Author: Dr. Natalie Chapman

What is Body Image?

The term body image refers to the way we think, feel about, and see our body. From a very early age we receive messages about our bodies and how they should look, from friends, family, and media. An unhealthy body image can lead us to struggle with low self-esteem and can adversely affect many different aspects of our lives, including the development of an unhealthy relationship with food.

The stereotype in today’s culture is that body image issues primarily affect impressionable young girls. This belief shows a false assumption that others, including boys, men, older women, people of color, and members of the LGBT+ community are somehow immune to these pressures. The truth is, body image issues can affect people of all ages, genders, and backgrounds.

Often, a negative body image can change our relationship with food. Food is an integral part of our daily lives; not only is it essential for our survival, but it is interwoven throughout our culture in many ways. If our relationship with food is laden with guilt, shame and anxiety, it can take the pleasure away from the experience of nourishing our bodies and connecting with others in this way. Learning about Mindful Eating is one way to take steps toward developing a healthy body image and a healthy relationship with food.

The Mind-Body (Dis)connection

We are all born with an innate ability to regulate our eating. Babies, for example, are experts at knowing just how much to eat and when they are full. In today’s culture, pressures to adhere to certain diets, exercise regimes, and body image ideals can lead us to engage in weight loss efforts, dieting behaviors, and even disordered eating. Ultimately, this leads to loss of awareness and connection to our internal cues. Instead of listening to messages our body is telling us, we let external cues be our guide. This can often lead us to feeling out of control of our eating and disconnected from our bodies. So what can we do to regain this mind-body connection?

Understanding Mindfulness and Mindful Eating

Mindfulness can be defined as the practice of being in the present moment with awareness, openness and acceptance. This practice encourages us to attend to our bodily sensations, feelings, and thoughts and has been shown to enhance both psychological and physical well-being. Mindfulness practice can assist us in becoming aware of our emotional and physical states as well as our need to ease our feelings of discomfort by eating. It helps us to experience awareness of what we are feeling without judgement.

Mindful eating encourages us to understand the impulses and the history that drives our urge to eat for comfort or distraction. This approach can help us become better attuned to our bodily sensations and respond to our body’s cues. If after tuning in to our bodies we determine that we are physically hungry, we can eat while paying attention to the appearance of the food, the smell, the taste, and our thoughts about the food we are eating. If we understand that we are not physically hungry, but are instead responding to historical impulses to comfort or distract ourselves using food, then we are able to attend to the urges and the meaning behind them. Often there are psychological underpinnings that can be further explored with the support of your therapist. Over time, this process can help us to develop a healthy relationship with food and with our bodies.

Practicing mindful eating can be particularly helpful if you struggle with body image and eating disorders. It shifts your attention away from your outward appearance and towards how your body feels from the inside. Overall, this can help us become attuned with our own internal processes, cues, and feelings.

Mindfulness Exercise

Let’s give it a try! The following is a simple mindfulness exercise that involves food—in this case, raisins. This can be used with any alternative food item.

Hold one of your raisins in your hand. Take several slow, deep breaths. Now look at the raisin as if you had never seen one before. What color is it? What is its surface like? What does its texture feel like between your fingers? What thoughts are you having now about raisins or about food in general? Are you having any thoughts or feelings about liking or disliking raisins? Whatever your thoughts or feelings are, simply notice them.

Be aware of your intention to begin eating. Move your other hand slowly toward the raisin. Note the action mentally by saying to yourself, “Reaching … reaching … reaching.” Now pick up the raisin, and say to yourself, “Lifting …. lifting … lifting.” The point is to stay aware of each movement of your hand and arm by naming them.

Now move the raisin closer to your mouth and watch your hand as you do so. Smell the raisin. What does it smell like? How are you reacting to the smell? Is your mouth watering? If so, notice what it feels like to desire food.

Put the raisin on your tongue. What does it feel like? Is your mouth watering? Now bite into the raisin. Where is the raisin in your mouth? Begin chewing slowly. What are the sensations in your teeth? Your tongue? How does your tongue move when you chew? What part of your tongue is experiencing the taste? Where is your arm? Did you notice moving it to where it is now?

When you are ready to swallow, notice the impulse to do so. Now swallow the raisin. Try to be aware of how the raisin moves in your esophagus toward your stomach. Can you feel any sensations in your stomach? Where is your stomach? What size is it? Is it empty, full, or in between? Imagine that your body is now ‘one raisin heavier’.

Now take as much time as you need to eat the other two raisins with the same degree of mindfulness.

Additional Supports

Mindfulness can be a helpful tool to increase body awareness and acceptance. However, if you feel that your relationship with food is a problem, or you are wanting to further understand your relationship with food and the patterns in your past that have contributed to your current struggles, therapy may help. Give us a call or complete our online inquiry if you are in need of additional support.

Other Resources:
The National Eating Disorder Association