Our Philosophy about Health, Weight, and Body Size
Your body is a gift to help you achieve your destiny while on this earth. It doesn’t matter what your body looks like (short, tall, fat, thin, pretty, plain, etc.) because your body tells nothing about the person that you are. Here are at Nutrition Solutions, we don’t want weight and dieting to be the focus of our sessions as we know from current research that there is no cure for obesity. Instead of focusing on weight loss, we focus on behaviors that help you feel better and more confident because of how you are treating your body. You only have one life to live and we don’t want it to be wasted by constantly trying to manipulate the size of your body. Instead we strive for body acceptance and taking care of the body that you have.
Although there is much we do not know about weight management and obesity, there is a lot we do know. We do know that chronic dieting in fact makes us worse off. People who diet off and on have poorer body images and higher BMIs. People who instead focus on eating competently [https://www.ellynsatterinstitute.org/satter-eating-competence-model/], feel better, have better body images, and lower BMIs. There is so much more work to do in the medical field in regards to preventing and treating obesity. But until we get there, there is much you can do–accept yourself for the body you are living in at this moment and treat it with respect.
Throughout the years our society has placed such an emphasis on body size and appearance, that we have become obsessed with it. The truth is, from the beginning of time, some people live in larger bodies, some people live in smaller bodies, and some people live in bodies that are in between. In their book, The Body Myth, Margo Maine and Joe Kelly say it best:
“It is helpful to think of the body metaphorically as a vessel or tool that holds, nourishes and conveys our essence (our whatever other spiritual metaphor best helps us understand the spark of life). The body gives us the means to think, speak, touch, feel, listen, taste, smell, and sense both ourselves and what is around us. It enables us to express our self and shape our relationships with our self and those we love. We are in the body when we reflect on life’s difficulties and joys, and when we grow in response to them. But we are not our bodies. You are not your body. Your body is only the vessel; it is not the journey or the destination.”
We believe that when you give up dieting and focus on nourishing yourself, everything else will fall into place. You will settle into the weight that is right for you. You will feel better physically and emotionally. And the best thing you can for yourself, is to love yourself for where you are in your journey at this moment in time. We would be honored if we could help you in your journey to greater happiness. Our motto says it all: Eat happy. Move happy. Live happy.