Six Ways Parents Can Promote Body Positivity and Food Neutrality in Children

Thrive • Jun 09, 2022

By Thrive Wellness Sacramento Director of Child & Adolescent Services Alexis Nicodemus, AMFT, APCC

Facing potential exposure to misleading food and body messages at such impressionable ages, children are at risk of developing misconstrued ideas about food and their bodies. Parents can combat such harmful cultural conditioning by creating a foundation of body positivity and food neutrality at home. Here’s how:

1. Appreciate the ways the body helps us accomplish all elements of life.

To instill body positivity at a young age, parents can guide their children in expressing gratitude for the body and all its amazing capabilities. The practice can be as simple as encouraging children to acknowledge and appreciate their toes for helping them stand. By emphasizing the function of different body parts, any focus on physical appearance can be transcended by parents’ and children’s admiration for the purposeful dynamism of the body.

2. Refrain from remarks about appearances.

Comments on appearances, whether positive or negative, can be triggering for adults and children alike. Placing undue meaning on how someone looks dismisses the precious value of their authentic self. Parents can emphasize the inner worth that all humans possess by outwardly appreciating individuals on a holistic level, instead of using surface-level comments to describe appearances. That way, children can learn to derive their sense of identity from deeper elements of their being, such as their character, values, and inherent dignity.

3. Ensure children wear clothes that fit their current developmental state.

As children mature and their bodies change, they may feel uncomfortable in their own skin at times. Wearing clothes that fit their current developmental state can help children adapt to their growing and developing bodies and encourage self-confidence .

4. Limit, monitor, and help curate children’s social media use.

Research points to a link between mental health concerns and social media use. For youths, the breadth of content on social media can be confusing, unrealistic, and even harmful. Bullying and unfair comparison to others are also prevalent risks for youths using social media. Due to these dangers, parents may consider limiting their children’s social media use.

If they do permit their children to use social media, parents may find it beneficial to monitor the content their children are exposed to while also curating their feed. Parents may choose to include inspiring, enriching, and encouraging social media content for their children to view. Such content might include body appreciation posts that embrace natural appearances, instead of images that are overly edited to align with skewed cultural standards of beauty.

5. Embrace food neutrality.

Largely due to the diet industry’s influence , many perceive foods as either “healthy” or “unhealthy.” Because food is often closely associated with body image, contorting the quality of foods as either “good” or “bad” can harm individuals’ relationships with both food and their bodies and even lead to disordered eating behaviors .

Contrary to societal standards, all foods are equal as they help keep us alive by fueling our bodies. In order to combat dangerous cultural messaging, families should treat all foods the same while also emphasizing food’s role in being the source of vital energy. Parents should encourage and empower their children to trust their own bodies’ internal signals to let them know when, what, and how much to eat.

Additionally, it may be helpful for families to approach nourishment using the ABC’s of nutrition:

Adequacy: Eating adequately helps provide the body and brain with the necessary energy to function properly.
Balance: Incorporating a balance of various types of foods in each food group can help ensure the intake of an appropriate array of nutrients.
Choice: Exercising personal choice in all decisions about eating can transcend any misinformation about the moral values of different foods or other misleading information about nutrition.

Parents should also stray away from conversations about dieting, as dieting behavior can interfere with one’s ability to listen to their own natural hunger and fullness cues . Instead, parents should remain impartial when speaking about food and take opportunities to reinforce food’s ability to evoke nourishing, cathartic, and social experiences.

6. When possible, eat together as a family.

Making time for family meals can promote mental well-being for parents and children. At the table, family members can learn more about each other, connect with one another, and give each other undivided attention, all while nourishing themselves and enriching the entire relationship of the family.

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While parents can do their absolute best to foster healthy associations with food and the body in their children, sometimes there may be deeper mental and behavioral health conditions at root that result in disordered eating behaviors or diagnosed eating disorders. These serious health concerns require professional guidance for lasting recovery. If your child is struggling with body image or food-related concerns, our multidisciplinary team of psychiatrists, therapists, dietitians, and more can provide compassionate, clinical care that guides your loved one towards a more accepting, intuitive, and confident relationship with food and their body. Reach out to learn more about our outpatient therapy and eating disorder treatment services .

About the Author

Thrive Wellness Sacramento Director of Child & Adolescent Services Alexis Nicodemus, AMFT, APCC

Alexis Nicodemus earned a bachelor’s degree in early childhood education with a minor in counseling as well as a master’s degree in counseling from Sacramento State University in California. Her clinical experience includes working in intensive outpatient programs as well as residential facilities for eating disorder recovery. As the director of child and adolescent services at Thrive Wellness Sacramento, Alexis helps to ensure that program curriculum is properly implemented, works to collect collateral contacts as needed to support treatment, and offers therapeutic services to clients experiencing eating disorders and co-existing conditions.

As a clinical therapist, Alexis employs modalities such as cognitive-behavioral therapy (CBT), dialectical behavior therapy (DBT), and mindfulness practices to support clients struggling with mental and behavioral health concerns. Her passion is to assist individuals in the ways they most need in order to find joy, hope, and purpose along the path to healing. Alexis wants clients to know that while life inevitably presents challenges, they are not alone in facing them and there is always light at the end of the tunnel. She strongly promotes the importance of mental health, emphasizes that each of us matters, and advocates for seeking assistance when one’s well-being depends on it.

The post Six Ways Parents Can Promote Body Positivity and Food Neutrality in Children first appeared on Thrive Wellness.

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Clean House, Healthy Mind: Spring Cleaning Benefits for Mental Health

By Sage Tippie • 23 Apr, 2024

Spring Cleaning Benefits for Mental Health Spring is a time of new beginnings, change, and transitions, including in our homes. With the warmer weather kicking motivation into high gear, Spring can be a prime time to do a deep clean. Not only is a clean space aesthetically pleasing to the eyes, but it can also help to improve your mental health. Learn about how tidying up your space can also tidy up your thoughts below along with tips for cleaning when you’re struggling with your mental health. 4 Reasons Why Cleaning is Beneficial to Mental health 1.Decreased Stress Not only does an uncluttered space provide a sense of calm, but the physical act of cleaning can release feel-good endorphins, reducing feelings of stress and anxiety. As you cross tasks off your checklist, your body also releases Dopamine. Also known as the “happy hormone”, Dopamine provides a sense of accomplishment and pride that can promote motivation in other areas of our lives. 2. Improved Focus Studies have shown that an uncluttered space can also lead to an uncluttered mind. Your focus can be drawn away from important tasks by a chaotic, messy space. Research has also shown a connection between procrastination and clutter, as an unwillingness to tackle larger chores like cleaning can translate over into various areas of our lives. By keeping your space tidy, it can inspire you to stay on top of other major tasks like work and school assignments. 3. Regulated Emotions According to this 2015 study , cleaning can function as a practice in mindfulness, providing an increased sense of calm and inspiration. Slowing down while cleaning gives you room to relax and free your mind of burdens, stressors, and irritants that can affect your mental health. Cleaning can even be considered a practice of self-care as the action helps you to connect with yourself and the outcome allows you to better enjoy your own space. 4. Sense of Order and Control When experiencing mental health struggles, people may feel a lack of control over their lives and emotions. Cleaning even small areas of the home can provide an increased sense of order and control as you cross tasks off your to-do list. Through realizing your own power by simply completing minor tasks like cleaning, it can reaffirm your ability to do more. 10 Tips for Cleaning When Struggling with Mental Health Mental health struggles and disorders commonly create barriers to one’s ability to clean and properly practice personal hygiene. Although these behaviors are normal side effects of mental health disorders, we want to work to aid our clients in cleaning to the best of their ability even in difficult times. Below, Thrive Wellness occupational therapist Meadow Deason shares some helpful tips she gives to clients when they struggle with cleaning due to mental health conditions: 1.Ask For Help Having support to clean can make a huge difference. Do the cleaning with the person helping you and have them hold you accountable. 2. Don't Wait for Motivation Motivation might not come before action, but it can build as you begin to see the results of your efforts. 3. Start Small Start with one area or one task and go from there. For example, concentrate on your bedroom first and then move on to the living room and bathroom. 4. Do Something Daily Even if you do only one small cleaning task a day, doing that one task creates momentum and prevents small tasks from building up and becoming overwhelming. 5. Use Sensory Modulation Change your environment by playing music, adjusting the lighting, or using aromatherapy. This can help to put you in a new headspace for cleaning. 6. Start with "High Impact" Tasks Start with more intensive or all-over cleaning tasks such as picking up clutter or doing the dishes. The visual "noise" of some tasks makes a large impact on the entire space, building motivation to continue cleaning. 7. Make a To-Do List Write a detailed to-do list of tasks and cross them off as you go. Physically marking down what you’ve accomplished can promote increased motivation. 8. Reward Yourself Set up a reward system where you reward yourself with a favorite activity or item when you complete a task as an incentive to clean. 9. Use the Rocket Method Don't think about it, just choose a task, countdown from five or ten and then start. This can help you to avoid potential anxiety and dread that can prevent you from cleaning. 10. Gamify Tasks Make up a game for your tasks or time yourself to promote increased engagement in cleaning. Your ability to complete tasks can be affected by a multitude of different factors and conditions including OCD , anxiety, depression , ADHD , and more. If you are struggling with motivation due to your mental health, help is here at Thrive Wellness.

child getting bandaid from doctor while mother smiles

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