19. The Most Important Piece of Body Image Recovery

I know you hate your body and you think that weight loss will make you love it, so you restrict HARD.

But a malnourished brain is a brain that can’t perceive things accurately, so the image of yourself becomes increasingly distorted.

And then whatever body changes you do experience might make you feel better in some ways, but deep down it doesn’t solve everything.

So you might try a different diet...and then a different diet...and then a different diet...etc...

All the while body image never really improves, or worse yet, it gets more dysmorphic.

Rehabilitating your nutrition intake is the number one, most important part of body image recovery.

As long as you fear adequate nourishment, you will continue to live in fear of your body.

This might sound cliche BUT the only way to get over your fear is to face your fear.

In the cases of severe eating disorders, nutrition rehabilitation is paramount in recovery. In hospital settings, work with a dietitian is prioritized even over the work with a therapist. There are some individuals who can fully heal their eating disorders without ever seeing a therapist, as long as they stay steadfast in their work with their dietitian. (Not throwing shade to ED therapists you guys rock and are totally needed! I know you know that some people are just resistant to therapy or decline it and they can still go a long way on their own). All of this to say, even if you don’t claim a full blown eating disorder, even if your relationship with food is just slightly disordered…you can not underestimate the power of adequate nutrition in feeling better on a holistic level. It is paramount in healing the mind, body, and soul all together. We can talk alllllll dayyyy longgggg about core beliefs and not feeling good enough or worthy or deserving of love and your childhood trauma and your trauma responses etc etc etc BUT Until you start to finally commit to adequate nourishment, the neurons in your brain that fire together to produce body dysmorphia will NEVER heal. They will NEVER rewire to a positive self image as long as you are engaging in restrictive thoughts and behaviors. This is precisely why I named my nutrition counseling program “Nourish to Flourish.” Nutrition is the most important step 💕

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