#E31 Understanding How Diets Mirror Abusive Relationship Patterns

In this episode, host Louise Bryant, a professional certified coach, intuitive eating counsellor, and trauma-informed domestic abuse specialist, draws revealing parallels between dieting, negative body image and toxic relationships.

Louise shares her journey of battling various diets and enduring abusive relationships, highlighting how both can manipulate, control and isolate individuals, ultimately eroding self-worth and autonomy.

She offers insights into breaking free from the toxic grips of diet culture through intuitive eating, body kindness and self-compassion.

Listen in for thought-provoking reflections and journaling questions designed to help you heal and reclaim your relationship with food and your body.

Released September 12th 2024

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Our Host 🫶🏻

Louise Bryant is a professional certified coach, intuitive eating counsellor, and a trauma-informed domestic abuse specialist as well as survivor.

Through her platform, "Secrets in the Powder Room," Louise fosters open conversations about the often-hidden struggles women face, including social anxiety and trauma.

Her expertise, drawn from personal and professional experiences, aims to guide others in healing through alternative therapies, body kindness and intuitive eating.

Passionate about breaking the silence around women's issues, Louise provides free, simple tips and profound insights to ease anxiety and promote well-being.

Links

• For more podcasts secretsinthepowderroom.com

• Get the Free Self-Care Course Louisebryant.coach

• Follow us on Instagram.secretsinthepowderroom

• Work With Me Louise Bryant

Newsletter 📧

🌼 Manage Anxiety & Embrace Body Kindness with Expert Tips from Louise Bryant

Dear Secret listeners,

We hope you're doing well and finding time for self-care. In our latest bonus episode of the "Secrets in the Powder Room" podcast, host Louise Bryant dives deep into managing anxiety and embracing body kindness — crucial steps in your healing journey.

What's inside this episode?

✨ Understanding Social Anxiety & Trauma: We revisit our enlightening conversation with Carina Price, focusing on social anxiety and how past trauma can amplify it.

✨ Transformative Therapies: Explore powerful therapies like hypnotherapy and the 'rewind' technique, effective tools for overcoming deep-rooted fears without retraumatisation.

✨ Free Tips for Managing Anxiety: Louise shares five simple and accessible techniques for combating anxiety:

• Deep Breathing:

  Try inhaling for 4 seconds, holding for 4, exhaling for 4, and holding for 4.

• Grounding Technique:

  Employ the 5, 4, 3, 2, 1 method to stay grounded in the present moment.

• Movement:

  Physical activity, like walking or stretching, can significantly reduce tension.

• Mindful Meditation:

  Utilise free apps or YouTube videos for short, guided meditations.

• Journaling:

  Spend 5-10 minutes writing down your thoughts to process anxiety causes.

✨ Embrace Intuitive Eating & Body Kindness: Learn to trust your body's hunger signals and treat yourself with the compassion you deserve.

✨ Ready to Go Deeper? Louise offers group coaching and one-to-one sessions for those dealing with anxiety, trauma, food and body image struggles, or domestic abuse. Details are in the podcast description.

Listen to the full episode to delve deeper into these topics and access additional free resources and techniques.

Remember, you are not alone. There are always tools and support available to help you through your healing journey. Together, we can embrace body kindness, manage anxiety, and move towards a life of self-compassion and peace.

Take care, be gentle with yourself, and know that you're stronger than you think. 🌟

Warm regards,

Blog 🚨

Breaking Through Anxiety and Trauma: Tools and Practices for Healing

Unveiling the Secrets of Managing Social Anxiety, Trauma, and Healing Through Body Kindness

In today's fast-paced world, many of us are familiar with the grip of anxiety; it can affect every area of our lives. Louise Bryant, host of the Secrets in the Powder Room podcast, dives deep into understanding and managing social anxiety and trauma in a recent episode featuring insights from Carina Price. This blog post expands on the powerful techniques discussed, offering practical advice for those grappling with similar challenges.

Understanding Social Anxiety and Trauma

Social anxiety goes far beyond merely feeling shy in social situations. It can become a debilitating condition that affects every aspect of your life, making you feel constantly judged and never good enough. This condition is even more severe for those who have experienced trauma such as domestic abuse or assault.

The Role of Trauma in Social Anxiety

When we experience trauma, our brains can get stuck in a loop of reliving those traumatic events, leading to persistent anxiety and even PTSD. Trauma can profoundly impact how we perceive ourselves and the world around us, often amplifying social anxiety. But there is hope, and innovative therapies can help individuals reprocess traumatic memories, step away from a cycle of fear, and reclaim their lives.

Techniques for Managing Anxiety

Louise Bryant discusses several practical techniques for managing anxiety that are accessible to everyone, even if professional therapy is not immediately available. Here are a few:

Deep Breathing

One of the simplest and most effective ways to calm anxiety is through deep mindful breathing. The 4-4-4-4 technique involves inhaling for four seconds, holding your breath for four seconds, exhaling for four seconds, and holding your breath again for four seconds. Repeat this cycle a few times and feel your nervous system start to relax.

Grounding Techniques

Grounding exercises help bring your focus back to the present moment, a crucial technique when overwhelmed by anxiety. The 5-4-3-2-1 method is particularly effective: identify five things you can see, four you can touch, three you can hear, two you can smell, and one you can taste. This method shifts your attention away from anxious thoughts, grounding you in the reality of the present moment.

Physical Movement

Engaging in physical movement can be a powerful way to reduce anxiety. Whether it's going for a walk, stretching, or a quick workout, movement helps release built-up tension and mitigate anxiety. No special equipment or gym membership is necessary; simply moving your body for a few minutes can make a significant difference.

Mindful Meditation

Mindfulness practices teach you to observe your thoughts without getting swept away by them. Plenty of free apps and YouTube videos offer guided meditations. Even five minutes of mindfulness can help you manage anxiety effectively.

Journaling

Writing down your thoughts offers a tangible way to process what's causing your anxiety. Spend five to ten minutes journaling about your feelings without worrying about grammar or structure. This practice helps to declutter your mind and gives your thoughts a place to reside outside your head.

Healing Through Intuitive Eating and Body Kindness

Our relationship with food and body image often becomes complicated due to past trauma. Healing from such emotional upheaval requires nurturing oneself through practices like intuitive eating and body kindness.

Embracing Intuitive Eating

Intuitive eating is about trusting your body's signals around hunger and fullness, free from judgment. It encourages breaking away from restrictive diets and nourishing your body in a way that feels right and positive. Developing a healthy relationship with food fosters overall emotional wellbeing.

Practising Body Kindness

Body kindness involves treating yourself with the compassion and care you deserve. Accept your body as it is today, focusing on what it can do rather than how it looks. Embracing body kindness facilitates a supportive environment for healing from trauma and anxiety.

Seeking Further Support

If you're ready to dive deeper into your healing journey, consider seeking additional support. Louise Bryant offers group coaching and one-to-one sessions for individuals dealing with anxiety, trauma, food, and body image issues, or domestic abuse. These sessions provide a safe space to heal and grow under the guidance of experienced professionals.

Conclusion

Managing anxiety and healing from trauma is a journey, but you do not have to walk it alone. By incorporating these simple yet effective practices into your routine, you can take the first steps toward a life of self-compassion, resilience, and peace. Remember, you are stronger than you think, and there are always tools and support available to guide you on your journey to healing.

For more insights into managing anxiety and trauma, listen to the Secrets in the Powder Room podcast, available on all major streaming platforms. Together, let's break through the barriers of anxiety and trauma, embracing a life of self-compassion and body kindness.

10 journaling prompting questions ✍🏻

1. Exploring Anxiety:

   • What are the most common situations that trigger your anxiety?

   • How does your anxiety manifest physically and emotionally?

2. Understanding Trauma:

   • Can you identify a past trauma that might be influencing your current anxiety levels?

   • How do you typically respond to memories of this traumatic event?

3. Reflecting on Coping Mechanisms:

   • What self-care practices or techniques have you used in the past to manage anxiety? How effective were they?

   • Which of the tips suggested by Louise (e.g., deep breathing, grounding, movement) resonate most with you? Why?

4. Body Kindness and Intuitive Eating:

   • How do you currently feel about your relationship with food and your body image?

   • What steps can you take to start practising body kindness in your daily life?

5. Evaluating Support Systems:

   • Who in your life provides the most support when you're feeling anxious or overwhelmed?

   • Are there any professional resources or communities you think could further aid your healing process?

6. Future Goals:

   • What specific goal would you like to set for managing your anxiety or healing from trauma?

   • How can you incorporate the tools and practices mentioned in the podcast into your daily routine?

Happy journaling, and feel free to share your reflections with us!

Transcript 📝

NOTE: This podcast was transcribed by editing tool, Please forgive any typos or errors

Hey. Today we are going to be exploring how dieting and negative body image mirror the patterns of toxic or abusive relationships. This comparison might seem surprising at first, but as I unpack these parallels, you'll see how closely they align with the patterns of control, harm and emotional turmoil found in abusive relationships. Welcome to the Secrets in the Powder Room, where we share stories and open up conversations about all the secrets women are forced to keep out of fear and shame. I'm Louise Bryant, professional certified coach, intuitive eating counselor, and trauma informed domestic abuse specialist and survivor. We're here to support you on your healing journey and help you feel like you're not alone. This is not to be a replacement of your own professional, medical, or legal advice. This podcast contains adult language and content.

Louise Bryant00:00:52 - 00:01:44

Listener discretion is advised. Today we are diving into a deeply personal and thought provoking topic of how diets, negative body image and self talk parallel toxic relationships. This episode is especially close to my heart because it reflects not just my professional journey, but also my personal struggles. I have faced my fair share of challenges when it comes to body image. For most of my life, I've been caught in the cycle of trying every diet under the sun. Atkins, Keto, Weight Watchers, Slimming World, you name it. Each one promised me a better life, a better body and a better me. But in reality, these diets did nothing but pour me deeper into a toxic relationship with food and ultimately with myself.

Louise Bryant00:01:45 - 00:02:43

But the toxicity did not stop there. I've also been in a number of abusive relationships and toxic friendships over the years. These relationships, much like diets, chipped away at my self worth, made me doubt my own value and left me feeling like I was never enough. Even after meeting my husband and experiencing a healthy loving relationship, I still clung to that one toxic relationship, my relationship with food. It wasn't until I discovered intuitive eating and began my journey towards becoming a certified intuitive eating counsellor that I truly started to break free from the toxicity. Now let's be clear, most restrictive diets do not work in the long term and are not a healthy way to live. We are not good because we lost weight and we're not bad because we ate something quote 'naughty' unquote. These are damaging societal messages that reinforce the idea that fat is bad and skinny is good.

Louise Bryant00:02:43 - 00:03:27

But let me tell you I've been skinny many times in my life and trust me I was definitely not healthy with it. It was mentally suffering. Skinny does not equal healthy. Trust me on this. Okay, so just as in an abusive relationship diets are rooted in control. In an abusive relationship, the abuser seeks to manipulate and exert power over their partner. Diets do the same by imposing rigid food rules and calorie counting, creating a full sense of control over your body and behaviors. But in reality, this is just another form of control silencing your inner wisdom and preventing you from truly connecting with your body's genuine needs.

Louise Bryant00:03:28 - 00:04:24

So now let's talk about emotional manipulation. This is another key similarity because as an abuser might gaslight their partner into questioning their reality, diets and diet culture manipulate your perceptions of your body. Negative body image and self talk become ingrained leading you to believe that you are not good enough as you are. This can fuel the relentless inner dialogue of self criticism and comparison eroding your self esteem. It's a vicious cycle that benefits no one but the industries that profit from self doubt. And let's not forget that when we compliment someone for losing weight, we're reinforcing these harmful societal messages that equate thinness as good and fatness as bad. But the truth is our worth isn't tied up in our size. Being thin does not make us morally superior and gaining weight does not make us morally inferior.

Louise Bryant00:04:25 - 00:05:18

These are toxic beliefs that need to be dismantled for us to truly embrace body kindness and self compassion. Now let's move on to isolation and shame. So they are also at the core of both toxic relationships and dieting mindset. Just as an abuser might isolate their victims from friends and family, diets can isolate you from social events and shared meals. You might avoid going out because you're afraid of breaking your diet or being judged for your food choices. This isolation only deepens your feelings of inadequacy and perpetuates the cycle of shame and self loathing. But here's the thing, there is a way out. Just as you can break free from an abusive relationship, you can also break free from the grips of diet culture.

Louise Bryant00:05:18 - 00:06:03

It starts with recognizing the harmful patterns and choosing to reject them. For me, this was discovering intuitive eating. For you, this might be something different. But the core idea remains the same, reclaim your power, your autonomy and your self worth. And if you're interested in reading some more, Ethelyn, Triboli and Elise Riesch, authors of Intuitive Eating, discuss how the diet industry profits from your self doubt and body dissatisfaction. They explain that dieting is a form of external control that disconnects you from your body's natural signals. Similar to how an abuser disconnects their victims from their sense of self and autonomy. So what can we do about this? Recognising the harmful patterns is the first step.

Louise Bryant00:06:03 - 00:07:56

Just as leaving an abusive relationship requires support, self awareness and a plan, breaking free from diet involves similar steps. It means reconnecting with your body signals, challenging the negative beliefs that diets have ingrained in you, and seeking support from those who understand intuitive eating, body kindness and self compassion. It's about reclaiming your power and autonomy over your body and your eating habits. It's about learning to trust yourself again and recognizing that you are worthy and enough just as you are. If you've seen yourself in these patterns know that you're not alone and there is a way out. Embracing intuitive eating and rejecting the diet mentality can be liberating especially for those who have experienced trauma and abuse. And before we wrap up, I'd like to leave you with some thought provoking journaling questions to help you reflect on today's topic. How has dieting impacted your emotional and psychological well-being? What ways have you felt controlled or restricted by dieting rules? Can you identify moments when dieting isolated you from social interactions or activities that you enjoy? How has your self esteem been affected by your experience with dieting? What steps can you take to begin trusting your body's signals and rejecting the diet mentality? Take some time to reflect on these questions and write down your thoughts.

Louise Bryant00:07:56 - 00:08:55

Exclude

0:02 - 08:56

This process can be a powerful step towards healing and reclaiming your relationship with food and your body. Thank you for listening to this episode of Secrets in the Powder Room with me, Louise Bryant. And if you're ready to explore this journey further, I'm here to support you. You can reach out and see if you're eligible for my free domestic abuse coaching program or book a discovery call if you're interested in one of my other programs, membership, or one to one coaching. And don't forget to sign up to my emails to receive free meditations and that you don't miss one of my podcast episodes or offers. Remember to follow, like, or subscribe depending on which platform you're listening from so you don't miss our next episode where we'll discuss practical tips to begin your journey towards healing. Until then, be kind to yourself, trust your body and know that you deserve to live free from control of diets and other people.