Body positivity (BP) is a social movement that encourages people to have an attitude of acceptance for their bodies, no matter their shape, size, or the way they look in clothes. The goal of this movement is to encourage self-acceptance and the belief that we all deserve respect. It also challenges society’s beauty standards and attempts to combat body shaming and low self-esteem due to body image issues. The Body Positivity movement is also especially important for those who are overweight … [Read more...]
Helping Adults Cultivate Healthy Friendships
October 10, 2023 By
A recent article in the Washington Post by Ana Homayoun (https://www.washingtonpost.com/.../skills-friendship.../) laid out some rules to help parents encourage their children to develop good relationships with their peers. As I read it, I realized that the guidelines she laid out could also apply to adults. Why, you might ask, am I concerned about adults making friends? After all, don’t we already have them? Well, just like with children for whom making friends is a developmental task, as we … [Read more...]
The Tyranny of Body Image
June 26, 2023 By
A friend told me recently about a horrible experience she had with a doctor. She was sick, went to an urgent care, and before she could finish reciting her symptoms to the doctor, he told her she needed to lose weight. She left there feeling like all he saw was the way her body looked – not that she was truly sick, not that she was smart and organized, not that she was successful – and his reaction fed right into her own struggles: She had trouble giving herself credit for any of her … [Read more...]
Protecting Your Mental Health
May 23, 2023 By
Almost one in five people have a mental health diagnosis, so when most people think of mental health, they think of such things as depression or some type of anxiety. While those are mental health diagnoses, it is misleading to only think of mental health issues that have already reached a critical level and have caused someone to seek help and get a diagnosis. Another way to think about mental health is to consider what can be done to promote good mental health or to prevent mental … [Read more...]
Mindful Eating
January 9, 2023 By
You have gotten thru the holidays and have determined that you will not get on the scale. You know that your jeans are tight and that is enough to cause you to beat yourself up! This happens every year at the end of December and you also know that making a New Year’s resolution to go on a diet is the wrong thing to do, because it is just one more factor that pressures you to lose weight and eat healthily. And it will not work! The other day, I was going through my emails and didn’t even … [Read more...]