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Showing posts from November 20, 2022

Body Image and Gratitude

For many people, November begins the season of gratitude. Starting with Thanksgiving - whcih literally has THANKS in the name, it's important to ask yourself how often do you thank your body? Learning to quiet the body bashing and negative body thoughts is not easy. The mental picture you have of your body is constantly compared to an image of what you think you should look like. This is due to the social impact of body image. Seeing images over and over again is linked to poor body image and feelings that your own body is not normal. As a result, you may shame, criticize and hate certain parts of your body.  Body image refers to how you see your body. What you believe about your appearance, how you feel about your body and how you move, nourish and use your body.  Gratitude is the expression of appreciation for what one has. It involves being thankful.  The human body is incredible. Just think about all your body can do and has done for you - crossing finishing lines, br...

Breaking the holiday restrict-binge cycle

The holiday season is here and it's filled with family, friends and.....food.  Without a doubt, food is a significant component of every holiday. For anyone who suffers from an eating disorder or an unhealthy relationship with food and the body, this can be a challenging time of the year.  You may not realize it but the holidays bring several triggers that could lead to disordered eating and exercising behaviors. Often times, stress, overwhelm, people pleasing, travel, toxic relationships/family members, uncomfortable conversations and finances can bring on uncomfortable feelings. In order to lessen those emotions, it's easy to resort to food restriction (or dieting). And with restriction often comes binge eating. Overeating from time to time does not mean that you have a binge eating disorder. Fundamentally, binge eating is different from overeating.  Signs and symptoms of binge eating include:  Eating a large amount of food in a short period of time (ex. over 2 ho...

How to dress when cycling in cold weather

I love the heat and humidity but there's something about winter riding that soothes my soul and sharpens my mind. It's as if the cooler it gets outside, the more excited I get to go outside for a bike ride. I was not always this way - it took me several years to learn how to dress appropriately for cold weather riding but as the saying goes "there's no such thing as bad weather, just bad clothing." Where we live in Greenville, SC. the weather can be unpredictable. Luckily, we are never too cold for too long and it rarely snows. While this is a great thing for year-round outdoor cycling, it does make it tricky for what to wear.  As an example, in the past two weeks, we have enjoyed a variety of weather for a variety of outdoor rides.  Warmish 2-hour afternoon gravel ride. Private skills session with our athlete Diane.  9:30am, 3hr group ride. Started off foggy, stayed cloudy, got warm and then cooler again.  Very cold 3.5 hour mountain bike ride.  Sunny sky, cold...