As the weather starts to warm up and sweater and coats are put away for the season, we begin to turn our minds to our summer wardrobe. This can cause a lot of anxiety for those of us who struggle with our body image. We begin to wonder: “Will I still fit in my clothes from last summer?”, “Will I sweat through the fabrics?”, or even “I hated how I felt in those shorts, but they were the only thing that fit.”

Instead of a summer “ready” body, let’s look at getting your mind ready for summer! Here are five journal prompts to use when you’re facing thoughts about your body and how it “fits” into the changing season:

1. When I feel good in my clothes, what does that physically feel like? What does that mentally feel like? (You may find your body language is more confident or you like the feel of certain fabrics.)
2. How do I feel about my summer wardrobe? What do I currently have that I like and that I don’t like?
3. If money weren’t a consideration, what would I add to my summer wardrobe? (Th
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You’ve probably heard that the how you speak to yourself can lead to more or less self-esteem depending on what you say, what words you use, and the tone (negative or positive). It might be a conversation in our own mind, but there is power in your inner dialogue!

Recent research shows that speaking to yourself can also help sooth anxiety and reduce feelings of stress. Instead of hiding from these intense emotions, addressing them in a curious and kind way allows you to go slowly and see that they aren’t as overwhelming once you look at them. We’ve all been in the situation where putting our head in the sand has made a task seem that much more impossible.

While you may wish your anxiety would go away, there is no need to fight it. Begin with first observing what you are feeling—is it a flutter in your chest? An electric feeling up your legs?—and then ask your anxiety what is the concrete cause for these reactions. Maybe it is an upcoming review of your work at your job or you’re feel...

Seeing old friends or getting together with extended family can be a cause for celebration—especially after two years of social distancing and lockdown measures. But these situations can also bring feelings of anxiety and failure, you may start thinking “What if they notice I’ve gained weight?”, or even worse “What if they say something about my weight gain?”

It often feels like one’s waistline is open for comment no matter if it has been a weight gain or loss. The problem is that we’re celebrated when we shrink and blamed when we put on weight. Here are a few tips to support your mental health when your faced with unwanted commentary on your body.

Come up with a game plan. Knowing body comments might come up is one thing but being mentally prepared to face them can give you a feeling of confidence. Try tucking affirmations in your wallet, go to the bathroom and text a friend who will support you, schedule a therapy session or alone time after the meeting with family to decompress. T...

December is a delicious time of year! There are family recipes that get baked, holiday parties with seasonal cocktails, and who is going to argue with an advent calendar that lets you have a piece of chocolate every day!

If you read the above and immediately felt overwhelmed (or like you’ll need to restrict your eating this time of year), STOP. This time of year, can be triggering for a lot of people, not only are all sorts of foods more available, eating until bursting is encouraged by family members and in the media, and stress if running high—hello mall shopping and family drama! This time of year is a rollercoaster that can have your emotional eating get the best of you.

But it doesn’t have to be like that. Here are a few ideas on how you can challenge the holiday expectation to overeat, overexercise, overreact. 

• Trying eating food that you actually enjoy and tastes good to you. After a couple of days of gingerbread, you may find yourself wanting a more balanced meal.

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It can be a difficult time of year for many people. While holiday movies portray happy families and festive get-togethers, it can leave many of us feeling left out if we don’t have the ‘perfect’ holiday experience.

Abuse, loss of a loved one, comments about your weight, divorce, missing loved ones due to Covid-19 restrictions, eating disorders, pressure to drink alcohol, are all situations that can make people uncomfortable and dread the upcoming holiday season.

To make the holiday season a bit more bearable, start with what you can control. You don’t have to say yes to every gathering (even if it is with family). In fact, saying “no” is a great example of setting clear boundaries with others and is a great way to protect your mental health. It can be freeing to not put yourself in a situation you know will be triggering.

And on that note: do some thinking around what might be triggering you. You can talk to someone you trust—or reach out to a professional—or grab your journal and l...

Take a deep breath. And another one.

Binges are full of emotions before, during, and after. Food has a way of giving us a sense of calm and numbness, but anyone who has eaten emotionally knows that the intense emotions that lead up to a binge and then the ones that follow after—guilt, shame—can leave you feeling so much worse than before any food was eaten.

Emotional eating is a common coping mechanism that many people use to manage everything from stress, to not getting enough sleep, to depression. While your mind may be telling you there is something shameful about emotional eating, the truth is that it is a sign that you are doing your best to manage everything life throws at you. And sometimes life can be overwhelming or scary or just plain crappy.

So, you’ve binged on all your favourite foods in an attempt to escape your negative feelings. As you slowly come out of the binge mentality and regret begins to blossom, take a moment to pull out your journal and try one or a few of t...

This blog post is the one of a series where we’re giving advice on tools you can try and see if they are worth adding to your ‘toolkit’ when you’re faced with emotional eating. Some tools will work for you and others you won’t find as helpful—check out our previous posts here and give some of them a try!

Affirmations tend to divide people into two camps: either you love ‘em or hate ‘em! But take a read through and hear us out; affirmations can not only be effective in creating a positive outlook, they are also a convenient tool you can rely on whenever you need it (and you don’t have to have space for it in your purse!).

We’ve all heard how powerful one negative thought can be, but what if we switched just that one thought for a positive one?

An affirmation is essentially a sentence that you identify with that is positive in tone (so make sure you are using “I” or “my” when coming up with your affirmation). For example, “the right job for me will not pass me by” or “I deserve to be...

We have all been there. Whether it is after binge eating the night before or a pair of pants no longer fits as we’d like them to or we’re out with friends and believe we’re the biggest body there, we have all had days where our body image is negative. Often a single day can become a few days, or a week, and it so often leads to (more) emotional eating.

It can be so easy to think that the solution to “snap out of it” would be to restrict your food intake and get in a long workout the next day (hands up if you’ve been there!). But this starts the restrict-binge emotional rollercoaster again—a ride we hate and want to get off of!

Here are 5 tips of things to do instead of beating yourself up with tasteless salads and torturous workouts:

1. Put on an outfit that you feel good in. This could mean your softest sweater, most flattering leggings, or your favourite dress, whatever is going to give you a little mood boost to see yourself and feel your body in. This is a way to show your body ...

This blog post is the one of a series where we’re giving advice on tools you can try and see if they are worth adding to your ‘toolkit’ when you’re faced with emotional eating. Some tools will work for you and others you won’t find as helpful—check out our previous posts here and give some of them a try!

When suffering from a low mental health day do you ever find yourself Googling how to improve your mood? Often, we come across the same line, something like “just work up a sweat and you’ll feel good in no time!” again and again. Sounds like advice from someone who doesn’t know what it feels like to be depressed or anxious, right? Chances are you’re already aware that movement makes you feel better, but you can’t force yourself to do it when you’re not in a great space mentally. And that is completely ok!

When we hear the term ‘working out’ we often think of intimidating gyms, uncomfortably tight clothing, following a difficult plan, and comparing ourselves to other people. It ca...

How many of you are using your cell phone as your alarm clock? Hey, we’re guilty of it too! But looking at your screen—even if it’s just to hit the snooze button—can set your mind racing. There are many benefits to the technology we have access to, but constant screen and sound notifications, from texts to email to social media alerts, can divide your attention (hello mindless eating while scrolling!), shatter your focus on a specific task, and even skyrocket your anxiety. 

 So, what is the solution?

Let’s face it: we’re not going to get away from using technology. But we can set boundaries around how and when we use it. The key is to start small! We’ve already suggested how putting away your phone—even just 30 minutes—before bed can be beneficial. The next thing you can try is to add to this time little by little to create more of a buffer between the last time you looked at your phone and when your head hits the pillow. You can even try enabling the ‘do not disturb’ feature on your...