Dana Sturtevant, MS, RD, is a trainer, mentor, yoga teacher and dietitian special-
izing in Health at Every Size® and intuitive eating. She is the co-founder of the Be Nourished
outpatient clinic and professional training institute and the co-creator of Body Trust®—a
strength-based, trauma-informed, scientifically grounded healing modality that encour-
ages movement toward a compassionate, weight-inclusive model of radical self-care to
address body oppression and heal body shame and associated patterns of chronic dieting
and disordered eating. She provides her top tips for creating a life that is body compas-
sionate and focused on self-care from a weight-neutral perspective.
SHIFT YOUR FOCUS TO WEIGHT-NEUTRAL
SELF-CARE: “It is not possible to heal your rela-
tionship with your body and food and develop
sustainable self-care practices when the focus
is on changing your weight,” says Sturtevant.
She suggests decentralizing the importance of
weight in the journey to making lifestyle changes.
This approach allows one to shift the focus from
weight to actionable steps to improve self-care
and enhance well-being.
KEEP A WIDE LENS: Sturtevant emphasizes
looking at your entire life, not just one aspect, like
eating habits. Examine your emotional, relational
and physical health. How is your sleep? How
often do you get outside? See your friends? How
is the majority of your time and energy spent?
Does this match with what is important to you?
These questions require a broader view of life
and influence the subsequent self-care goals
that one might set.
‘UNFOLLOW’ DIET CULTURE: Many social media
accounts feature the latest diet trends and rein-
force narrow beauty standards, which contribute
to feeling bad about ourselves. Sturtevant rec-
ommends unfollowing friends and influencers
on social media who trigger negative emo-
tions regarding food and body. Start following
accounts that fill your social media feeds with
beautiful images of larger-bodied people and
info that challenges diet culture. Setting limits
on time spent on social media might also be
beneficial in addition to editing followers and/
or friend lists.
>>>AVOID BODY-CHECKING BEHAVIORS: Sturtevant
says, “Developing reverence and respect for your
body is key to developing a body-compassionate
approach to self-care.” Become aware of and
reduce body-checking behaviors like weighing
yourself on the scale, scrutinizing your body in
the mirror, comparing your body to others, or
measuring the body in other ways.
>>>PAY ATTENTION TO THE MEAL MIX: Develop an
understanding of how the meal mix, or combina-
tion of different types of food, impacts digestion
and even satiety, or that feeling of fullness, sug-
gests Sturtevant. Individuals living with diabetes
may also notice how different meal combinations
impact blood glucose readings. An individual may
choose to utilize that feedback to create combina-
tions at meals that are satisfying, delicious and
helpful to blood glucose management.
>>>SET BOUNDARIES WITH THE ‘FOOD POLICE:’ Your
support system may want to be helpful, but it is
NOT OK for people to comment on your food
choices, says Sturtevant. Instead, she encourages
individuals to set boundaries and tell individuals
in their support system specifically what is and
is not helpful.
>>>GIVE THE BODY THE CONSISTENT MESSAGE THAT
FOOD IS AVAILABLE: Sturtevant emphasizes work-
ing toward creating a regular pattern of eating to
reduce preoccupation with food and avoid swing-
ing from starving to stuffed. Creating a regular
eating routine helps with improving awareness
of hunger and satiety cues and provides needed
nourishment.HAES AND INTUITIVE
EATING PRINCIPLES
HAES principles include:- Celebrating body diversity.
- Honoring differences in size, age, race, eth-
nicity, gender, disability, sexual orientation,
class and other human attributes. - Valuing body knowledge and lived
experience. - Challenging scientific and cultural
assumptions. - Finding joy in moving one’s body and being
physically active. - Eating in a flexible and attuned manner
that values pleasure and honors internal
cues of hunger, satiety and appetite while
respecting the social conditions that frame
eating options.
HAES resources: - Body Respect: What Conventional Health
Books Get Wrong, Leave Out, and Just
Plain Fail to Understand about Weight by
Linda Bacon and Lucy Aphramor - Association for Size Diversity and Health
sizediversityandhealth.org
Intuitive eating principles include four
central themes: - Unconditional permission to eat.
- Eating for physical rather than
emotional reasons. - Reliance on internal hunger and
satiety cues. - Body choice congruence.
Intuitive eating resources: - Intuitive Eating: A Revolutionary Program
that Works by Evelyn Tribole, MS, RD, and
Elyse Resch, MS, RD, FADA - The Intuitive Eating Workbook: Ten Prin-
ciples for Nourishing a Healthy Relationship
with Food by Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch
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