tools as far and as wide as possible.

Myth: You are successful and worthy of love depending on how you look and the size of your body.

Truth: You are more than a body. You are already worthy of love and it has nothing to do with the size of your body.

I'll say it again:

You are more than a body.

You are “good enough” just as you are, today. Right now. In this moment.

I’ve learned many important lessons over my forty-seven years of life, a long time since that high school musical, and I’ve noticed how much I used to worry, and how much my clients worry that they aren’t good enough – they don’t belong or fit the mold.

No. None of that is true.

I think the best way to belong is to recognize that we all feel like we don’t belong. No one has found a way to be perfect yet, and so if we accept how we are in this moment, then good enough is available to all of us - now.

Honestly, this makes a big difference in the way I feel, when I think that I’m already good enough.  Now my mind gets to work on what is possible with what I have versus shutting down with what I don’t have.

My journey with Body Image has taught me to value my good enough – Ness.  

You are going to hear a lot about my story and my personal experiences in the upcoming podcast that will launch soon, but for now, stay tuned and let’s get you going on reframing what to believe about yourself and your life right now.  This work is powerful and it changes lives. I can help you.  Reach out for coaching if you are ready to tackle body image. You have nothing to lose and mind/body/food peace to gain.

Love you my friends.