{Sui’s beautiful e-book}

We talked about self-care on Monday, about how we can add short activities to our day that help us feel more alive or more relaxed or healthier overall.

But I think self-care is also a mindset, a belief system. It’s a mini philosophy that guides how you approach life and yourself.

It’s not just bursts of activities; it’s the bigger picture. It’s nourishing and honoring ourselves.

“Many eating problems aren’t really about food. They are about self-soothing,” writes clinical psychologist Susan Albers, Psy.D, in her book 50 Ways to Soothe Yourself Without Food.

And the holidays may be a time when we need extra soothing. While the holidays are filled with joyful moments, they can be stressful.

You might have to see family you’re not particularly fond of. Or add 20 tasks to your already long to-do list. Or travel across the country. Or deal with more responsibilities at work.

All the while you might be in desperate need of comfort and calm. And perhaps looking for it in all the wrong places.

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How we start our days can often make or break our mood. I think the same is true for body image. Here are 10 simple ways to start the day on a positive note that either directly or indirectly boost your body image.

1. Move your body. This isn’t about punishing your body into weight-loss submission or purging it of last night’s calories. This is about engaging your mind and body in pleasurable movement. About getting those feel-good endorphins circulating through your bones.

Every Monday features a tip, activity, inspiring quote or some other tidbit that helps boost your body image, whether directly or indirectly — and hopefully kick-starts the week on a positive note!

Got a tip for improving body image? Email me at mtartakovsky at gmail dot com, and I’ll be happy to feature it. I’d love to hear from you!

When we have a negative body image, we might engage in certain behaviors that we think will make us feel better. But they really don’t. Or they might. Temporarily.

For instance, we might miss social events because we don’t like how we look. This soothes us, but only momentarily. And it perpetuates the false idea that we’re only worthy of company if we look a certain way.

So over time, these behaviors actually bring us more distress and anxiety and continue the cycle of negative body image. Over time, we miss out on the meaningful things that will truly fulfill us.

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Research has shown that gratitude is really good for us. It’s associated with greater optimism, enthusiasm, energy and other positive reactions. And I think it also helps in quieting our inner body-basher.

In honor of Thanksgiving, here’s what I’m seriously thankful for:

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How many times have you buried your pain with sugar-laced carbs? Or pretended that the bad stuff simply didn’t exist? Thinking that your denial would undoubtedly force the pain to vanish.

If you didn’t react, then it’s not real, or true or right in front of you. If you didn’t react, then it’s a nightmare, and once you open your eyes, life will be beautiful again.

Not surprisingly, letting our pain percolate inside can lead to anxiety, a storm of pent-up feelings and a whole lot of food cravings that we don’t even crave in the first place.

Every Monday features a tip, activity, inspiring quote or some other tidbit that helps boost your body image, whether directly or indirectly — and hopefully kick-starts the week on a positive note!

Got a tip for improving body image? Email me at mtartakovsky at gmail dot com, and I’ll be happy to feature it. I’d love to hear from you!

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Building a more positive body image can be tough work sometimes. You’re working on adjusting your thinking, overcoming unhealthy habits, breathing in life’s big and little moments and taking good care of yourself.

While these are all positive and important steps to take, it can get exhausting. And overwhelming. (If you’re feeling all over the place, just do one thing.)

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Anxiety often underlies eating disorders. For many individuals, engaging in eating disorder behaviors helps to soothe them – only temporarily, of course.

Anxiety also contributes to emotional eating and can worsen body image issues. (How many times have you been tense and taken it out on your body? Or vice versa? Or mistook discomfort and nervousness for “feeling fat”?)

But while anxiety seems incredibly overwhelming when you’re caught in its clutches, you can do so many things to minimize your anxiety. It’s a matter of learning some skills. Here’s a list of strategies to try.

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Last week, I wrote about 30 habits that can help improve your body image every day.

Today, let’s chat about the beliefs and habits that can prevent us from building a more positive body image. Some of these may come from society, the media or even your own home.

While you don’t need to tackle all these at once, I hope they help you in possibly creating some body positive goals.

1. Not listening to your body’s needs, such as skipping meals when you’re hungry or exercising hard when you’re tired.

2. Hyperfocusing on supposed physical “flaws.”

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Anxiety underlies eating disorders, and eating disorders, in a sense, become a way to cope with the tension and rumbling nervousness.

One way to treat EDs is to focus on a person’s values and help them realize that eating disorders, while they might minimize anxiety temporarily, interfere with these values. (And, of course, are dangerous.)

Today, I’m pleased to present my interview with Emmett R. Bishop, Jr., MD, FAED, CEDS, medical director of adult services at the Eating Recovery Center, who discusses this technique, which at the Eating Recovery Center, they’ve termed values-based anxiety management.

Below, Dr. Bishop discusses how he helps patients with eating disorders discover their values and alleviate their anxiety. He also includes a tip for individuals who don’t suffer from EDs.