Health Conditions / Mental Health / Eating Disorders

Ed Sheeran revealed he struggles with disordered eating in a new interview from Rolling Stone published Tuesday. The 32-year-old singer and songwriter also denounced the stigma associated with eating disorders among men.“I have a real eating problem,” he told Rolling Stone. Sheeran explained that, like his mentor Elton John, he’s had issues with binge eating and purging, and added that it’s been difficult to speak about these problems because of the shame associated with them. “There’s certain things that, as a man talking about them, I feel mad uncomfortable,” Sheeran said. But this is one of the reasons he’s choosing to share his story, he added: “It’s good to be honest…because so many [men] do the same thing and hide it.”This stigma is fueled by outdated ideas about who can—and can’t—have an eating disorder, Kimberly Dennis, MD, a member of the Clinical Advisory Council at the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA), tells SELF. “It’s been a pretty persistent, long-held myth that [eating disorders] are diseases that impact skinny white girls,” Dr. Dennis says. “That harms large portions of the population, [including] men.” According to data from NEDA, about one-third of all people with eating disorders are men.Because most of the messaging around eating disorder warning signs has traditionally been focused on women, many men don’t understand that they’re susceptible to these diseases, Dr. Dennis adds. Often, when they start to experience symptoms, “The men themselves don’t know it’s a disorder,” she explains. “They often feel shame about it because they think, This is a women’s disease. Why am I experiencing this?”Even men who know they have a problem may be less likely to try to get help, she adds. “Because of the concepts of toxic masculinity, the cultural norms of what a man is—a lot of that messaging and the psychosocial aspects of being a man in our culture can interfere with a man seeking eating disorder treatment,” Dr. Dennis says. Research has shown men are less likely than women to receive a mental health–related diagnosis, and traditionally masculine social expectations may be to blame.  Even some men who turn to their doctors for help may not get the care they need, she adds: “This a myth that pervades most medical specialties, and primary care doctors get very little training in eating disorder [protocols], so unless it’s more of an extreme case, they often miss the diagnosis.”This is especially troubling, given the huge toll an untreated eating disorder can take on a person’s overall health and well-being, says Alissa Rumsey, MS, RD, founder of Alissa Rumsey Nutrition and Wellness and the author of Unapologetic Eating. She adds that among all mental illnesses, eating disorders are the second deadliest, second only to opioid use disorder. “Untreated eating disorders can go on for years, if not decades, and contribute to physical and mental health issues,” she tells SELF.It’s crucial to change the narrative and make sure men know they, too, can experience eating disorders, Dr. Dennis says. All institutions that provide information on these conditions need to take this into account, she adds: “The messaging that starts very early on in most school settings needs to center that men have eating disorders, too, and treatment settings need to intentionally address the unique needs of men” with eating disorders. This means identifying that many men grow up hearing that they shouldn’t—or can’t—struggle with an eating disorder, acknowledging that this is incorrect, and helping them find a treatment option that works best for them, she adds. According to the Mayo Clinic, useful interventions could include taking medication, working with a therapist, or working with a registered dietitian.It’s also important for men who have firsthand experience to share their stories—like Sheeran did—when they feel comfortable doing so, Dr. Dennis adds. “It’s always helpful when men speak about having an eating disorder or having recovered from an eating disorder. When we don’t [highlight these stories], men internalize the idea that I shouldn’t have this,” she explains. “That propels shame and interferes with people getting help. And help works.”If you’re struggling with an eating disorder, you can find support and resources from the National Eating Disorder Association (NEDA). If you are in a crisis, you can text “NEDA” to 741741 to be connected with a trained volunteer at the Crisis Text Line for immediate support.Related:

“This image of the thin French woman concerns a small portion of individuals,” Casse says, who partially blames shows like Emily in Paris for perpetuating the myth of the monolithic French woman, when French women exist in all kinds of body types. She also points out that genetic and socioeconomic factors largely influence a person’s body size, and that the archetypal French woman we picture is almost always wealthy and white—which, again, is hardly representative of all women in France.French women’s supposed thinness isn’t as effortless as it might seem.When magazines and influencers (and books like Guiliano’s) attempt to teach us how to eat and live like a French girl, the message is typically that she doesn’t have to try to be thin. She just is. The ideal of the effortlessly thin French girl presupposes that diet culture doesn’t exist in France, while my and most of my French friends’ experiences completely invalidates that theory. Casse confirms that diet culture is unfortunately still alive and well in France. “When I listen [to conversations] in a public space, on the radio, or on French TV shows, I hear things like, ‘Fasting helped me lose weight, you should try it,’ ‘I mustn’t gain weight, otherwise my partner won’t be happy,’ or, ‘I eat a lot of fruits and vegetables and avoid starchy food as much as possible to stay slim,’” she says. Although Casse says that body acceptance is slowly gaining traction in France, she caveats that the culture of anti-fatness prevails. Fat people are still called names and seen (and portrayed in media) as lazy or lacking willpower, while thin people are still praised and glamorized. The effortlessness we associate with the French Girl archetype isn’t based in reality, yet we’re still being sold her perceived diet and lifestyle habits as the pinnacle of womanhood.Just because some French women are thin doesn’t mean they’re healthy.The French woman Guiliano writes about represents a specific type of person—one who is Parisian, wealthy, and usually white. Her thinness is to an extent a byproduct of these factors (as, again, socioeconomic circumstances such as income and education levels can influence a person’s weight), coupled with genetics. She’s also typically assumed to be healthy simply because she’s thin, even though we know that health and body size are by no means the same thing. It’s also worth noting that one in three French people smoked tobacco products as of 2020, a habit that is often associated with the French Girl archetype and one that is unfortunately frequently used as a weight-loss method—despite the fact that smoking is decidedly bad for your health.Nearly 20 years after Guillano published French Women Don’t Get Fat, people are still conflating French women’s perceived thinness with fitness and health. A new generation of influencers and blogs are teaching readers to eat “like French women” in order to “stay healthy”—even though the advice they peddle is often geared at readers looking to lose weight rather than to take care of their health holistically. And of course, mainstream magazines and online publications are still at it too, though mercifully much less so than they might have been a few years ago. But what these content creators are ignoring is that you can’t tell how healthy someone is from their body size. 

“My initial reaction was shock,” Cheri Levinson, PhD, an associate professor of psychology at the University of Louisville and the clinical director of the Louisville Center for Eating Disorders, tells SELF. “One of the major precipitators for eating disorders in children is that they go to a medical professional who says that they’re overweight. They walk out of the office feeling like they need to do something to change their body, and then, months later, they’re diagnosed with an eating disorder.” Dr. Levinson acknowledges that not all adolescents who are told to lose weight will go on to develop an eating disorder—but still, she says, she’s seen this scenario play out countless times in practice.“I’m outraged by the guidelines,” Elizabeth Davenport, RDN, a dietitian who specializes in family feeding and the co-owner of Pinney Davenport Nutrition in Washington, DC, tells SELF. “Dieting is one of the biggest predictors of developing an eating disorder for teenagers, and now doctors will be encouraging kids to diet, even if they don’t use that exact wording.” Eating disorder screening is mentioned in the AAP’s new guidelines—pediatricians are told to ask about “unhealthy practices to lose weight,” inducing meal skipping, using diet pills or laxatives, or inducing vomiting. But eating disorder providers say this is totally inadequate in reducing eating disorder risk, since telling a kid or teenager to lose weight could inherently increase their risk of disordered eating behaviors, body image distress, and, potentially, an eating disorder. “There’s a popular belief that eating disorders are just a phase that a teen or young adult will go through and then grow out of, but they are incredibly life-threatening and life-altering diseases” Nicole Cifra, MD, MPH, a pediatrician and adolescent medicine specialist at the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia and an assistant professor of clinical pediatrics at the Perelman School of Medicine at the University of Pennsylvania, tells SELF. Although the associated risks depend on many factors, including the type and severity of the disorder, eating disorders are known to increase the risk of anxiety, depression, suicidality, substance use disorders, premature death, and serious issues at work, school, and in relationships. They can also have a negative impact on heart, bone, brain, digestive, and hormone health. “This should be taken very seriously in any guidelines or recommendations about dieting or weight,” Dr. Cifra says.The guidelines recommend interventions—including medications and surgery—based solely on weight.Yes, the guidelines recommend screening for other health conditions using various tests and diagnostic tools. But they also tell pediatricians to recommend weight loss even when no health problems are present. “That’s the piece of it that just doesn’t line up for me,” Dr. Cifra says.“Weight is just one data point, in a whole bunch of data points, on someone’s health, and weight alone shouldn’t be the basis of an intervention.”The AAP does note in its guidelines that a person’s health is impacted by far more than just their lifestyle choices, and that factors like economic stability, access to education, neighborhood and environment, and social context play a huge role. “I was really excited about the AAP’s increasing recognition of the social determinants of health as a key driver of body shape and weight, especially among young people,” Janna Gewirtz O’Brien, MD, MPH, a board-certified pediatrician and an adolescent medicine physician in Minneapolis, tells SELF. “I also loved the acknowledgement of weight bias, and that health care providers are perpetrators of weight stigma and weight-based oppression.”

Even if you largely have a great time with your family, hanging out with loved ones can be a diet culture minefield. If you’re struggling with disordered eating, dealing with body image issues, or trying to break a cycle of chronic dieting, comments about food or bodies from (well-meaning or otherwise) loved ones can hinder your progress—and just generally make you feel terrible about yourself.For Latine people, this can feel difficult to unwind from our identity. Since food is a symbol of love in our culture, many of us are expected to eat everything on our plate and to go back for seconds, but also to not gain “too much” weight. “Although there is so much love and value placed on food in many Latine families, there is also a lot of pressure to conform to cultural beauty standards, and a lot of judgment surrounding body weight and shape,” Alice Figueroa, RDN, founder of Alice in Foodieland and The Mindful Nutrition Center, tells SELF. Sometimes, this means comments about weight can flow a little too freely at family gatherings.Latinas, specifically, face cultural pressure to maintain a big bust and butt while having a tiny waist. We might get labeled as “flaca” (“skinny”) or “gorda” (“fat”). “Although these descriptive nicknames may be used as terms of endearment, they can be upsetting to people struggling with body image issues and disordered eating,” Figueroa says. “In our community, comments about bodies are often presented as, ‘We’re just worried about your health,’ or even as terms of endearment,” Dalina Soto, RD, founder and owner of Your Latina Nutrition, tells SELF. These good intentions can make navigating these comments even trickier, she adds—when a loved one thinks they’re doing what’s best for you, it can be harder for them to understand why their comments are actually harmful. Whatever a family member’s intention, the effects can be really detrimental. “Comments related to food and body, even the most well-intentioned ones, can influence a person’s self-worth and self-respect, as well as their sense of safety and control,” Melissa Carmona, LCMHC, a bilingual therapist based in North Carolina and the daughter of Colombian immigrants, tells SELF. For people struggling with disordered eating and body image, these triggering remarks can exacerbate their preoccupation with their size and eating habits. So, even if it feels hard to address uncomfortable and hurtful attitudes toward food, health, and size in your family, it’s important that you do it if it’s negatively impacting you.Along with Latine family values and beauty standards, another factor contributing to food and body shaming is the fact that our traditional dishes are often demonized as “unhealthy” within diet culture’s standards. Latines also feel pressure from their doctors to cut out cultural staples like rice or tortillas, despite these being nutritious and delicious carbohydrate sources. We also regularly see headlines stating that our community faces higher rates of diabetes and heart disease (despite much of this stemming from lack of access to quality health care and other social determinants of health, rather than individual behaviors like food choices). These negative narratives about our food and health can influence us to harshly judge our own food and bodies, and one another’s. But we don’t have to accept them—here’s what to do instead.How to navigate food and body shaming from loved onesWhen it comes to addressing damaging comments from loved ones in the moment, you may feel stuck, especially if your family’s values make it difficult to speak up. “In the Latine community, familismo involves putting our families first and being loyal to them,” Carmona says. “Respeto speaks to respecting our elders and demonstrating gratitude toward them.” These values can seem to conflict with setting boundaries for yourself and addressing food and body shaming with loved ones. 

The characterization of “atypical” is arguably othering, especially for fat people. And it’s clear that eating disorders do not discriminate: “The stereotype of anorexia only affecting thin, white, upper-middle-class women couldn’t be further from the truth,” Rumsey says. “Eating disorders affect people of all body sizes, races, and gender identities.”Yet, harmful stereotypes persist. In her 2022 essay for Today.com, Holliday wrote that when her dietitian first suggested she may have anorexia, she thought, “Do you see how fat I am? There’s no way that word could ever be attached to someone my size.” Her diagnosis was eventually confirmed by a psychologist—and going public about her experience ended up helping others: “So many people who are in larger bodies have messaged me and said, ‘I never thought I restricted until you started talking about this,’” she wrote.The stigma can also take a toll in health care settings, especially when it comes to accurately identifying an eating disorder and getting the appropriate treatment plan in place. “The eating disorders of people at higher weights often go undiagnosed, and this group is less likely to receive treatment for their eating disorders compared to people at lower weights,” Rumsey says. According to the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders (ANAD), people with “larger bodies are half as likely to be diagnosed with an eating disorder” compared to those who have a “normal weight” or are “underweight”—even though “larger body size,” in the organization’s words, is a risk factor for developing an eating disorder.On top of that, fat folks are often praised for practicing potentially harmful behaviors, which can ultimately feed the cycle of self-harm. “When someone who has a larger body restricts calories, worries about what they’re eating, and eats less, they are often applauded for it,” Rumsey says. “Those behaviors in a higher-weight person are considered ‘healthy’ and encouraged, yet in someone who was thin, these behaviors would be diagnosed as an eating disorder.”Lauren Smolar, the vice president of mission and education at the National Eating Disorder Association (NEDA), says it’s crucial to seek help if you’re experiencing any symptoms associated with eating disorders, regardless of what you look like, and that NEDA’s online screening tool can help point people in the right direction. “Recognize that you do not need to meet the criteria of anorexia nervosa to be deserving of care,” Smolar tells SELF. She adds that it’s important to get help early before certain damaging behaviors escalate.That speaks to one reason why Holliday called on the public to do better. “When people look at larger-bodied individuals, they see us as less than, and we’re not less than,” she said on Today. “Health is not a moral compass.”If you’re struggling with an eating disorder, you can find support and resources from the National Eating Disorder Association (NEDA). If you are in a crisis, you can text “NEDA” to 741741 to be connected with a trained volunteer at the Crisis Text Line for immediate support.Related:

Warning: This article includes discussion of eating disorders, diet culture, and weight stigma. If you or someone you know is struggling, please contact NEDA.Did you grow up with an almond mom? It’s a question many women and girls asked themselves earlier this week, after clips of Yolanda Hadid—mother of Gigi and Bella Hadid—went viral on social media. In the videos compiled from Hadid’s stint on The Real Housewives of Beverly Hills, Yolanda calls Gigi’s body “big and bulky” and complains she “eats like men.” During an episode on Gigi’s birthday, she tells her then teenage daughter she can only “have one night of being bad” then has to “get back on her diet,” before allowing her a single bite of cake. The most troubling of all, however, is a scene in which Gigi calls her mother complaining that she feels “really weak” after only eating “like half an almond” that day. Yolanda’s response? “Have a couple of almonds, and chew them really well.”Despite Hadid’s viral comments, the almond mom is not a novel concept—and definitely not limited to stage moms. I know because I hail from a generation of women whose daily lives revolve around how little they’ve eaten and how much weight they’ve subsequently lost. Almond moms are obsessed with dieting, but don’t openly acknowledge it, justifying their restricted calories for the sake of being “healthy.”What matters most to an almond mom is getting and staying thin, so much that it inevitably overshadows accomplishments, accolades, and milestones—unless, of course, you look skinny while celebrating. To ensure that stays the case, they tend to sustain themselves on single-digit quantities of almonds—though they occasionally dabble in green juice, 100-calorie snack packs, and nonfat yogurt—and struggle to comprehend why their daughters don’t do the same.TikTok has proved the experience is alarmingly universal: If you search “almond moms” on the app, you’ll find content created around the topic long before the Yolanda clips resurfaced. At the time of writing, the phrase has amassed 600 million views.In the videos, teens and 20-somethings parody their “half-an-almond-a-day moms” who refuse to eat during scenarios like trick-or-treating or at the Hershey store. Others highlight the triggering toxic mantras by which their almond moms live, including “A moment on the lips, forever on the hips” and “Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels,” reciting them with cheerful fervor.Hadid seemingly replied to the criticism with a TikTok captioned #worstmomever in which she does various activities like walking, reading, and playing with baby goats—all while toting a large bowl of almonds.TikTok contentThis content can also be viewed on the site it originates from.TikTok contentThis content can also be viewed on the site it originates from.TikTok contentThis content can also be viewed on the site it originates from.Underneath the humor, however, lies something more sinister: the undeniable fact that even in 2022, during a newfound wave of body positivity, the almond mom mentality is alive and well. But even worse is how much these harmful dieting fads impact women, regardless of whether or not their mothers realize it.“Children follow more of what we do than what we say, which is why not addressing dieting and/or limiting caloric intake, but still being obsessive about it while in the presence of your kids, can have even more of an impact on children than parents are aware of,” Kiana Shelton, LCSW and women’s health expert at Mindpath Health, told Glamour. So even if your almond mom doesn’t or didn’t actively address your eating habits, her problematic habits can still have dire consequences. 

If you’re short on time, consider joining an intramural team, club sport, or group fitness class on campus. “This will give you an opportunity to connect with people and get regular exercise,” explains Dr. Adams. Think of it as a two-for-one deal for your mental and physical health. You may even want to look into exercise classes that will earn you credits. For example, Boston University offers everything from beginner weight lifting to marathon training so students can fit workouts into their class schedules.3. Don’t be tempted to pull all-nighters.This is admittedly easier said than done, especially during busy times like finals week. But when it comes to nurturing your mental health, prioritizing sleep is critical. “Our brains need sleep to learn, process emotions, make sense of difficult experiences, and interpret subtle signs from other people about how they’re feeling, which is important for relationships,” explains Dr. Adams. Ideally, you should try to aim for a minimum of seven hours of solid shuteye per night (we know, a tall order!)Dr. Adams recommends building your schedule around sleep, balanced eating, and classes first. “Other healthy activities can be tucked in around academic work and other obligations,” she adds. That means doing your best to plan ahead for big exams and papers, not waiting until the last minute to cram overnight.If you have roommates, Dr. Adams suggests having a chat about everyone’s schedules and establishing ground rules that protect late-night hours in your home. (For example, no loud music after 10 p.m.) While you’re at it, consider picking up some earplugs, wearing a sleep mask if needed, or listening to some form of white noise to help you get a good night’s sleep on the regular, says Dr. Adams.4. Find a self-care habit that you love.Self-care looks different for everyone, so there’s no right or wrong way to practice it. In fact, the strategies on this list—like exercise and getting enough sleep—totally count as forms of self-care. Other calming habits like journaling, meditating, crafting, reading, or even enjoying face masks with your roommates during a movie night can qualify as taking care of yourself.Regardless of how you choose to engage in self-care, know that it doesn’t need to be a picture-perfect practice. Start by slowly weaving a habit into your routine (say, about 10 minutes a day or 30 minutes a week), then note how you feel and decide if you want to adjust the time you spend on those activities.Even then, this will likely ebb and flow throughout the year, and that’s okay. “It’s important to be gentle with yourself,” says Dr. Adams. “If you miss your workout or meditation time today, you can pick it up tomorrow. Be intentional, experiment, and find what works for you.”5. Know that it’s okay to reach out for support.A major college perk is that you have all kinds of mental health resources at your fingertips. But knowing that these services are available to you and actually reaching out for help are two different things. Sometimes, it can be hard to see or admit to yourself that you’re actually grappling with a really tough problem. There are a number of ways that mental health issues can crop up for college students, including homesickness, peer pressure, and financial stressors, as well as traumatic events like sexual assault or potentially life-threatening mental health crises like eating disorders or suicidal thoughts, says Dr. Weller.

As a dietitian who works primarily with people who have eating disorders, I have a front-row seat to the body image struggles many young adults face in their college years. This period is a time when you’re developing your self-identity, which often means looking to your peers for validation. And college also marks the transition between childhood and adulthood, which brings a lot of mental, physical, and emotional changes.All of this plays into how you think and feel about your body, aka your body image. “The definition of body image is complex and multifactorial,” Khadijah Booth Watkins, MD, MPH, a psychiatrist and the associate director of the Clay Center for Young Healthy Minds at Massachusetts General Hospital, tells SELF. “In the simplest of terms, it’s how you see yourself.” But body image isn’t just what you see in the mirror, Dr. Booth Watkins adds. It also encompasses how you feel about your appearance and the image you have of yourself in your head, which may or may not line up with what other people see when they look at you.It isn’t set in stone, either. Even if your body image was pretty solid in high school, that doesn’t mean it won’t be challenged in college. “Body image is dynamic and is tremendously impacted by family, environment, peers, and media,” Alyssa Goldenberg, LMSW, a therapist at The Dorm, a mental health treatment center for young adults, tells SELF. “College can be such a volatile and difficult time for body image as impressionable young adults are learning to navigate the world independently,” Goldenberg says.Below, I consulted experts and dug into body-image research to identify some of the main reasons why your relationship with your body might be extra challenging while you’re in college—and what you can do to feel better about yourself.Know that your body will probably change during college.There are so many factors that go into someone’s body shape and size. It’s hard to generalize what rate of growth and weight gain is “normal” but the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) developmental growth charts show that most people continue to gain weight until age 20 (and perhaps beyond, but this is where the growth charts end), even though height tends to taper off in your late teens.Adjusting to a totally new food and movement routine—eating at a cafeteria instead of at home, going out more often (and maybe drinking alcohol), no longer participating in high school sports (if that was your thing), and having access to a gym for perhaps the first time—can also lead to changes in body shape and size. A meta-analysis published in 2015 in the journal BMC Obesity found that about two-thirds of college freshmen gain weight over the course of the year, and that the average increase (excluding students whose weight didn’t change) is about 7.5 pounds.These weight changes can add to the body image distress that you might already be feeling, particularly because we live in a culture that sees thinness as “ideal” and fatness as bad. But knowing that isn’t really true—and that college weight gain is totally normal—can help you be kinder to yourself and your body as you evolve throughout your time on campus.Work toward body neutrality and acceptance.Feeling great about your body when you’re also trying to stay on top of school and your social life might seem like a tall order, but that’s not necessarily the case. “A healthy body image involves having an objective perception of your appearance and an ability to separate your value as a person from the way you look,” Marcia Herrin, EdD, MPH, RDN, an eating disorder dietitian based in Lebanon, New Hampshire and the co-author of Nutrition Counseling in the Treatment of Eating Disorders, tells SELF. In other words, the goal isn’t necessarily to love how your body looks.

There’s a lot to love about college: sudden independence, late nights with new people who turn into lifelong friends, and endless opportunities to learn and grow. It can also keep you super busy—a packed schedule probably means that checking out various campus services is the last thing on your mind. But if there’s one service you use, make it your student health center.Not only will it put your health into your own hands (which may be a new thing for you), but it will help you stay on your A-game all throughout college. And if this is the first time you’ve had access to a one-stop shop for all your health needs, you may not even know everything that is available to you. In fact, when the SELF team discussed their biggest health-related college regrets, an overwhelming number of people said they wish they’d taken advantage of their campus health center.So here’s a rundown of the most important services that your student health center has to offer and why you should definitely check them out.1. You’re already paying for these health services.Here’s the thing: The cost of college includes tuition, room and board, and various student fees. Those fees generally include student health services, which means you might already be paying to access those resources. So why not make the most of it?For example, the health fee is mandatory for all students at UNC-Chapel Hill, whether or not they actually visit the health center, Ken Pittman, MHA, FACHE, executive director of campus health services at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, tells SELF. (Though 78% of students do utilize the university’s health services at least once a year, he notes). Basic services such as primary care visits, gynecology checkups, urgent care, and mental health counseling are covered under that fee, he says—so they won’t be billed to health insurance at all.As for services not covered by the student health fee? These vary at each school, but can include lab tests, like rapid flu testing, X-rays, and some procedures (for example, some campus health centers do IUD insertions and others don’t), says Pittman. These services are billed to the student’s personal health insurance, which may be required at some institutions.Remember, you can stay on your parents’ health insurance plan until you turn 26 years old, per Healthcare.gov, so you might have coverage that way. Many colleges and universities even offer students medical insurance plans, which may be another option for you. To learn more about your school’s specific health care requirements, chat with the folks at your campus health center.2. It makes it easy to schedule regular checkups.When you’ve got papers to write and classes to attend, getting annual checkups can feel like a drag. Besides, if you feel fine (save for the occasional sleepless night), do you really need routine checkups?TBH, yes. Regular checkups are a form of preventive care, which can help you identify or avoid health issues before they become bigger problems that require treatment. This involves services like routine blood tests, mental health screenings, and physical examinations, according to the US National Library of Medicine. Yes, your childhood primary care doctor, if you have one, can perform these services—but thanks to your student health center, you won’t need to wait until you’re back home to book an appointment.

Whatever positive things your body does for you, taking a minute to appreciate it, Dr. Craddock says, can help you remember that it’s so much more than what it looks like—or, rather, what you think it looks like to other people. Research also suggests that practicing gratitude may lessen body dissatisfaction, with one 2018 study in the journal Body Image showing that body-focused gratitude exercises can reduce internalized weight bias and improve body image.Remember that nobody cares all that much—and that’s a good thing.When a photo causes you to obsess about how you appear to others, it can be helpful to remember that famous truism often attributed to writer Olin Miller: You probably wouldn’t worry about what people think of you if you could know how seldom they do. “It’s important to keep in mind that most of the time, these photos won’t even be looked at more than a few times or for a few seconds, if they’re even looked at at all,” says Seegmiller. “Others aren’t nearly as interested in our appearance as we are, nor are they criticizing our appearance as harshly as we criticize ourselves.”Try putting yourself in their shoes, Seegmiller suggests: Do you pick apart photos of the people you care about, or even strangers, and obsess about them for days? In most cases, I’m guessing the answer is no. And even if you do, that’s likely about your own insecurities and not about that person’s perceived flaws, Seegmiller adds.Try to find the good in the photo.In the moment that I saw the distressing dinner party candid, I wouldn’t have been able to name a single thing I liked about it; all I saw were my “flaws.” But when I looked again, while writing this article, I could see other things: the amazing-looking food laid out on the counter; two dear friends laughing together in the background; my daughter, delirious with happiness, tugging at another friend’s shirt. My body was far from the most important or interesting thing in the photo.To help with seeing the, um, full picture, Seegmiller recommends identifying three things that you like about the photo in question, and then another three things you like about yourself that have nothing to do with appearance. That’s what I did, and I can attest that it helped me put things in perspective (how my legs look isn’t that important!) and remember the things that make me feel good about myself (I’m a great cook, a fun mom, and a great friend!).Be compassionate with yourself—feeling horrible about a photo makes sense.If you think of yourself as having “good” body image, you might feel shame about reacting negatively to a photo—it’s so trivial, right? But the fact is, appearance pressures are virtually inescapable today, and it’s only human for you to feel their effects, no matter the state of your body image.“This isn’t a problem that’s unique to you or your body—it’s a societal one,” says Dr. Craddock. “Having a negative reaction to a photo of yourself could simply serve as a reminder that societal pressures to look a certain way are really potent. It’s also worth remembering that not liking a photo doesn’t detract from any healing you’ve already done to improve your relationship with your body—and it certainly doesn’t make you a bad person.”I always feel a little knot of dread in my stomach before looking at a photo of myself (Will what I see ruin my day?), and that may always be the case. But I now know that I can learn to change my reaction once I see a photo, and that this shift in mindset just might be what allows me to create beautiful, real memories—not just photographic ones—in the moment. As Seegmiller says, “We are complex, introspective, and deep human beings having a human experience. A photo can’t, won’t, and doesn’t capture that.”If you’re struggling with an eating disorder, you can find support and resources from the National Eating Disorder Association (NEDA).Related: