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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For many of us, our perfectionism tends to blossom or peak around the holidays. We want our houses to be perfect. We want our presents to be perfect. And we want ourselves to be perfect: the perfect hostess with the perfect makeup and outfit.

We’ve all had a pair of those jeans somewhere in our house. Jeans that haven’t fit us for years, but we keep anyway. Thinking, hoping and maybe even praying to fit back into them. Thinking that somehow fitting into them would shift our lives for the better.

In her book Life is a Verb: 37 Days to Wake Up, Be Mindful and Live Intentionally, Patti Digh talks about her high school Levi’s and what they represented.

Over the years they’ve become a symbol, a talisman, an icon of my perfect high school shape, that lean and strong teenage body that ran and hiked and climbed and bicycled everywhere, that simpler shape before broken hearts, sexual harassments, dead parents, business suits, big promotions, missed deadlines, inane meetings, working with mean people, being mean myself, dead friends, terrorist attacks, hydraulic systems failing on planes I happened to be on, and just plain living the overrated adult life.

Digh tried desperately to get into those jeans — to no avail. (Something else I bet we can all relate to.) She felt like an utter failure, despite her successful and fulfilling career, wonderful family, great friends and all-round good life.

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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:

{via pinterest; originally from here}

The media perpetuates a kind of dread of the holidays, especially Thanksgiving. For instance, today, in just a span of 10 minutes, I received two emails from WebMD about holiday foods that will wreck my diet.

Yes, really, those were the terms they used. (I can’t tell you the satisfaction I get from simply deleting these emails and others like them.)

It’s hard to look forward to our favorite foods when we’re taught to feel fearful, guilty and ashamed for eating — and actually enjoying it.

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!

{via pinterest; originally from here}

When we nit-pick at our bodies, we lose out on the beautiful moments that happen all the time, all around us — especially during the holidays when we tend to get together with family and friends we haven’t seen in a while.

When we focus on our supposed flaws, we leave little time and concentration for anything else.

Mondays can be rough for many of us, and this doesn’t create the ideal environment for building a better body image. To help you turn that around, every Monday features a tip, activity, inspiring quote or some other tidbit to help boost your body image – and kick-start 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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Happy Valentine’s Day everyone! In honor of V-Day, below are 15 ways that you can show yourself and your loved ones tons of love – not just today but every day. Hope this brings you some inspiration!

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To bid adieu to the old year, I wanted to look back at some old posts from 2010. So I chose the top 10 most read posts this year.

I hope everyone has a very healthy, happy and nourishing New Year!

Be safe, and have fun!

Below, you’ll find everything from body image and weight to self-acceptance and self-love.

I love food blogs. But I don’t cook. And I certainly don’t bake.

Yet, I love food. Many types of foods. In fact, I love most foods equally.

To me, an apple is just as delectable as a cookie or piece of chocolate. It just depends on what my body is craving at the time. (Clearly, in the photo above it was craving some dark chocolate. Yum!)

As I’ve been following Reverb 10 a bit, I was thrilled to see a food-related prompt that celebrated eating and connected it to deeper things.

Prompt: Soul food. What did you eat this year that you will never forget?

What went into your mouth & touched your soul?

(Author: Elise Marie Collins)

Mondays can be rough for many of us, and this doesn’t create the ideal environment for building a better body image. To help you turn that around, every Monday features a tip, activity, inspiring quote or some other tidbit to help boost your body image – and kick-start 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!

I’ve been following the Reverb 10 prompts and, as soon as I read this one, I knew it’d be perfect for today’s body image post:

Sift through all the photos of you from the past year. Choose one that best captures you; either who you are, or who you strive to be. Find the shot of you that is worth a thousand words. Share the image, who shot it, where, and what it best reveals about you.

(Author: Tracey Clark)

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Last year, I wrote a post on 22 last-minute gifts you can give yourself to boost your body image and your day.

This year, I’d like to share 10 more ideas with you about nourishing yourself and others.

(By the way, please don’t fault me for the Christmas-inspired title. I couldn’t resist!)