Women's Media Nation | Social, political, and cultural issues relating to women

Food for Fitness: Finding peace with your body

posted by ChickSpeak
Saturday, February 13, 2010 at 2:13pm CST

If there has been a fad diet hit mainstream fitness news in the last six years, I have probably tried it. Everything from the Atkins diet to the South Beach Diet and the 48-hour flush to whatever else you can think of, I have probably subjected my body to one or more of these mild forms of torture. However, I have not tried that new diet in which you eat nothing but cookies, it just sounds like diabetes waiting to happen.

The reason I have tried so many diets is because I have never been satisfied with my body or my weight. This stems from many different sources, but I attribute it most to my sometimes crippling perfectionism.

Over the last couple of years I have began to manage my feelings and relationship with food and my body. This has been one of the most difficult things for me to overcome. It is a diet, of sorts, for my mind. I have had to learn what to feed my mind in order to produce a healthy self-image and to maintain a sustainable attitude that is full of positivity rather than negative thoughts that clog the arteries of my emotional heart by way of insecurities and loss of self-worth.

The first thing I had to prohibit my mind of feeding off of was comparison. I used to compare myself with any woman that was in my presence for more than 40 seconds whether she was on paper or standing in front of me. I would see if her waist was smaller than mine, if her thighs were thinner than mine, if she had cankles or not. One day I realized I was being ridiculous by obsessing over what another girl had that I thought I lacked. Size does not make someone look better or worse than another.

I had to starve my mind of insecurities. When I say insecurity, I am only referring to body image, nothing else. This sort of insecurity has deep roots, and it takes a long time to fully cleanse the mind of them.

One time, my grandpa Bill told me that a man does not want to go to bed with a broomstick, rather he wants something he can hold on to. A little shocked by this comment I had to let it digest for a while. I am not taking a jab at my beautiful and naturally thin friends, he just simply meant guys do not want a girl that has wasted away to nothing because of her insecurity. Conversely men want a lady full of substance, something that he himself can feed off of and contribute to. This statement has helped me to overcome feelings of inadequacy because of how I think I look.

My final point is to feed off of confidence. After I last was dumped a few years ago, I learned what it was to be beautiful without the approval of any man. Chicks, you do not need a guy to tell you that you are beautiful for it to be true. I have noticed that when I am not feeling so great about how my body looks, if I put on a dress that I feel comfortable in, do my hair and make-up, I will start to feel better about how I look. This is a great place to start, and eventually confidence will come without any needed aid. Confidence is something that can be learned, and the best accessory you can add to any ensemble.

My hope is that each chick reading this article knows the value and rarity of her beauty. No one else on earth has a face like yours, has a specifically created body like yours, or a heart like yours. You are so beautiful. No matter how often you partake in fad diets, you will never be satisfied with the end result until you realize that you are stunning just as you are. Feed your mind the fruits of confidence, and purge insecurity and negative self-image from your mental diet.

Fatima Meadows attends Appalachian State University. She has come to love her thick thighs and super skinny ankles, and thinks that a healthy mental diet is as necessary as a healthy digestive diet.