In news that you may have missed, a recent study showed that showing women pictures of fat bodies made them like fat bodies more.
In other words, those images of very thin women that you see all day long are messing with your head and making you hate your body more.
Although this study had a relatively small sample size of young, heterosexual women in the UK, it does tell us something about how the images we see all day every day affect our perception of our bodies.
How You Can Eat What You Want And Still Lose The Body Shame
This study shows me that the one “diet” that I’ve recommended to my clients over the past few years is still a really good one. So I’d like to recommend it to you too, and it’s called, The Media Diet.
With the Media Diet you will:
• Lose your self doubt about your appearance
• Reach your goal of liking yourself and the way you look
• Melt away your resistance to feeling good about yourself right now
GUARANTEED!
Here’s how you do it:
For the next week, as much as possible, limit your exposure to images of:
1) Ultra thin women and men
2) Advertising of diets and diet foods
While on the Media Diet, use your “willpower” to avoid the following:
1) Typical fashion magazines (it’s tempting to peek in the line at the grocery store but distract your attention with something else)
2) Internet fashion sites (except as described below)
3) Daytime television (this is the time when diet ads are most prevalent)
4) Primetime sitcoms
5) Ads in general (check out extension like adblock plus to keep your web surfing ad free).
There’s No Need To Go Hungry For Media
Now, there is no need to starve for media on the Media Diet. Take this time on the Media Diet to replenish your system with healthy alternatives:
1) Check out some really fun online plus size magazines, like Volup2 from Velvet D’Amour, Plus Model Magazine, and Venus Diva Magazine.
2) Check out plus size fashion groups, like Facebook’s Fatshion! community and Fattoo Anonymous. Enjoy all the pictures of fabulous fat women of all shapes and sizes dressing up in their favorite clothes. Post your own too. And for more gorgeous photographs (which may be NSFW), check out Adipositivity, Fat People Of Color, and Fat From The Side. And for cool drawings, go to FatPosiDoodles!
3) Read great Fat Acceptance blogs, including mine!
4) Pinterest is becoming a very body positive place, if you know where to look. Check out my fatspiration board for some body positive imagery.
5) Check out shows starring fabulous plus sized women and men, like Huge on ABC Family on DVD.
6) Read fat positive, image-heavy books like Fat!So? and The Full Body Project for their wonderful imagery.
I guarantee that after a week spent on the Media Diet, you will look and feel better about yourself! Let me know how it goes in the comments below!
Golda is a certified holistic health counselor and founder of Body Love Wellness, a program designed for plus-sized women who are fed up with dieting and want support to stop obsessing about food and weight. Her new free teleclass, How To Feel Empowered, Gorgeous & Confident Every Single Day At Any Size, is happening next week. Click here for details!
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Body Diversity Is Really A Thing + How It Can Help You Feel Better About Your Body — Body Love Wellness http://t.co/o6ak0j59
Style/fashion pages usually give bad, media influenced advice. It was a good idea to stop reading them.
I stopped reading fashion magazines and even “womens” magazines the past 18 months or so…and recently on Pinterest stopped following boards that I felt affected me negatively…mostly “health” ones, but also some peoples style/fashion boards…and it is working..I still watch some daytime tv, and you are correct- a LOT of diet ads…I just remind myself they don’t work, and I also notice that I look at some befores and think “they look good to me..” It’s been a really interesting experience.
It really does work, too.
While I haven’t really limited my exposure, I’ve turned around the way I respond to it (and consequently started annoying people with my commentary any time a weight loss ads and similar things.) I’ve started seeking out positive images of plus size women, reading size-positive blogs, etc. I even found a new favorite group (thanks to your blog, actually – LOVE The Gossip!)
And yesterday, when looking for baby pictures of my daughter, I realized something… I didn’t hate the pictures that had me in them! In fact, I was kinda disappointed that there weren’t more.
I’ve even started looking for clothes that *gasp* aren’t frumpy and baggy and sad-looking! :)
…now excuse me while I go ogle over those online magazines.
wonderful article and so true we all need to think along these lines
The only diet I need is a media diet. (Check out the full post here: http://t.co/C4Bt2JUJ) http://t.co/GqDr6Ynt
“The only diet I need is a media diet.” –@bodylovewellnes http://t.co/lLSL2JGM
@bodylovewellnes YES!! The only diet i need is a MEDIA DIET! http://t.co/PWKVSXoK
Body Diversity Is Really A Thing + How It Can Help You Feel Better About Your Body http://t.co/C4Bt2JUJ
{New} Body Diversity Is Really A Thing + How It Can Help You Feel Better About Your http://t.co/Nsbh9hW7 #bodydiversity #bodyimage #research