Episode 99: How to Cultivate a Body Positive Lifestyle w/ Andrea Mathis
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Episode Description
In this episode of The Up-Beet Dietitians podcast, Emily and Hannah are joined by body positivity icon, Andrea (Andy) Mathis. The term “body positivity” has grown exponentially in popularity over the past decade and Andy discusses exactly what it is. As a body positive dietitian, she discusses why it’s important to foster a positive relationship with your body and debunks common misconceptions about body positivity. Andy finished off by leaving some great tips for how you can start cultivating better body image.
About Andrea: Andrea Mathis, MA, RDN, LD (also known as Andy) is a registered dietitian nutritionist and owner of the nourishing food blogs, Beautiful Eats & Things, and Little Eats & Things. She is also the author of The Complete Book of Smoothies: 115 Healthy Recipes to Nourish, Heal, and Energize.
Her unconventional and practical approach to providing wholesome recipes and body-inclusive focused nutrition advice has been featured in the nation’s leading media outlets including Good Morning America, Women’s Health, Prevention, Huff Post, Shape and many more. She is a contributing editor for EatingWell, The Kitchn, Food and Nutrition Magazine and contributor to Mind Body Green, Well + Good, Parents, MSN, Healthline and others.
Based in Alabama, when she’s not running after her two boys, Andy enjoys creating content to encourage self-love and promote body positivity.
More from Andy
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0:08
I'm Emily and I'm Hannah we are best
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friends and dietitians we have a goal of
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challenging nutrition misinformation and
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fitness Trends with an evidence-based
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approach each episode we will dish up
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our thoughts about the latest facts on a
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popular health related topic where are
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the upbeat dietitians
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[Music]
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thank you
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Hello everybody welcome back to a brand
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new episode of the upbeat dietitians
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podcast today we are joined by Andy
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Mathis who is a registered dietitian
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nutritionist and owner of the nourishing
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food blogs beautiful eats and things and
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little eats and things she is also the
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author of The Complete Book of smoothies
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115 healthy recipes to nourish heal and
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energize her unconventional and
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practical approach to providing
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wholesome recipes in body inclusive
1:01
focused nutrition advice has been
1:03
featured in the nation's leading media
1:05
Outlets including Good Morning America
1:07
Women's Health prevention huff post
1:10
shape and many more she is a
1:13
contributing editor for eating well the
1:15
kitchen food and nutrition magazine and
1:18
a contributor to mind body green Her
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Mind Body green
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good parents MSN Healthline and others
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facing Alabama one Andy's not running
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around after her Dubois she's enjoying
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content to encourage self-love and
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promote body positivity we are so
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excited to share this episode with you
1:39
enjoy enjoy alrighty hello everyone and
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hello Andy welcome to the podcast we're
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so excited to have you here hi and thank
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you so much for having me I'm so excited
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so today we are talking with Andy about
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all things body positivity and we are so
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excited because we've talked about body
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positivity a lot on the podcast but
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we've never actually had an actual
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episode just dedicated solely to it so
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we're so excited to get into this with
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you and
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a lot of your Niche and brand is around
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that so what better person to have on to
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talk about it yeah so I'm excited about
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that yes we always like to start though
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before we get into the nitty-gritty of
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the episode is we want to hear from you
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kind of what a day in the life looks
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like what you do for work past education
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hobbies anything you want to share just
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to give a little bit more of that
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personal approach so they know way more
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okay sure well I've been a registered
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dietitian for oh my gosh it's well over
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10 years and I've worked in like so many
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different settings my recent setting was
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long-term care and so I I worked there
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for maybe about eight years and then I
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started my blog while I was working
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there and then after I started the blog
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like a year later I left that job to do
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the blogging full-time and yeah and it's
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it's worked out ever since I just kind
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of jumped out there uh just praying that
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everything would just work out
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um but yeah so I've been doing um the
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blogging some food photography
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um you know media contributions to
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different you know websites and things
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like that
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um so yeah so that's what I I do day to
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day my days are busy because I have two
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kids
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um I have two boys and they're uh let's
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see age six and eight so yeah so they
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keep me really really busy and I also I
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have two dogs and then my husband so um
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days are busy and very unpredictable
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I actually listened to your episode on
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blogging with Erica on the
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unconventional Rd such a good episode it
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was so awesome to hear like how I know
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it's so much hard work gosh but how
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seemingly just like you jumped in like
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it went I'm sure again like so much hard
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work but it seemed to just kind of Boom
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which is so awesome that's such a cool
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thing to be able to do
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yeah it it really like took me by
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surprise I was not planning on this at
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all because like I was like what is
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blogging make money you know like I
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didn't know so um it was a total
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surprise you know but I'm glad it
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happened that's so awesome well let's
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get into today's subject again it's all
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about body positivity so let's start
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right there like first of all what even
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is body positivity
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okay well so for me I think body
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positivity it's just like the acceptance
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and celebration of like bodies like of
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all shapes and sizes skin color you know
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gender ability all of those things and
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it's just in your body as it is in its
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current state I love that it's so simple
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and to the point but I feel like
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there's all these different definitions
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I think that's such a good way to put it
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yeah
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so
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being or why what's the importance and
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so we kind of like talked about like
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what it is why
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does it matter if we Foster this like
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positive relationship with our body or
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what do you think so
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I think it's it's because like you know
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you know we live in a society where like
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we're consumed by diet culture
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everywhere you turn you see like the ads
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for weight loss Quick Weight Loss teas
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peels you know all that stuff and I
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think it's important for us to have that
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relationship with our body is to to know
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that we don't have to fit those you know
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Society standards we don't have to
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conform to that we don't need those teas
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to have this perfect body uh you know
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like we're we're perfect the way we are
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and you know it's just important to
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remember that and have that positive
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relationship with your body so that you
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won't be I guess um discouraged when you
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see those ads and things like that on
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social media
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that's a good point I think it helps you
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kind of have the strength almost to like
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yes live a life in this ridiculous diet
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culture that we exactly reside in we
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talk about that constantly on the
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podcast diet culture as a whole and we
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do again we touch on body positivity but
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we haven't really gone into it
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specifically so it is so great to talk
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about that more what are some like
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common misconceptions about body
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positivity like for example we hear a
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lot we get a lot of pushback if we ever
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discuss it on like social media that is
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just like letting yourself go what are
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some other like common examples that you
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might you probably hear when you talk
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about this on social media well yeah the
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most common one is like letting yourself
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go uh or like obesity you know I give
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that a lot and I just think that is the
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craziest thing because I'm just like how
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is loving your body you know meaning
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yourself go if anything when you're
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loving your body and when you're
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respecting it you want to take better
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care of it you know so it won't it make
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you want to you know eat foods that are
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going to nourish your body you know do
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things engage in movement that's going
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to help your body so I think that people
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don't understand that yes you know you
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can love your body and when you love it
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you're going to take care of it you're
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going to do those things to take care of
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yourself
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that is such a good point I've never
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thought of it that way because I I feel
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like we always think like oh I hate my
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body so I'm gonna
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like skip this meal or I'm gonna over
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exercise but actually when you respect
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your body and appreciate it you want it
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to kind of take care of it as well you
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see it a little bit more like Level
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Playing Field besides this like thing
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that you resent yeah that is so true and
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it's like I could go back to my college
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days when I did not love my body at all
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but I was I was thinner then you know
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because I was on the diets and doing all
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these things you know to make sure that
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I stay this certain size and people will
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probably think oh yeah she really loves
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her body she looks thin she looks fit
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but I did not I did not like what I look
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like and I didn't I was not respecting
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my body
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um you know I wasn't properly nourishing
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my body so yeah that big misconception
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is that you just don't care about
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yourself
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exactly and you're so right like of
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course there's the whole thin idea which
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is a whole other episode on itself
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um you know people always think that
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being thinner is better and that's
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always healthier all of that
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um
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but yeah anyway it's all just so true
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it's such a good point to bring up
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so another term that is kind of being
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used a lot more on social media and just
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kind of like
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the maybe like body acceptance space is
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body neutrality yes what's the
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difference between
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body positivity and body neutrality
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I think that with body positive body
9:03
positivity sorry I think that with body
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positivity you're focusing on you know
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loving and celebrating your body
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um you know and just really creating
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that better relationship but I think
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with neutrality it's more so you are not
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focusing on the body image itself but
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maybe how you feel and accepting your
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body but you're focusing on things that
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that feel good you know so it's just I
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think that's where the difference is
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um and sometimes we can't jump to body
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positivity because sometimes we don't
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have we're not in that space to love our
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bodies just yet so body neutrality is a
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good stepping stone to get there that's
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a great way to put it I I hear the term
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body neutrality thrown around a lot like
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in the intuitive eating space which is
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where Emily and I spend a lot of time
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um and do a lot of work and that's a
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good way to put it it's kind of like
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that stepping stone where you love and
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you care for your body even if you're
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not well I guess love isn't the right
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word you still care for your body even
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if you're not quite ready to like fully
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love it and embrace it all the time like
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you might be able to do a lot more if
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you're feeling more body positive yeah
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exactly because people you know think
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that yeah body positivity is is great
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but it's it can be open to Jumping to
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loving your body you like you know
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automatically like you know that's a
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step it takes time for people to get
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there so you know and it's okay if it
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does take time I think people need to
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realize that it's not just this thing
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that you wake up the next day and like
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oh I love my body no it's not gonna work
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that you especially if you've had a
10:33
rough relationship with food and with
10:35
your body so it's going to take time and
10:37
that's okay
10:38
okay
10:39
yeah and would you agree too that even
10:42
as someone like even if you are very
10:45
body positive there are still going to
10:46
be days that you just simply don't love
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your body would you say that's pretty
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true too oh yeah that is so true I mean
10:52
you know you have those days and I think
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on those days that's where I have to be
10:56
like okay well I may not you know love
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what I look like today but I'm gonna
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still eat my breakfast I'm gonna still
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you know do my workout I'm gonna still
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respect my body today exactly I I again
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I feel like it's where the body
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neutrality and body respect comes in is
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right there like when the body
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positivity is not quite where you're at
11:14
in the head you still are caring for
11:16
yourself and feeding yourself and maybe
11:18
doing some gentle movement and all of
11:19
that
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yes exactly I love it I love it well I'm
11:24
sure our listeners clicked on this
11:26
episode because they wanted to learn
11:28
about body positivity and also like
11:29
maybe how they could improve upon their
11:32
own so how can our listeners who do want
11:35
to do that learn to cultivate Better
11:37
Body Image what are some steps they
11:38
could take
11:39
well I think that the biggest thing um
11:42
especially if you're really struggling
11:43
with loving your body
11:45
um is is to eliminate that negative
11:47
self-talk you know a lot of times you
11:49
know we're our worst critic and we kind
11:52
of you know look at ourselves and point
11:53
out things that other people may not
11:55
even see and you know and that's not
11:57
good to do to ourselves
11:59
um you know so I think eliminating that
12:01
negative self-talk and maybe replacing
12:03
it with those positive affirmations
12:06
um and it doesn't have to be oh I just
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love what I look like today it can be
12:09
something as simple as okay well um I
12:12
like the fact that my body allowed me to
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wake up this morning
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um you know I like my smile like you
12:18
know just something small to start with
12:20
I think that really helps to put you
12:22
into the right direction
12:24
um and also like surrounding yourself
12:26
with positivity you know that may mean
12:29
I'm following some people on social
12:30
media you know some accounts can be a
12:32
little bit toxic so if you want to just
12:35
you know eliminate and just unfollow
12:37
some of those people maybe even
12:38
eliminate some people in your life that
12:40
may you know be full of negativity you
12:43
might need to distance yourself from
12:45
that as well and then another big thing
12:48
is to stop comparing yourself to others
12:50
you know we all do it and it's just
12:52
something you know that we do we're
12:54
human but um it's just really try hard
12:56
not to do that because we're all
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different so we're not going to be the
13:00
same we're never going to be you know
13:02
the same as someone else or look the
13:03
same so I think it's important to
13:05
remember that and stop you know
13:07
comparisons because it it doesn't lead
13:09
to anything positive no I don't think I
13:13
don't know if comparing really ever has
13:14
you know and I was like I don't really
13:18
know if that ever
13:20
really has brought out anything great
13:22
because those are really good straight
13:24
steps to take
13:27
is there
13:29
and I feel like
13:31
sometimes people or let's say
13:35
more so like what if people kind of
13:38
start implementing these changes and
13:40
then they find themselves like
13:43
getting discouraged
13:45
and for them then
13:47
yeah I would say um I don't know if
13:50
people I love to keep a journal and uh
13:52
it's just you know just to kind of write
13:54
down some feelings and why feeling this
13:56
way and you know and you wouldn't think
13:58
that it helps but to write out some of
14:00
those feelings it helps you know you can
14:03
also go back you know like maybe if
14:05
you're feeling
14:06
um better one day and then maybe not so
14:08
good the next thing you can go back to
14:10
when you were feeling a little bit
14:11
better and write out those feelings and
14:13
how it you know and what what did you do
14:16
to that better point you know
14:18
um so I think maybe kind of keeping a
14:20
journal maybe writing down some things
14:22
of how you're feeling your good days
14:24
your bad days
14:25
that really helps and you know in
14:28
focusing on things that you like about
14:30
yourself I think that's that's also a
14:32
big thing you know like I said we're
14:34
still critical of ourselves but keep
14:36
focusing on those things that you love
14:37
about yourself uh it can be something so
14:40
small but that also can help
14:42
I'm all for teen journaling I love
14:45
journaling as well I feel like more
14:47
people need to do it yeah oh yeah I
14:50
think so
14:51
so
14:52
we kind of like to end our episodes I
14:56
realized we didn't include this in the
14:57
outline for you so you don't know it's
14:58
coming okay
15:01
no no it's it's not something scary we
15:05
like to kind of
15:06
and the like the main material substance
15:10
part of the
15:11
episode with like your final thoughts so
15:15
we joke that like if a listener or to
15:19
only tune in at this time which
15:20
obviously I don't think any of them
15:22
really are
15:24
but what would you kind of want to leave
15:27
them with like the last message you want
15:29
to
15:31
relate to them about everything we just
15:33
talked about yeah I would say to do
15:36
what's best for you you know we talked
15:39
about body positivity and then we also
15:41
talked about body neutrality and if
15:43
you're not at the point to where you can
15:45
say I just love everything about my body
15:47
you know let's start small let's start
15:50
with acceptance let's start with respect
15:53
um you know let's you know start with
15:55
cutting out the negative self-talk let's
15:57
start there first and then maybe
15:58
eventually you can get to the point to
16:01
where you are loving and celebrating
16:02
your body and I think it's important to
16:05
remember that it's a process in that it
16:07
won't happen overnight and if it takes a
16:09
while it's completely okay
16:12
that's so important because I know for a
16:14
fact that so many humans don't like
16:16
their bodies yeah much if at all just
16:19
because of I mean various reasons so I
16:21
think that's amazing to enforce and
16:23
encourage that like little baby step
16:25
where which is still a really big hard
16:27
step for sure but not jumping from maybe
16:31
a little bit of dislike and even hatred
16:33
all the way to love that can be just a
16:35
very large step to take and make it feel
16:38
almost impossible and then they kind of
16:40
give up and then just kind of stay in
16:41
that spot of not liking their their body
16:43
and maybe themselves as a whole so I
16:45
think that's great that's a really good
16:47
I think overarching
16:49
idea for them to work on yes thank you
16:52
perfect all right well so much for
16:56
coming on to today's episode it was an
16:59
absolute pleasure having you on we
17:02
like to give you this space now because
17:04
we want if our listeners want to hear
17:07
more from you we want to hear where they
17:09
can hear from you so if you have any ins
17:12
our Instagram I'm like forcing forcing
17:14
social medias it will be Instagram you
17:17
do not have to plug Instagram if you
17:19
don't want to if there's any social
17:21
medias you want to plug your blog
17:24
websites any other services
17:26
whatever it is the floor is yours well
17:30
thank you so uh yeah so I do have a Blog
17:33
beautiful eats and things
17:34
um I also started a YouTube uh Channel
17:37
last year so yeah check that out it'll
17:39
be a fleets and things also have Tick
17:42
Tock Instagram uh LinkedIn Facebook
17:44
Twitter all of that um and I also have
17:48
another website called little eats and
17:50
things and yeah it's like a site that's
17:53
got like recipes and things like for
17:55
kids or parents teachers it also has
17:58
like printables and things like that for
18:00
crafts so
18:01
um also check that out as well that's so
18:03
cool well we will link all that below
18:05
for listeners to find Andy again thank
18:07
you so much for coming on it's been an
18:09
absolute blast I was just gonna love
18:11
this episode I just know because we talk
18:12
about this again all the time but never
18:14
really get into it so it's going to be
18:16
such a a good episode so thank you again
18:19
so so much thank you for having me thank
18:21
you guys so much for that
18:23
well thank you everyone for listening
18:26
today's episode we will catch you next
18:29
week otherwise have a wonderful rest of
18:31
your day all right bye guys thank you so
18:34
much for tuning in on this episode of
18:36
the upbeat dietitians with your host
18:37
Emily Krause and Hannah Thompson we
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episode until then we hope you have a
19:09
wonderful rest of your week
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