ABSTRACT
This chapter is a deep dive into the concept of body image. The authors define what body image is and how it is created. There is a discussion about different factors that can negatively impact body image throughout one’s lifetime, including diet culture, the thin ideal, trauma, bullying, chronic illness, puberty, age, sexual orientation, gender identity, race, and more. The authors define body love, and discuss the flaws in this concept. The authors then define body neutrality and body acceptance, and discuss how these concepts are much more accessible for readers trying to recover from eating disorders. Discussion focuses on why it is so important to take a compassionate and kind stance towards one’s body, even when one does not want to be kind to their body (relates back to “acting as if”). The authors also provide specific exercises to try that have been proven by research to foster body acceptance. There is an overall emphasis on the metaphor of our bodies being our “paintbrushes” versus “our masterpieces.”
