Balancing mental health and body positivity

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“Each body comes with its own limitations and predilections; there cannot be standardized weights at which health begins and ends.”

by Meilan Steimle, Editor-in-chief

The following are maxims I try to live by:

Strive to be healthy.

Love your body.

The medical health movement and the body positivity movement are two causes that I believe address a prevalent issue in society and are extraordinarily important. But the two movements seem to be often at odds and difficult to reconcile. I don’t think they have to be.

Health and body positivity, though intimately interconnected in our social consciousness, address completely disparate issues. The ideas that we should physically maintain our bodies to avoid disease and that we should love them no matter what are not irreconcilable.

The conflict emerges in the intersection between the health movement and fat shaming. Metrics like BMI oversimplify what it means to be healthy and focus disproportionately on weight.

Fat is not and should not be synonymous with unhealthiness. There is no one way to be physically healthy. Each body comes with its own limitations and predilections; there cannot be standardized weights at which health begins and ends. A myriad of factors contribute to physical health, including but not limited to blood pressure, bone density, cardiovascular strength and muscle development, etc. Calls to action for a healthier lifestyle apply to all of us, not just those perceived to be unhealthy because of their weight.

At the same time, a disregard for nutrition is not and should not be synonymous with body positivity. Self-love doesn’t preclude attention to scientific consensus on our physical needs.

Issues with physical and mental health are not unfamiliar to me. There are times when I binge eat emotionally. There are also times when I hate my body and diet obsessively. These behaviors are equally destructive. Denouncing one extreme should not mean embracing the other.

There is no shame in being physically unhealthy, just as there is no shame in not always loving your body. We are each works in progress; we forge forward and stumble often, but keep going. All any of us can do is strive to be healthy – both in body and state of mind.

For all their apparent differences, the health and body positivity movement have a common message: you only get one body.

You only get one body, so take care of it. Give it the nutrients it needs, exercise and hone it, and it will last longer.

But also, you only get one body, so love it. Your body is your home for the entirety of your life – it’s bumpy, it sometimes smells and it’s absolutely perfect because it’s yours.

This piece was originally published in the pages of the Winged Post on August 26, 2016.