From Playground Teasing to Body Shaming

As a health coach and hypnotist specializing in weight management for women 45+, I have become acutely aware of the term Body Shaming. It took me a while to equate that with the teasing and mean words hurled at me as the fattest kid in my elementary school classes. I now understand that, in today’s terminology, body shaming is equivalent to what I and so many others experienced.

There is something different now: cell phone cameras, the internet, and social media proliferation. What I experienced in the classroom, schoolyard, and summer sleepaway camp can now be broadcast everywhere. Of course, the media plays a role as well. While changing, magazine ads, billboards, Facebook ads, and television commercials are still predominantly populated with gorgeous, airbrushed models.

I am always amused by the Facebook ads that show products proclaiming to do miraculous things to tighten skin, lose weight, erase wrinkles, and make you look 15 years younger. Funny how the videos show women who appear to have absolutely no need for the product they are promoting.

It is no wonder that so many women come to me to finally escape not only their excess weight but all the negative self-talk, self-doubt, and self-recrimination that often accompanies it. They tell me they:

·      Have no willpower

·      Can’t stick to any diet

·      They believe they are weak

·      Binge eat when bored, stressed, tired, or just because it’s there

·      They think that if only this time, they could take the weight off and keep it off

·      If only this time it wasn’t such a struggle with pills, strange food plans, shots, packaged food, or shakes

If you are identifying with any of the above lists, STOP IT. It simply isn’t true; I believe you know that. It doesn’t matter if you have always been overweight, suddenly gained weight around menopause, or yo-yo dieted most of your life. The fact is, an obsession with food, with your weight, with whether you are weak, it’s all fixable.

When I look back on my relationship with food, I wonder if I can even think of any time in my life when I felt happy other than when I was at my ideal weight. Again, was I ever satisfied unless I was at the weight I wanted to be regardless of anything else? Scary, huh?

There is tremendous joy in finally understanding my relationship with food and how it has shaped, for better or not so better, who I am. The journey has been tedious and often comical. Do you remember the “Beverly Hills Diet?” It was in the early 80s, and I remember sitting down to eat half a watermelon for dinner. Nothing but fruit for two weeks. Yes, I released weight and, yes, gained it all back. It is not a very sustainable approach to healthy eating. I spent all the money trying different pre-packed meals, shakes, supplements, gym memberships, yada yada yada.

If this resonates with you, join me on a year-long journey of fun, fulfillment, weight management, and understanding your relationship with food and how it impacts many areas of your life. We will talk, practice some hypnosis and relaxation, balance your hormones naturally, eat real food, get healthier, and most importantly, find joy in many areas of your life.