Navigating Body Image with Digestive Health Problems…
My entire life I’ve always been very critical of my body. Every time I’d look in the mirror I thought “I’m not skinny enough”. I know this narrative is quite normal for many females, but when I was diagnosed with ulcerative colitis, things started to change…
My diagnosis happened back in 2017, and within the blink of an eye, EVERYTHING shifted for me. It no longer became a constant battle with body image, it became a battle with health. I would have given my left leg to go back to my “surface-level problems”.
A year ago, I stood on the scales and had hit an all-time low of 99 pounds (44kgs for my Aussie mates). At the time, I stared at myself in the mirror and thought “I’m the skinniest I’ve ever been, but I feel f*cking terrible. So remember this when you gain weight Sarah”. That was a real moment for me, because I had finally achieved this lifelong dream of being skinny, and yet, I felt terrible.
The hardest part about this is that people would glorify my skinny body “you’re so thin,” “you look great,” “I wish I had a problem that made me look so good”. And I kept thinking “yeah, but I’m not healthy”.
Since going plant-based I’ve put the weight back on. My legs are a little thicker, my hips are a little wider, and my butt is a little rounder. But I feel so damn healthy. I have energy, I feel strong and I feel better than a normal human.
I hadn’t realised that I overcame my previous body image issues until a masseuse recently said to me “you have a lot of fat on your bum” (I’m sure she meant well) and I responded “yes, I know. I’m healthy.”
This made me think that It was time to change the conversation. Being healthy feels a lot better than what skinny looks. We need to stop glorifying the numbers on a scale and start by celebrating what ‘being healthy ACTUALLY means’.
Let’s focus on goals and metrics that eliminate inflammation of the body, whether that be aches and pains, digestive discomfort, food sensitivities, mental health issues, fatigue, allergies, acid reflux, chronic stress, acne, brain fog, migraines (and literally anything else that implicate everyday life) …
If we focus on healing, rather than shallow metrics then our quality of life will improve. And what’s more important than that?