How to document and explain your IBS for the best medical care.
Your Body: In Control or In Charge?
September 17, 2018
Here’s a question: Are you in control of your body or are you in charge of your body? Not sure? Here’s how I would define the difference: When you control your body, you do so by manipulating your eating, using external cues and rules, in an effort to strive for the “ideal” size of a woman. When you are in charge of your body, you listen and honor your inner cues for hunger, fullness, satisfaction, and what feels good in your body and live comfortably at your set point.
Being in control leads to body dissatisfaction, self-loathing, and food obsession.
Being in charge leads to body acceptance, self-compassion, and food rule freedom.
Being in control may trigger an eating disorder and/or lead to weight gain.
Being in charge triggers empowerment.
Being in control is being on a diet. Words typically associated with being in control include clean, lifestyle, cleanse, restriction, willpower, detox, don’t, shouldn’t, “good “/”bad” food, cheat, and the wagon (that you inevitably fall off of when dieting).
Being in charge is learning to eat intuitively. Words typically associate with being in charge include flexible, compassionate, internal cues, freedom, and peace.
Being in charge means living diet-free.
Diet-free living begins with moving away from the external cues that control your eating (ie categorizing foods as good and bad, eating because it’s time, not eating because of the time), and move towards listening to your inner cues for hunger, fullness, and feeling well.
Ditching diet rules gives you the opportunity to choose how you care for your body and for your health. You become in charge of why, what, how much, and when you eat. You also become in charge of choosing the nutrition and dietary interventions that support your health and wellness goals. You are also in charge of the decision to not eat for health and wellness. When you opt out of diet culture, you begin to realize that your body and its size and health status is nobody else’s business.
Diet culture does not have to control your body any longer. You have a choice. You can give up the control and begin to take charge. You can be the boss of your body.
Want to practice? Check out my Food and Body Freedom course!
Beth Rosen
Eating Attitudes™ & Gut Expert
Beth Rosen, MS, RD, CDN is a Registered Dietitian and owner of Beth Rosen Nutrition. She practices a non-diet philosophy and is a Health at Every Size" practitioner. Her goal is to end the pain of diet culture, one person at a time. Beth's techniques and programs empower chronic dieters, and those who consider themselves emotional and /or stress eaters, to ditch the vicious cycle of dieting, eat fearlessly by removing Food and diet rules, and mend their relationship with food and their bodies. Beth's works face-to-face with clients in Southbury, CT, and virtually with clients, worldwide.
