Body neutrality: What it means to be body neutral
Stop what you’re doing. Take a deep breath, and ask yourself: How do you feel about your body right now? Positively? Negatively?
Some of us have been taught that these are the only two options for how we’re supposed to feel about our bodies. We either love our bodies or we hate them. There is no in-between.
But just like our feelings about other aspects of our lives can ebb and flow, so can our opinions about our bodies. And guess what? There’s a term for this: it’s called body neutrality.
Let’s dive into this fairly recent term and explore what body neutrality looks like in eating disorder recovery.
What is body neutrality?
According to the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA), body neutrality can be defined in quite literal terms as follows:
Not supporting the adoration or the hatred of our physical structure.
Now I understand that to some of you, this may seem like a foreign and utterly frightening concept. After all, if we’re not supposed to have feelings one way or another about our bodies, then what’s the point of life? During the more intense years of my eating disorder, this is a thought that would have crossed my mind.
In recovery, however, as you start to build a new relationship with your mind and body, the idea of body neutrality starts to become less of a far-off fantasy and more aspirational. So let’s keep going.
What does it mean to be ‘body-neutral’?
A person who feels neutral about their body typically isn’t plagued by the beliefs that diet culture drills into our heads on a daily basis. But it also doesn’t necessarily mean someone constantly feels great about their body.
Instead, someone who feels neutral about their body focuses their time and attention on other pursuits or other reasons for doing things.
When it comes to food and exercise, a body-neutral mindset may approach eating food with a focus on pleasure, and exercise with a concentration on mental improvement.
Whatever the motivation for someone’s behavior around food and exercise, body neutrality means a person is embarking on these activities for reasons other than how it will affect their bodies.
But isn’t body positivity a good thing?
Feeling positive and accepting of your body is a great thing! But it might feel like an out-of-reach goal for many people in recovery. And even those who have recovered may not feel positive about their bodies all the time.
The rise of the #bodypositivity movement on social media also piles on pressure to love our bodies, when for some of us, that isn’t realistic. And that’s OK!
Body positivity also places the emphasis on the body’s appearance. Sure, it’s great to feel good about how you look, but body neutrality removes the “body” from the equation altogether.
How can I work toward becoming body-neutral?
As difficult as it may be to conceive that a person can be completely ignorant of their body’s appearance, it becomes more believable once you start to find other things in life that spark your interest.
One way to do this is through a mindset shift in the form of self-talk. I practiced this a lot during my early days in recovery, and still practice it today!
With exercise, for example, rather than thinking about how your cardio routine will affect the way your legs look, try this instead:
Stop.
Take a breath.
Acknowledge what you’re thinking and feeling, and explore why you might be feeling this way at this moment.
Express gratitude—thank your legs for allowing you to even have a cardio practice. Thank your arms for being able to propel you forward. Thank your body for all the amazing things it does for you on a daily basis.
A simple mindset shift like this can transform the way you approach exercise and help you see your body as capable and powerful, rather than a beacon of self-worth.
Pause & Prompt
Think about what you say to your body on a daily basis. What’s one small change you can make today to make your conversation with your body more neutral?
