Monday Mindset With Isha Warriors

This is the 18th episode in our incredible Body Positivity Series. This life changing series will help you see, think and feel differently about your body. Listen to all the episodes and share them with the people you love! Start being proactive about how you think and feel about your body today! The magic happens on the mat.
Learn more about 6 Week Body Positivity Yoga Series with Isha Warriors
Christy is a certified Functional Nutritionist and has a dietetic degree from Michigan State University. She is also a Certified Lifestyle & Functional Medicine Coach and certified personal trainer. Her passion for health and fitness is fueled from own her personal journey of healing from anorexia nervosa and bulimia. And today we get to hear the tools that have helped her reach her best health over the last 4 decades. Every day, Christy turns the painful experiences of her past into a purpose to help others reach their ultimate health as well.

Instagram: @coachchristy_emerginghealth

What led a ten year old to eating disorders?

1. Book “Gaining”by Aimee Liu points out some kids are just more prone to wanting perfection.
2. Need for control.
3. Felt a need to punish myself for feeling “bad” emotions.
4. I got compliments on my maturing thin figure. Fed my obsession.
5. Because I was anorexic, my body craved food...then I couldn’t stop binging and then I HAD to purge to relive myself of the guilt and disgust I felt for eating food.
6. Cutting out certain foods made me feel clean. It took me decades to realize this need to feel clean stemmed from sexual abuse I experienced from a close relative. Parents need to know that sexual abuse is often a trigger for eating disorders...Because of shame, confusion and guilt. I never told my parents. I never told anyone.

You said you were in such a dark place...What flipped the light bulb on for you?

• One my dad came crying to me and in a very sincere and loving way helped me understand that I was not only hurting myself. I was hurting my family. “I am only hurting myself” is the biggest lie someone with disordered eating tells themself.
• I started to educate myself.
• My mom had me put more input into what was made for dinner and planning out meals.
• I went on to study nutrition in college and absorb everything I could about food and how it affects the body and brain.

What would you tell parents?

1. Break the secrets and the hiding wide open. Have very open conversation with them. “You are only as sick as the secrets you keep.”
2. Come from a place of love not judgement. They are already feeling so much shame.
3. Help them connect what food does for their body versus telling them food is good or bad. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jNvkSi0XrL0
4. Help them understand how it is affecting their health and their family
5. Educate yourself and offer resources to your loved one so they can

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This is the 19th episode in our incredible Body Positivity Series. This life changing series will help you see, think and feel differently about your body. Listen to all the episodes and share them with the people you love! And start being proactive about how you think and feel about your body today! The magic happens on the mat.
Learn more about 6 Week Body Positivity Yoga Series with Isha Warriors
Today's insightful interview is with Lauren Harding, LSW. Lauren is a psychotherapist and certified eating disorder coach. She received her masters in social work at IUPUI and has experience working with a variety of clients including those who have experienced trauma, anxiety, depression, and obsessive-compulsive disorder. She also has experience working at an eating disorder residential eating disorder treatment center and over time has developed a passion for helping individuals who struggle with eating disorders/disordered eating, chronic dieting, activity addiction, and negative body image. She completed an independent eating disorder recovery coaching training and certification through the Carolyn Costin Institute and is specially trained to support a client and the client’s treatment team in making day-to-day behavior changes necessary for recovery. Lauren is passionate about helping others to heal their relationship with food, their body, but most importantly with themselves. You are going to love her!
Today you will hear about...
1. Common misconceptions about eating disorders like...

• That people with eating disorders look emaciated.
• That people with eating disorders always make themselves throw up.
• That its an eating disorder only when people have really OVERT behaviors.

2. How do you recognize if there is an eating disorder present?
-It’s tricky because our culture has normalized so many behaviors that COULD BE a red flag, so look for CONSTANT...

• preoccupation with external self
• always trying to change self
• dieting
• exercising
• trying to better themselves & become perfect defined by external & unreal expectations

-Do you or your teen struggle with anxiety, depression, obsessive compulsive disorders? They are more at risk to develop an eating disorder.
3. So what do we do?!

• First look at yourself. There might be something going on with your OWN relationship with food that you need to work on.
• Let go of the shame of inevitable failures.
• Important to ask questions to understand where your kid is at BEFORE it becomes a disorder. Have “help me understand” conversations.
• Get help from a therapist, psychotherapist, counselor etc
• Educate yourself. Knowledge is power.

NEDA https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/
Youtube Search: "Parents and eating disorders"
"Your Dieting Daughter" by Carolyn Costin
https://www.amazon.com/Your-Dieting-Daughter-Dissatisfaction-Disordered/dp/0415890845

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Hope is a powerful motivator and an essential component of emotional resilience and mental wellness. So how do we hold on to hope regardless of if we are having a bad day, a hard month or years full of struggle?

Some might say the first step to persevering with hope is to start by “acknowledging the good and the bad” in life...and I would suggest instead of looking at what is happening in your life as good or bad; Acknowledge the easy and the hard...or maybe even where there is resistance and where there is ease....does it feel like you are gliding down a slide with ease or climbing up a steep mountain right now?

When we go beyond seeing things as good or bad, lucky or unlucky-we also recognize that all things can be used for our betterment and growth.

1. It is important to RECOGNIZE THE HARD -because having HOPE is not simply ignoring trials or pretending that everything is OK. You can’t move into action or create needed changes if you don’t face truths. Hope is not about ignoring reality: It's about maintaining a positive outlook even when facing difficulties.
2. So you first acknowledge where you are at and then step 2- think about “where do I want to be?” VISUALIZE what you want to see happening. VISUALIZE YOUR GOAL and what it will feel like to obtain it and what your life will be like when you have it.
3. “CREATE A HOPE PATHWAY”. Hope begets hope. When we are successful we are more motivated to persevere. The best way to get success on your HOPE PATHWAY is to take small steps in the direction you want to go. Soo...
4. REMIND YOURSELF OF YOUR WHY BEHIND WHAT YOU ARE DOING. Remember your WHY. There isn’t a right or wrong reason to want something in your life. But know that if you are doing it for someone else, your desire may not be as strong nor the results as lasting. And if you look to movies, dramas, Youtubers, Realty TV shows and Hollywood culture as your role models. Remember that if your reasons stem from fear, self loathing, a desire for revenge, a need for power or from jealousy- your feelings of satisfaction when you obtain your goal will be short lived...because these emotions only crave for more...true peace, contentment and joy will always be just out of your reach. If you feel like giving up-remember why you started in the first place and figure out a worthy why to go after.
5. SURROUND YOURSELF WITH SUPPORTIVE PEOPLE. Whether it is a paid trainer, a life coach or therapist who is your cheerleader or it is your best friend or your family...connecting with others who will help lighten your load on your HOPE PATHWAY. FIND YOUR PEOPLE. And that includes Seeking professional help when needed-If you are struggling with overwhelming challenges, consider therapy to develop coping mechanisms and build resilience.
6. Essentially-Persevering with HOPE MEANS you are actively nurturing a belief that things can get better and that your efforts will lead to positive change. In other words-you have faith. FAITH is a foundational seed that needs to be watered and cared for often so that it can grow!! #6 HAVING HOPE TAKES ACTION.
7. The ability to find joy in your circumstances is directly tied to how much time you spend CULTIVATING THE ATTITUDE OF GRATITUDE. Being happy in your surroundings has less to do with your surroundings and more to do with what you are focusing on in that space.
8. Be patient with yourself & don’t compare to othe

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Our goal this year is to upload over 300 hours of quality content specifically created for teens onto Youtube so that EVERY ONE can have easy access to the amazing tools yoga provides the mind, body and soul!!
We are raising $30,000 and we need YOU.
There is no such thing as a small donation; every contribution helps our small organization in a big way!! AND one of our donors is going to match what you give up to $500!! So it doubles the impact of your $20 or $40!!
Why have I donated thousands of hours? Because I have seen hundreds of lives change. Help me make a difference to more teens!
DONATE HERE!!

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Support the show

Please consider clicking below to make a one time donation to help "Monday Mindset With Isha Warriors" reach more people across the world!
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This is the 15th episode in our incredible Body Positivity Series. This life changing series will help you see, think and feel differently about your body. Listen to all the episodes and share them with the people you love! Support Alli Louthain in getting more of the Awesome out into the world! Share, Rate, Review or Subscribe to Monday Mindset With Isha Warriors!!

And start being proactive about how you think and feel about your body today!
The magic happens on the mat.
Learn more about 6 Week Body Positivity Yoga Series with Isha Warriors
Maryam Faisal, a proud Muslim and Pakistani American, is currently attending Rice University in Houston Texas. Maryam's own experiences with an eating disorder as well the experiences of those that recovered with her inspired her to found the Lone Bench Initiative, a 501c3 nonprofit working to make eating disorder treatment more accessible for Muslims.

Maryam hopes to bring eating disorder treatment access to even more people, while simultaneously breaking the stereotypes regarding people of color with eating disorders and eating disorders within religious communities.
https://www.lonebenchinitiative.org/
Other resources Maryam recommends:
For Muslim (and non-muslim, but faith-based) mental health resources, more broadly:

https://khalilcenter.com/

https://naseeha.org/

Body positive/Eating Disorders books:

More Than a Body by Lindsay and Lexie Kite

Sick Enough by Dr. Jennifer Gaudiani

The Self-Love Revolution: Radical Body Positivity for Girls of Color by Virgie Tovar, MA
Episode Footnotes:

• Problems with the current way insurances cover/don't cover eating disorder treatment.
• Unique challenges Muslims have with receiving treatment for disordered eating.
• Cultural stigmas of "who can have mental illnesses"
• Cultural ideology behind well intended statements that are toxic and need to change!
• The connection between eating disorders and suicide rates.
• How yoga helps you feel seen and is a reset.

Check out all our other episodes in our Body Positive series!

hugs,
Alli

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Support the show

Please consider clicking below to make a one time donation to help "Monday Mindset With Isha Warriors" reach more people across the world!
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