My belly belongs to me!

Christiane Fux studied journalism and psychology in Hamburg. The experienced medical editor has been writing magazine articles, news and factual texts on all conceivable health topics since 2001. In addition to her work for, Christiane Fux is also active in prose. Her first crime novel was published in 2012, and she also writes, designs and publishes her own crime plays.

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Many women struggle with their bodies, are on a permanent diet, and develop problematic eating behavior. Online coaching everyBody wants to change that.

A chubby blonde who brings the hall to a boil at a bikini contest? Who is considering a modeling career despite the lack of lip volume? That can not be right! In fact, a fall on his head slipped Renée's self-image - for the better. She now considers herself the hottest sweeper far and wide. And because she acts accordingly, her life changes.

Hollywood, of course, came up with it. The film "I Feel Pretty", which started in Germany in May of this year, plays with clichés and has the message: If you feel attractive, you are too.

But that is exactly what fewer and fewer women succeed in doing. Regardless of their actual size, they struggle with their figure and sneak through life instead of enjoying it to the full. Many chastise each other, some even develop problematic eating behavior. The everyBody study project, initiated by the TU Dresden, wants to change that.

Make friends with the body

In an online moderated free coaching program, women aged 18 and over can learn to accept their figure, among other things. “It's about making friends with the body that you have,” the website sums up. Another goal is to promote healthy eating behavior. Both ultimately serve to increase self-confidence, health and zest for life. And it prevents eating disorders of all kinds - from anorexia to binge eating to bulimia.

A program for everyone

“What is new about the program is that we want to pick up all women with the offer. These can be women who just want to find out a little bit and don't have any major concerns about their figure, but also women who are showing the first symptoms of an eating disorder and, for example, sometimes have binge eating, "says Barbara Nacke, who works as a psychologist at everyBody, in an interview NetDoctor.

At the beginning there is an extensive catalog of questions in which both body acceptance and eating behavior are asked. Depending on how pronounced the problems are, each participant receives a suitable learning program. Depending on the variant, the program extends over four to twelve weeks.

Letter to the belly

Informative texts and videos alternate with practical exercises. One of them: the letter to a part of the body with which the woman particularly struggles. “It's often the stomach,” says Nacke. In her letter, the woman can write her stomach frustration off her soul. In the second part of the exercise, it is important to formulate the response of the stomach. “Then completely different aspects arise, for example what the stomach can do. That's pretty good practice for changing focus. "

Eating behavior diary

Another regular part of the exercise program: a diary on eating habits. In it you not only note what you eat and drink during the day, but also which meals you intentionally did not eat your fill, or any potential binge eating. Such incidents can then be processed online with the help of a psychologist. What was the trigger? Stress? Or did you just cast yourself too badly beforehand? However, questions such as: Which thoughts, which emotions accompanied the attack? How did I feel then and after?

Confrontation with the mirror

Many women face a particular challenge in facing their own reflection. “A lot of people don't even look at each other anymore because that pulls them down too much,” says Nacke. The approach takes place step by step: First fully clothed until you can cope with it, and then with less and less clothes.

The important thing is the neutral assessment: "My stomach is wobbly" - there is already the devaluation in it. "My stomach is soft" - that sounds much friendlier. Ideally, women will even discover their best side, but at least a neutral encounter with their own reflection can be learned.

No chance against photoshop women

Another topic is to subject the media-dominated image of women to a reality check: Only four percent of women correspond to the slim ideal of beauty. And what looks so ethereal about posters and magazine covers is also photoshopped: the neck is pulled a little longer with a few clicks of the mouse, the eyes enlarged, the waist narrowed, the bosom pushed. A video animation illustrates this in the online course.

At the same time, the women learn to discover properties that go beyond looks that they can be proud of: creativity, empathy or enthusiasm, perhaps.

The whole thing is still a study - it should be a total of 4,000 participants at the end. “After smaller pilot studies, we would now like to prove that the offer is as effective as it is cost-efficient. One that makes women stronger and keeps them healthy, ”says Nacke.

For every single participant who succeeds, it would actually be a happy ending. But what became of Renée, the Hollywood chub with the positively distorted self-image? The effects of the head trauma, as you can guess, were not permanent. When the madness fizzles out, she is initially extremely unhappy.Until she discovers that the qualities she was valued for are independent of her figure. everyBody also conveys this knowledge - and without a blow on the head.

Interested women can register for the study free of charge via the following link: https://www.icare-online.eu/de/everybody.html

Tags:  anatomy alcohol drugs prevention