Canyon Ranch (Massachusetts)
Healthy Bodies, Sick Self-Images:
Escaping the Tyranny of Thin and Perfect

There's no avoiding them - the waiflike models adorning magazine covers in the supermarket checkout lines touting quick weight-loss promises and telling you how to trim inches off your belly in four weeks. Promises, promises. And we soak it up. We buy the magazines, we scoop up the products on the infomercials, we go for the weight-loss miracles to the tune of $46 billion per year.

But it's not working too well. In spite of - or because of - the preponderance of weight-loss articles, products and books, women still hate their bodies. Body image is an issue for nearly all the female guests who visit health resorts, say experts. Most of us detest our bodies.

Primal Roots
Even as women have made enormous progress in careers and self-discovery, our attitudes have become distorted, affecting how we view and feel about our bodies. Not all of this is due to societal pressure. Some of our penchant for judging ourselves derives from pure biology. The primitive portion of our brains is designed for survival and the survival of our offspring, and in the not-too-distant past, that meant competition with other females for male devotion. It's impossible not to compare ourselves to other women because we're hardwired to size each other up to see who is the better mate. Surrounded as we are by images of attractive women in contemporary media, our primitive compulsion to compare ourselves to others is in constant overdrive.

This becomes a soul-killing exercise because we can never measure up. Even the very few women who start out looking like models inevitably lose their perfect looks to age. That is simply fact: Not even the beautiful stay that way forever. Encountering images of youth and perfection repeatedly, as we all do, can result in depression if we don't have a strategy for dealing with our reactions.

Mind-Body Games
It is possible to realign our relationships with ourselves and our bodies, but only once we've identified the thought-patterns that sabotage mental health. See if you can recognize your own thinking in some - or all - of these:

1. Black-or-white thinking - "I'm either fat or thin, no in-between."
2. Blaming - "I eat when you make me sad."
3. Labeling - "I'm fat."
4. Should-ist thinking - "I should eat less; I shouldn't have eaten that."
5. Emotional - "I have no self-control; I'll never measure up."
6. Minimizing - "I really don't care what I look like."
7. Maximizing - "I'm so much larger than everyone else."
8. Catastrophizing - "There's nothing worse than me being five pounds overweight."
9. Dwelling on the negatives - "I'll never lose weight."
10. Overgeneralizing - "I'm overweight today, so I will be forever."

Media Matters
The media exacerbates our distorted relationship to our bodies. People go to great lengths to invest in their appearance, which adds another level of pressure: Okay, so maybe you can't lose weight with diets, so how about expensive, dangerous surgery? There's always something more you can do to fit the mold of perfection.

One solution to this assault is to get rid of your TV - it portrays false humans. And realize that no magazine cover is un-retouched.

The tragedy, according to mental health experts, is that so much of our vital force goes to maintaining an image, instead of focusing on other areas of real need. Ask yourself, "Down the road, will I be happy that I spent so much time and energy on superficial things?" And, even more fundamental, "Why should a woman feel bad and try to look like something she's not?"

States of Grace
It's clear that finding a solution to disconnect with our bodies is an inside job. Women who are carrying excess weight need to pay attention to what's good in their world, let their love show and accept the love that's offered, establishing networks of grace and good feeling. You have to decide for yourself where you want to put your energy. Can you devote time to living in your body, just as it is today?

Here are some tools for saying "So long" to Barbie and building a healthy body image:
· Listen to your body. Eat when you're hungry.
· Be realistic about the size you are likely to be, based on your genetic and environmental history.
· Exercise regularly in a way you enjoy, regardless of your size. Exercise is critical for good health, which is a hundred times more valuable than a fashionable image.
· Expect periodic changes in weight and shape.
· Practice self-acceptance and self-forgiveness - be gentle with yourself.
· Ask for support and encouragement from friends and family when life is stressful.
· Decide how you wish to spend your energy - pursuing the "perfect body image" or enjoying family, friends, pets, nature, school, career and, most importantly, life.

http://www.canyonranch.com/
(800)742-9000 (413)637-4100