You’ve probably heard about body positivity and body image, but do you know about body grief? What does “health at every size” actually mean? How can you prioritize your life outside of the diet industry? In this podcast episode, Dr. Cristina Castagnini speaks about body grief with Bri Campos.

MEET BRI CAMPOS

Brianna (Bri) Campos (she/her), LPC, is a licensed mental health counselor based in New Jersey. As a body image educator and the founder of Body Image With Bri, she’s passionate about all things body image and practices through the lenses of Health at Every Size® and Intuitive Eating. Utilizing a weight-inclusive approach, she combines her clinical skills and lived experience to teach others how to maneuver through their own individual body image exploration. She specializes in body image education including her unique framework on body grief.

Visit Body Image with Bri and connect on Instagram.

FREEBIE: How to Manage the 3 Most Prevalent Body Image Objections 

IN THIS PODCAST

  • What is body grief?
  • The stages of body grief
  • The diet industry profits from your self-hatred
  • Figure out your “why”

What is body grief?

[Body grief] is the perceived loss that causes distress, usually accompanied with body change. (Bri Campos)
This definition is inclusive because it encapsulates any kind of change that your body can go through, such as puberty, menopause, having a baby, recovering from an injury or disability, and so forth. Body grief is coming to terms with a difficult reality that has left you changed in some way, shape, or form, and processing those feelings and the fact that your body is now different than when it was before.
There’s a loss of perceived control around being able to manipulate or change your body. (Bri Campos)

The stages of body grief

The common stages of grief are:
  • Denial
  • Anger
  • Bargaining
  • Depression
  • Acceptance
What Bri finds with her clients is that most of her clients get stuck in the bargaining phase, especially when coming to terms with their bodies.
With the rise of weight loss drugs and “improved” weight loss surgery, you know … People are experiencing temporary relief and “better health” … How is this going to be in five years? How is this going to be in 10 years? Do we have the research to support the long-standing impacts on your health? And the answer is no. (Bri Campos)
Surgeries and drugs are temporary fixes, which makes you another customer in a new industry. Outsourcing your health to others is always going to make someone else richer and you depend on them to take care of yourself. The only sustainable way forward is to learn about your body - at whatever size or stage it is in life - and see how you can best care for it to be healthy.

The diet industry profits from your self-hatred

Remember that the diet industry needs people to dislike themselves so that they can sell them products, services, and medicines that work just enough to get them hooked to keep buying, without ever actually doing any good for the people. The diet industry keeps rebranding itself so that it can stay relevant and at the top of people’s minds. Surgeries, diets, medicines, and services; all feed into the industry as a whole and they require you to dislike yourself so that you will buy what they are selling.
Somebody is profiting. Somebody profits from our discomfort, from our hatred, and nobody profits from using, “I’m good with who I am, and what I look like, and am comfortable in my own skin”. The only person who stands to benefit from that is you! But that’s not a lucrative business as prying on people’s pain points. (Bri Campos)
Going through body grief is not easy, but it is part of the process of coming to true, genuine, and compassionate body awareness, acceptance, and love.

Figure out your “why”

To undo toxic diet culture and to unhook yourself from the diet industry, figuring out your “why” can give you strength on hard days when it seems easier to let someone tell you how you should live your life or view your body. Is it for yourself? For your loved ones? For the younger children in your family who you want to see loving themselves instead of judging themselves? Making this change in mindset is often not only beneficial for you but also for those around you, because when you practice love and acceptance other people start to do the same.
Why do you want to heal? Why do you want a different relationship? What is the hope that you are working towards? (Bri Campos)
Remember that health has no size because there can be health at every size. A big body can be healthy while a smaller body can be unhealthy. So, allow your body to exist as it is, enjoy your life in this body, do the things that you love, and appreciate it. Don’t let corporations trick you into always wanting more or always wanting to change.

USEFUL LINKS

MEET DR. CRISTINA CASTAGNINI

  I am a licensed Psychologist and Certified Eating Disorder Specialist. While I may have over 20 years of clinical experience, what I also have is the experience of having been a patient who had an eating disorder as well. One thing that I never had during all of my treatment was someone who could look me in the eye and honestly say to me "Hey, I've been there. I understand". Going through treatment for an eating disorder is one of the hardest and scariest things to do. I remember being asked to do things that scared me. Things I now know ultimately helped me to get better. But, at the time, I had serious doubts and fears about it. If even one of my providers had been able to tell me "I know it's scary, but I had to go through that part too. Here's what will probably happen...." then perhaps I would not have gone in and out of treatment so many times. My own experience ultimately led me to specialize in treating eating disorders. I wanted to be the therapist I never had; the one who "got it". I will be giving you my perspective and information as an expert and clinician who has been treating patients for over 2 decades. But don't just take my word for it...keep listening to hear the truly informative insights and knowledge guest experts have to share. I am so happy you are here!

THANKS FOR LISTENING

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