{Ep. 010} Nina Manolson on Transitioning from Body Hate to Body Love
Nina Manolson helps women end their war with food and make peace with their body. She is a Certified Psychology of Eating Teacher and Holistic Health Coach, with 25 years experience in the Health and Wellness field. She also holds a Masters degree in Counseling Psychology. She is the founder of www.NinaManolson.com and the author of “Feed Your Kids Well In A World That Doesn’t: An Everyday Guide to Make Healthy Food Happen in your Home and Beyond.” and is currently working on her next book: "Becoming a Nourished Woman: The Seven-Step Path to Feeling at Home and Joyful in Your Body"
Nina’s journey of self discovery began with body hate. Eventually she was able to move from a place of body hate to body love, but it was no small task. Nina’s work is based on nourishment and specifically focuses on 3 factors: discovering what foods nourish your body, establishing a lifestyle that supports you, and reaching deeper levels of mindset and emotion. After working with women at a yoga and health center for many years she felt that a majority of the work she was doing was counseling and therefore decided to go back to school to receive her masters in counseling psychology. Combining psychology and nutrition, Nina is now a health coach and psychology of eating coach.
One important component of Nina’s approach is the Body Love Continuum. This is a continuum starting with body hate progressing to body love with many steps in between. She created this continuum because of the huge chasm between body hate and body love in our society. The media is finally getting on board with this idea of Body Love but moving from Body Hate to Body Love does not happen overnight. This is where Nina’s continuum comes in to help navigate from this place of Body Hate to Body Love.
The first step on the road from Body Love to Body Hate is Body Management. Body Management is where we seek control of or bodies through a diet or an exercise regimen but do not feel connected to our bodies. The key component to move from Body Management to Body Awareness is the beginning of a relationship with your body. The shift towards Body Positive and Body Love begins with Body Awareness. This is when we become curious about our feelings and our experiences but without judgement and learn to be body current. This idea of body current means that you are in a relationship with your body as it is TODAY and not, for example, the body that you had in college that you wish you still had.
As we take better care of ourselves through nourishing practices and develop more appreciation and kindness towards our bodies, they will begin to recognize what we need and provide positive feedback, moving us from Body Awareness to Body Positivity. And finally, as you continue to be more aware of your body and continue with nourishing practices, you will then move to Body Positivity and Body Love.
It is important to understand that this is a continuum and therefore once you are in a place of Body Love, it does not mean you stay there forever. However, this continuum provides the necessary knowledge to get yourself back to that place of body love.
Nina reminds us that Body Love doesn’t have to come from losing weight. Body Love comes from being in a positive relationship with our bodies and knowing how to take care of them. This journey can be intimidating and even scary but it is an opportunity to grow and evolve as a person and is MUCH more interesting and self rewarding than the next fad diet.
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