By: Bryna Gavin, MS, CNS
There's this funny thing that happens when you work in the "health + wellness" space where people often look at your body as an indicator of whether or not you should be seen as legitimate.
I’ve heard people say things like “you wouldn’t go to a hairdresser with bad hair, so why would you go to a nutritionist who isn't thin/fit?”, but if we're talking about true health and wellness, we're missing out on the cornerstone of the definition of these terms.
When we talk about "health" and "wellness" in functional medicine, we're talking about the whole person as a living, dynamic, breathing, multi-faceted being. When I talk about a person being "well", it's considering not just their physical state, but also mental (psychological), social, and often even (stay with me here...) spiritual well-being.
The goal of health to a functional medicine practitioner isn't just the absence of disease... it's when a person is sincerely thriving in every facet. Not only is your body functioning the best it can (and things are running well under the hood), but you also have energy, mental clarity, stable good moods that come easily, and so much more.
(Now at this point if you’re thinking “it’s a lot easier said than done to get all those things working together at the same time.” Congratulations! You’ve proven that you are a human being. Welcome, friend! Healing is not linear, and it’s not finite. Working with your body as it ages and evolves to feels your best is a relationship where being a constant, active participant yields best results.)
A huge component of wellness has much less to do with how you look in your body, and everything to do with how you feel day-to-day. There’s a huge difference.
So back to my point:
Just because you’re not comfortable sharing a photo of your body publicly does NOT mean that you aren't healthy. Or healthier than you were before. Or working to get there. More importantly, as we know all too well, having a body that is aesthetically in line with today's pervasive beauty standards doesn't mean you are healthy. I have some incredible clients in eating disorder recovery who will share with you openly how 100,000 Instagram "likes" and a (very ironically titled) Women's Health magazine cover happened at a time where they felt ostensibly, the sickest they had ever been. The physical and psychological collateral damage from your only goal being a body aesthetic can be unbelievably damaging to a person's well-being. Dare I say, even more than a doughnut, or some Chinese take-out, or some booze.
On a side note: when did being knowledgeable about human nutrition become synonymous with posting bikini pics and having abs? I don’t buy it. It breaks my heart to see nutritionists, RDs and other health professionals feeling the need to legitimize themselves by showing their bodies to the public on their websites and social media.
I know this topic is highly personal and delicate, but my point is simply this: you don’t need to be thin to be the healthiest you’ve ever been. Health is highly individualistic. What’s healthy for you might not look like what’s healthy for me, and the same goes for your neighbor.
When we start using bodies to gauge our idea of health, we dilute the term.
Furthermore, if our definition of “healthy people” is so limited that it only applies to those who have already achieved maximum biological, mental, emotional and spiritual wellness… we’re going to be sorely disappointed with what we find. Most of us aren’t there yet.
Now, please let me caveat and say if you are confident and proud of your body, that's wonderful! Share away! Throw a 10-foot selfie on top of the Chrysler Building and I'll be the first one in line to loud-clap you on. Your choices are valid and you matter. And yes, of course being physically fit can (and will) benefit your health both biologically and mentally. Let's not pretend it won’t. But this little blog today isn’t for those guys.
This blog is for the people I work with every day who exhaust themselves in (eating disorder) recovery, and still fall into the trap of feeling like a failure if they don't meet the aesthetic of a "fit and healthy" person. This blog is for the people who feel healthier than they did yesterday because they are making an active effort, but still get down on themselves because they don't want to (and may never want to) advertise their body as the reason they pursued the path of health. Your choices are valid and you matter too.
Maybe you're seeing a nutritionist because you want to work on your anxiety or depression. Maybe you want to tackle that brain-fog, mobility, or heal a strained relationship with food. Maybe you have a chronic condition you want to address. (Gut health and nutrition therapy can help all of these, and there's plenty of research to back it up.)
So instead of hyper-focusing on how our bodies look, here are a few more powerful questions to ask yourself when considering real overall health (this is not a comprehensive list, and in no particular order of importance):
How much do you depend on caffeine for energy?
Do you feel rested when you wake up?
Are your bowel movements regular, well-formed and easy to pass?
Are your skin/hair/nails strong and vital? (Abnormalities can be an indicator of vitamin and mineral deficiencies)
Are your menstrual cycles regular?
How is your digestion overall?
What kind of feelings come up for you around food?
Do you struggle with cravings?
Do you feel like you need more education about what foods and supplements are best for your unique makeup?
Do you have a sense of connection to others? Do you have people you love and feel safe with?
Do you handle stress well? How does your body react to stress?
What kind of environment do you live in? Are you aware of the environmental toxins you may be exposed to? (Air, skincare products, human-made chemicals in food and household products like BPA, phthalates and pesticides, etc)
There are a million more questions we can ask ourselves that deal directly with our overall health and have nothing with the way our bodies look.
The borrow from a friend on social media,
“One of the worst ways you fail your body is by making its appearance the core of your worthiness.”
Our bodies do so much. So much more than you'll find in pictures. Let’s move away from using bodies as a gauge of wellness and talk more about how damn good it feels to feel better in ours.
Yours in wellness,
Bryna