5 Ways To Help Your Daughter Have A Positive Relationship With Food And Her Body
Are you thinking about starting therapy for your eating disorder? Learn more about our approach to eating disorder therapy here. Or you can message us for a free consultation using the button below.1. Quit The Negative Body Talk and Appreciate Your Own Body
If you want your daughter to appreciate her body and eat without feeling guilty or worried, then encourage the entire family to model this same behavior. Avoid making negative comments about bodies in general - not even your own. Although a comment like, “I’ll probably need to lose a few pounds to fit into that dress,” might sound harmless, it reinforces body dissatisfaction and encourages dieting. Instead, practice appreciating your body for all that it allows you to do. Verbalize when you’re thankful that you can walk, run, breathe, or dance. The entire family should practice acknowledging that bodies are useful and deserve care and appreciation.
2. Take An All Foods Fit Approach To Meals
Take out any and all references to food being “bad,” “good,” “healthy,” or “unhealthy.” Food is food. Focus on encouraging a healthy relationship with food and enjoyment of food and eating. As tempting as it may be to suggest your daughter “clean up” her diet to better support her health, body image, or athletic performance, leave nutritional advice to the professionals. As a parent, the BEST thing you can do for your daughter (or son) is to encourage a well-rounded approach to eating.
3. Talk About Body Image Compassionately And With Acceptance
Have honest conversations with your daughter about how she feels about her body - particularly as she develops through adolescence. If she opens up to communicate dissatisfaction with her body, validate her feelings and encourage compassion. Do not offer solutions. This is not the time to suggest she augment her exercise regimen or change her diet. These suggestions, although they may feel helpful, will reinforce your daughter’s beliefs that there is something *wrong* with her body. Instead, help your daughter recognize what she can appreciate about her body. This could include the fact that it allows her to dance, jump, leap, or walk. Or how it enables her to pursue hobbies and relationships with others.
4. Monitor And Discuss Social Media Use
Social media, although a great platform for connecting with friends, is also overrun with negative attitudes about food and body image. Speak with your daughter about who she follows on social media and ask if any of what she sees ever makes her feel insecure about herself. We should all unfollow the accounts that make us feel negative about ourselves and choose to follow accounts that support and inspire us.
5. Redirect Comparisons To Others
It is impossible for teenagers to not compare themselves to their peers. Adolescence is rough and comparison is natural. However, you can help build self-confidence by teaching your daughter to redirect negative comparison thoughts, (ie. “everyone else in the class is so much smarter than I am”), and help her focus on herself. Redirecting a comparison like the one in the example above might sound like, “what challenges are you facing right now that make you feel insecure, and how can we help you with that?”
Are you thinking about starting therapy for your eating disorder? Learn more about our approach to eating disorder therapy here.
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