In a culture where we are pressured to love our bodies, you may feel at a loss when you actually don’t. But you don’t have to love your body all the time to respect it.
In today’s video, I will be talking about this important principle of intuitive principle eating, Number 8, Respect Your Body, and how you can come to grips in your heart with this concept of respecting your body even when you don’t love it.
I am Laura Cragun, and I am an Intuitive Eating and mental health coach. I help Latter-Day Christian women find body acceptance, manage the stress in their life, and discover food freedom, so they can finally find their true purpose!
HOW Can I learn to respect my body?
As I said, you do not have to like your body to respect it. It comes from the inside out! It is not about appearance. You don’t have to love your body, and that is okay.
Sometimes it is hard to love when it doesn’t work. Or it is made fun of by other people, or not accepted by society’s standards, but you choose to give it respect, and maybe at some point you can learn to love it more and more, Or at least some part of it. You may need to start from the bare minimum. For example, saying things like, “I am grateful that my body can breathe today”.
It will ebb and flow. Some days you will love it more than others. On other days you’ll have a hard time finding just one thing that you love about it. That is okay. It is a part of being human and maybe a large part to hormones and current problems and stressors in our life,
Some ways to start practicing this respect is to do some of these things.
1. For example, give yourself a nap when your body needs rest. Even Christ did this,
2. Getting yourself adequate clothing,
3. Allowing yourself to leave toxic conversations or situations that promote dieting or the non-acceptance of the body.
4. You can also show respect by speaking kindly to yourself or at least in the best way that you can.
5. And my favorite one of all, it is an act of respect to stop postponing your life until it changes the way it looks.
That’s a pretty powerful one right there. If only the whole world could understand that. There is a lot of good that could be done if people weren’t held back that way. Now let me tell you a story.
Personal Story
I had a coming-to-myself moment about eight years.I had a small toddler and I was having a very hard body image day. It was late at night and my husband was at the fire station.
I found myself crying in front of my full-length mirror. I was on the floor without any clothes, sobbing, looking at my mirror and thinking to myself how much I hated the way I looked.
But it was within those moments that God heard my cry and he sent the spirit to comfort me. And tell me, “Respect your body. It is a gift.”
You have been able to do so many beautiful things in your life. You have a beautiful child and it gives you energy and the ability to experience this beautiful life.
When you think about it, that is what the whole Plan of Salvation was hinged on getting this body; getting your body! Of course, Satan understands this and he is so desperate to have a body that he’s gonna try everything in his power to help you feel miserable in yours. Don’t let him have that. Don’t let those demons get to you.
You can have respect for your body even if you don’t love it. There are many different things you can find that you are grateful for about it.
The Negative Side of #BOPO (Body Positivity Movement)
Now let me move on into this concept of body positivity. That is a popular movement. It is a huge movement that has been around for quite a while now, and it has left a lot of us confused.
This movement I have felt has missed the mark. The focus is still on our bodies. A lot of times when the culture is promoting body positivity, they are blasting these pictures across the internet saying they love their body and that they feel so happy to have it and they love it.
Diet culture is savvy and knew that they needed to capitalize on this new rebranding of diet culture, and it is found in things such as saying, “I love my body so much that I will only eat clean.” “It is a lifestyle, not a diet.”
We need to find a higher way, and that way is body acceptance, or a lot of people say body neutrality. Or even further, of course, body gratitude.
Lindsay and Lexie Kite said it best when they said, “Loving your body isn’t believing it looks good. It’s knowing it is good regardless of how it looks.”
I suggest reading their book More Than a Body, where they go into depth on the whole culture behind this, and their whole story on how they are body image resilient researchers and their whole movement to help the world understand that their body is an instrument, not an ornament.
Gospel Perspective
This is all in line with how we believe in the gospel. The basic doctrine of – we worship our savior Jesus Christ, not our bodies. We don’t worship idols. We are created after our Heavenly Father and Mother, and we need to respect this body that they have given us and understand that we are children of Them.
Now, if you need more help with this and you feel like you have a connection to me, let’s talk! I offer FREE Intuitive Eating Breakthrough Session.
You may feel overwhelmed on where to start with intuitive eating, and you may be feeling like you’re in some pretty deep habits, and I understand that process on how to get there and break free of these mindsets that you may be having.
With the three pillars of what I coach with intuitive eating principles, mindset, overhaul, and using our savior, Jesus Christ, there is a way to stop being at worth yourself.
In this free session, we create a clear picture of the higher health that you’ve always wanted and discover what’s really holding you back and a vision on how to really get there. Intuitive eating can be your new way of life.
So go to this link! I would love to chat with you!
If you like this video, watch my previous video “What if I need to lose weight?” I explain how to navigate intuitive eating even when you feel like you need to lose weight for better health. So don’t worry. I got you! But thank you for watching today, and we’ll see you next week!
Xo,
Laura Cragun