Episode 79: [Interview] -Body Image have you down? Part 2 of Interview with Emily Lauren Dick

Hello. Hello and welcome to in the rising podcast. My name is Bettina , and this is the platform that I've chosen to talk about. Living a life that's really in alignment with your hopes and your dreams and changing them into realities, making your vision something that you get to live every single day and living, not living and leaving behind the shame blame game and circling that pathway. That leads to nowhere. So I like to also state that I am not a licensed counselor , psychiatrist, psychologist. I am a healthcare professional and a certified life coach. And the opinions I present are my own, but I just want to get to the root of what makes us feel that we have value and self worth and put that out in the world. And one of the topics that's really important is not just skin deep, but the topic of body image. And last week, I had the wonderful opportunity of speaking with Emily Lauren, Dick , the author of body positive, a guide to loving your body. And it's a phenomenal interview, and this is part two, where we go a little bit deeper into what's positive, what's negative. And I play the devil's advocate for just a short while if you miss last week's I absolutely recommend you to rewind and start there. All right, let's start.

Yes. And so for the, like, for example, I read that in the supermodels, even, you know, Marilyn Monroe, she would be deemed overweight for anything in our water. And she was really the epitome of beauty and , um, she, wasn't a size 12.

Yeah. And beauty standards have , have really changed over the years and, and our sizing structure is really changed. I mean that there's no size quite, quite the same, even within a same , um , company. So I think it's really important to, to not worry about the size, the numbers , um, and focus on, on what we have in common.

Exactly. Exactly. Now, Emily, I'm going to ask you a question or kind of pose it that way. Cause I'm going to, for just a moment play devil's advocate because , um, there are some that will say, well, there is a level of fitness, right? There is a level of health and you cannot see a diabetes. You cannot see hypertension, but when we are carrying more and more and more weight, and that is also statistically prevalent right now that we are larger than we have ever been in this country, in the United States. For sure. I'm not going to speak of other countries or at least in more Northern America, more industrialized. What, how do you relate to , um, to someone who feels that they're trying to gain health, but they're looking just at an ideal or think they have to be a size , um , whatever it is, a certain number to have that, but they're also recognizing that carrying certain weight can also lead to other health issues, maybe down the road.

I think there's a couple of things to sort of dismantle all of that is that really , um, first of all, a lot of these studies that are put out there that we received these statistics about obesity is bad and things like that are actually funded by diet companies. So there's a bias when, when we're looking at a lot of these stats that we aren't aware of as a society. Um, so that's a really important thing to , to take, to keep in mind. The other thing is that , um, fatphobia is so inherent in our society that it's not exempt from the medical profession and, you know, even doctors can be biased against a fat person just because of the way they look. Um, there is a level of discrimination that's involved , um, in, in having in living a life in a fat body, such as, you know, when you go to the doctor, if a thin person versus a fat person goes to the doctor with issues, the fat person is going to be told by the doctor that it has to do with their weight first and foremost. Whereas the thin person will get a certain amount of tests instead of them being treated equally. And that's where the discrimination can, can come into effect. The other thing is, health is not visible. You cannot recognize health by looking at someone, there are several tests, medical tests that would need to happen to really see what level of health someone is at and if they need some help or some medical intervention or suggestions along the way. Um, there are a lot of dieticians out there that , um , promote health at every size. So my recommendation would be to first see someone like that or simultaneously see someone that is , um, a practitioner of that in dealing with, you know, maybe some health issues. The other thing is that , um, some people , um, face barriers to health and that could be , um, having health issues that aren't necessarily related to weight. Um, it could be a disability, it could be dealing with an illness. So it's really important to remember that our value in our worth does not have anything to do with our health. And we need to separate those two things. Um, especially when it comes to when we speak of health. Um, there's also mental health, right? So , um, mental health does not discriminate.

Right. Right. And I really liked the point that you said our worth is not dependent on what we look because that's all what my podcast is about. Self-worth recognizing you have value just because you exist. You don't have to achieve something , um, for anyone. Right. And so that is really important to hone in on the fact that your , your health is a complete thing. It is not just physical. And when you carry emotional, like when you're some people, when they're very emotional and , and having stressors, they will either not eat or overeat, you know, the problem wasn't the food, the problem was the stress and the situation. Uh, so being able to isolate that and look at other factors, not just the food and the weight itself is what you're saying.

Yeah. It's really listening to your body and recognizing that, you know, you're not feeling fat, you know, you, you might be feeling uncomfortable in your body because you haven't drank enough water or you're bloated, or your hormones are doing something, you know, like there's so many things and we really have to listen and dismantle , um, the things that we're actually feeling physically and separate them from what we're feeling. Um, emotionally, sometimes

I like that. I do. I do. I like how you phrase that to separate that out and not discriminate against ourselves. Right. There's a whole world is trying to do that. We don't have to start ourselves.

Absolutely.

And so, as we're kind of ending this interview, I wanted to ask you this because when we are passionate about something and from the book, you can just feel the passion emanating through your entire project. And you know, that this was, this took some time, but how have your own experiences shaped you to the place where you are today, where this became something very important for you to produce for the world?

Yeah. I mean, I struggled with negative body image, my whole life. I never developed a full-blown eating disorder, but I dieted I've done all kinds of things over the years. And when I went to university and studied sociology and women's studies, I really learned about the systems at play, the social systems that keep us in these little boxes. And I just had this profound, like aha moment. And I wanted to make this information accessible to everyone, especially young girls, because that is when I could have used that information the most. And I wanted to simplify it in a way that the media easy to understand and, and make you feel a little bit better about why you're having those negative thoughts and sort of, you know, puts you in the right direction to take a path towards maybe more self-acceptance and, and , uh , improving the way you , you feel about yourself.

That's yeah. And that you're right there . There's a time when you could have used this information yourself and it's like, you're giving this to all the, that were in that place where you were so that you could, and they have that opportunity to know it's okay to accept who they are right now.

Exactly. We're going to , we're going to change the world, you know, one step at a time.

Exactly. I like that. Are there any other projects Emily, that you're working on that you wanted to , um , you know , put some points out there, what you're doing?

Absolutely. So I'm actually working on a body positive book for very young children because these image, these body image issues are happening earlier, early in , early on. Um, and also I've just joined an organization called live life and filtered, and we're getting ready to launch a new campaign called show me unfiltered. And it's really all about , um, creating a world that is a lot less filtered. So those are the next things on the books.

You sounds like you're very busy and you're doing really wonderful things. I'm really excited , um, about all you're doing in all the people. One step at a time, one person at a time because every person that you interact with has the ability to, you know, affect other people around them. So that one person here and there, it makes such a big difference.

Oh, I agree. Absolutely

Wonderful. Wonderful. Well, I truly have enjoyed this time with you. Thank you so much for spending it with me and my listeners. And , um, I'm going to put a link about your book, where to get it. And , um , I absolutely recommend it. And I think this is something healthy for children, young women, older women, any time you can always change your mindset. And I think you have so much to really offer, and I'm glad that you took the courage and all the women in this book took the courage to voice what was on their mind.

Absolutely. Thank you so much. I appreciate that.

Absolutely. Well, you have a wonderful day. You too. Bye bye. So

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