Body Image Is About Your Brain (Not Your Body) (Outweigh)

and die out Happy Saturday. Outweigh fam. I am sitting across from Crystal lunen Selass, which she is a friend of Cat de Fada's, who is the host of You Need Therapy, and she's joined me on Four Things that May Be Round and she's been on the Outweigh podcast as well. And Crystal your I would say, y'all are basically like colleagues, colleagues ish in the same field. Oh colleagues and BFFs. So why don't you share with us too or your background, your credentials and what you do. Yeah,

well thanks for having me. I am a registered dietitian going on over twelve years now in the field, specifically working in addiction recovery, eating disordered treatment, and sports nutrition and kind of everything in between. My real passion is working with pretty acute eating disorder treatment and complex cases, and so I became a certified Eating disorder registered dietitian to be able to really elevate my expertise in that.

And then I also work with body image and really, I mean what we're talking about today with the brain and really interested in the complexities of how the disease process works. And so I try to practice that in my private practice. I have a group practice where we can do all the fun healing things that we would just Horizon Nutrition Counseling if you happen to be here in Nashville. If not, she has a website Horizon Nutrition Counseling dot com. And yeah, like you mentioned the brain

and our bodies. Well, we're going to break down today which Crystal is gonna be on for the next three weeks. So this is part one of three. In each week we'll be covering a different topic. But this is how body image is more about your brain than what you look like. So break down what that means. Great, So, body image is a perception, so it's not necessarily based

on factual information all the time. It's based on your perception and a collective experience of your thoughts and feelings and how you feel in your body versus what we may physically see when we look down at our bodies. And so that's where it really is a game of how our brain processes that information and what lens it

gets processed through. So if the lens is somewhat disordered, then the collective way our brain puts that picture together is going to be slightly distorted or severely distorted and more dysmorphic type. So it really becomes a game of genetics. The way we're eating habits, are our brain slightly malnourished in certain ways, if it's had a brain injury, if

we've used substances. There are so many things that impact the way our brain processes information, and so from my point of view, it really does become more of the behavioral part of how we think about our bodies. It makes me think of b d D body dysmorphic disorder, and I've been doing a lot of work on my brain lately. Actually, before we sit down and record, I was like, hey, right after this, I have a neural feedback appointment and I can't be late because I like

to take advantage of every minute. I mean, I can be late, but that you know, we'll seep into my brain therapy time. And I have realized I'm two years into recovery. I don't you don't know a lot of my backstory. Some listeners do, but maybe this is your first date listening to outweigh. But I am here as just the person that wants to come alongside others that are in the thick of it, or maybe they're also in recovery, and just I want you to know you're

not alone. And I have experts come on that know the facts and like why we are the way we are, and that's what Crystal is doing here today. So I'm not claiming to be an expert by any means, but I've seen in my own self is as my brain has gotten healthier, it's easier for me to navigate some of this stuff because I'm not so for lack of a better term, I'm not so all up in my

head about it. It's like I'm able to kind of, you know, take more of a straight line to where I need to go instead of zigzagging all over the place and getting caught up in loops and this and that. It's like things are just more clear to me. But that's as I've had the luxury and the privilege to do something to take care of my brain like therapy and neurofeedback and taking the time for myself. And I know not everybody has access to those things, so I

do recognize that. But it is interesting to me that as I've really been focusing on my brain the last you know, I would say, year full year, I'm starting to see the benefits. And it's crazy, Yes, it is crazy when you actually experienced brain change and see those

neural pathways actually changing. I imagine it as like a very thick brush where like you couldn't just walk into the to the forest, you know, and we have to blaze this trail of new neural pathways that takes so much work and effort to actually turn into more of a dirt road and then more of like a paved road with like lighting, and it's not you know, it really takes so much practice and effort in different types of therapies to really change the brain to perceive our

body in a true and genuine way, which I can't remember. Is there like a number ish where you have to do something a certain amount of times? Because when I was in recovery. Have you heard of the book brainover Binge? I have, Okay, so I read that early on. That was something that clicked with me in the start. It wasn't the only component to my recovery at all, but

it was something. You know, She's very much focus sing on the brain and me training myself and building those new neural pathways to be like every time I was going to go to the pantry, it's like I stopped and I turned around, but I had to go and stop and turn around hundreds and hundreds. I don't even know how many times I had to do it to build the new neural pathways. And I can't remember if she ever gave a number. Is there why? I think in general it's you know, to break a habit quote unquote,

it's about twenty one times. Well for me, I was, well, the difference between a habit and a ritual is that ritual it's going to take a lot more because it's not just the behavior you're changing, You're changing the emotional connection to it. And that's a whole different ball games. And just like I'm gonna stop, you know, like biting my fingernails, you know, or something like that it takes

more intention and more skill to do it. Yeah, and so this is something I think that is commonly talked about amongst women, but men suffer from this just the same. I don't even know suffers the right word, but yeah, they have the same experiences men. It's it's unfortunate because I think it's more of a stereotype that men don't have issues, and so no one asks them the question, and many times they're not very forthcoming with the information

and seeking help themselves. So if the assumption is that men don't have issues, their therapists may not be asking, their doctors might not be asking, and so they may be doing a lot of things that you know, that they know to do to change their body image that's not very healthy. It presents a little bit different than they would women because it's kind of normalized for women to speak negatively about our bodies to other women. Um, but men they kind of like joke about it and

grab things and like that. You know, they're very like aggressive with it sometimes and they're just meant to kind of shake it off. So I've seen it present in so many ways with men where they end up maybe using drugs or alcohol, to mask their body image issues. I've seen body builders they kind of say, like, my muscles are kind of my way of like being scary and intimidating, so people leave me alone. It presents just differently for men sometimes, but really they struggle with the

same thing, but no one asks them about it. Yeah, when you said they joke about it made me think of, yes, like I know men that after conversations have come out and said, I mean, yeah, I kind of I don't when I look in the mirror, this is not what I see. This is what I see. And it is crazy because we look at other people who are like, that's not what I'm noticing about you at all. Like you said, it's a lot of it is in our head.

And I remember feeling so much shame about my eating disorder, and I just feel for men to I don't know if there's more shame, if that's possible, because like women, we can I felt shame and I didn't want to talk about it. But then again, like you said, it's like more acceptable for women to have concerns, so the

shame almost seems extra for men. Absolutely, it absolutely is, and they certainly don't want to talk to other men about it, because you know what if the pier is really just more judgmental, like what why are you asking about that? I don't want to talk about that, whereas women were like tell me everything, like telling about other things, and so it's a little bit different. But I used

to run male body image groups. It was men only, and it was so amazing to see the healing that comes out of that when you put a group of men together who are actually open to discussing their issues and just seeing that like, I'm not alone. The stereotype needs to change, and it's only going to change with me, with us and within the you know, like as we build out of our community and how we you know,

they start kind of getting empowered to change too. But it's definitely the same and it's something that we need to talk about more well. So when it comes to either men, women, younger, older, there's there's I mean, eating disorders and disorder behaviors effects anyone and everyone or can So what little tools do you have maybe to share just a few with us that we can keep in our back pocket when we're right now trying to process Okay, wait, this is more my brain, this body image thing it's

all in my head. So what are some things that we can be doing to start building those neuropathways and undoing it. Yeah, So there's a type of therapy called cognitive behavioral therapy, and it really is what we know changes the brain the most. That and like exposure therapy, so the CBT has a set of skills that really just helps with stopping thoughts. So as you notice kind of ruminating or cyclical thoughts that kind of rabbit trail

into just a lot of bullying and a negativity. That's the thought where if you can stop and think about literally anything else. So think of it as like, even though your brain is not a muscle, but think of it as like if I'm trying to strengthen my bicep, I'm gonna exercise my bicep, and if I exercise my brain to think mostly negative things, that's what it's automatically

gonna do. So if we can stop those negative thoughts and it's act, it's not strengthening those pathways, and then if we can follow it up with a neutral thought or even maybe a positive thought, that's the foundation of laying down those pathways. It makes me think of when we're a kid and we're learning fire drills, and it's like stop is the first thing, like stopped dropping roll? But it's like, okay, first thing we have to do is just stopped. But you first have to recognize you

even having the thoughts. So you have to be very mindful of, Wow, I just zoned out with this negative thought for a really long time. I need to first acknowledge that that I'm having that thought because the more you can catch it sooner, the more you can redirect it.

And I'm so glad you said that, because, yeah, how can you stop something I don't even realize is happening, especially when it consumes your your headspace so much you just it's just kind of normal, Like what do you mean, Like I as soon as I see my leg, like I say, my brain just immediately goes there. And so you know that you already know that about yourself. So have a set of just kind of thoughts and phrases

that you can just say to stop that thought. And then also there you know, kind of being body avoidant creates a fear of unknown, you know, And so I would also encourage just knowing your body is really important because if we're wearing baggy things. If we're avoiding looking at ourselves in the mirror, of course we're going to create an image in our mind that's distorted because we're only knowing what our body shape is based on how

negative our thoughts are. I'm not asking you know, like love your body and look at all the things right now, but it's really about if you know, as you're completely body avoidance, that is going to create this fear and why are your nervous system to be scared of it? And that also is gonna cause a lot of harm long term. Okay, So first just to recap, we need

to recognize and acknowledge what's happening. Then secondly we need to stop if we once we notice the negativity, just put a stop to it and replace it with something neutral. All are positive now instead of just saying positive? Why did you say neutral? Because some people just can't they're not ready for positive yet, okay, So or they'll just say positive something and just be like, I don't believe

that anyway. Well, because yeah, for affirmations, you have to truly believe it for it to say Sometimes you don't necessarily have to truly believe it. On the front end, more you say it, you eventually do. But some people are just not even they cannot it actually makes it can be more harmful. So sometimes just neutral or just challenging the you know, if it's everyone stares at me when I go to the beach, well do they really? You know, like look around, is everyone you know looking

at you when you step on the beach? Recognize the reality that it's not okay? And then the last one knowing your body and don't be what you're saying a body avoidance. Okay, So thank you for sharing those little those little things. Those are three things right there that you can keep in your back pocket if you notice, you know, body image type thoughts popping in to your head, and just again know that you're not alone, whether you're

male or female. And I know, just me being a woman, I spent a lot of time saying, oh, well, you know, I speak to the women, and then I'll get a note from a man and I'm just reminded, oh, yes, men are going through this too, and again I've even witnessed it. So thank you for coming on and sharing that. And if there's any men listening and you have thoughts or emails something you want to share um or you would like to share some of your story, would love

to hear from you. Hello at Outweigh podcast dot com is where you can hit us up. And then Crystal your website one more time, Horizon Nutrition Counseling dot com. Well, thank you so much for having with us today, and again, Crystal is gonna be back next Saturday and then the following and we're going to get into like what really is normal eating? And I say normal in air quotes.

And then also after that a listener email about being concerned for a friend that is displaying some disordered behaviors. All right, see'all next Saturday. By let