With this story fresh in your minds , here are five actionable ways to help you , as dietitians , discuss body image with your clients .
1 . Help clients declutter their social media .
Assist your clients in deleting , unfollowing and unlike-ing pages , blogs and social media accounts that preoccupy them . Unless they free their brains from being bombarded with these insidiously harmful messages , body acceptance is a nearimpossible goal . I have often made this a starting point for my body-image work , and I ’ m happy to do it in session . How can I hope to be effective in an hour a week , when people are viewing these images for an hour a day ?
2 . Stop the talk about body size .
Encourage clients to put a stop to discussions about body shape , weight loss , dieting and even appearance in general ! Being openly critical of bodies is very likely to result in body dissatisfaction - you get good at picking out flaws in appearance , including your own . But just as harmful as body dissatisfaction is body preoccupation - placing too much importance on appearance . Too much talk about bodies ( positive or negative ) can eat away at body acceptance . Open talks with clients about making “ No body size talk ” pacts with their friends , colleagues , and family – we all have more important things to talk about .
3 . Don ’ t reward weight loss .
Clients , living in a diet culture , tend to be obsessed with their weight . Of course , they get excited about weight loss ( or its siblings , body composition and measurement changes ). De-emphasising this excitement and focusing on nonweight benefits ( such as improved blood sugar , gut health and mood ) helps clients “ zoom out ” from the scales and see themselves as whole people .
4 . Encourage clients to explore the world of body positivity .
Learning body positivity is like learning a new language . It is a complete paradigm shift away from diet culture ’ s messages about our bodies . I always find it helps clients to have many guides to this brave new world . Some of my favourites are the one-and-only Taryn Brumfitt , amazing plus-sized trainer Louise Green , and my good mate Lyndi Cohen . Searching hash tags such as # bodypositive # effyourbeautystandards and # bodyposi is a great start , too .
© Dietitian Connection 28 Infuse | September 2018