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los angeles and remote
masha@workwithmasha.com
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your body literally functions differently under stress. - some of us aren't tuned in to how this shows up in our bodies or minds, but many do experience marked physical, emotional and cognitive symptoms. - for me, being under stress can look like: - 1. digestive disruption. stress can slow digestion, which means that i lose my appetite and that things i was fine eating last week are now a digestive challenge. i try to switch to foods that are gentler on digestion, pay extra attention to the full spectrum of my body's hunger cues* and provide digestive support where it's needed. *examples of my hunger cues: headache; lightheadedness; low energy; the idea of eating ANYTHING sounds terrible; hopelessness; and just knowing that it’s been too long since the last time i ate - 2. depression and lethargy. i know that it can be hard for me to self-motivate and i've learned to preemptively reach out to my support system for help. sometimes that looks like a phone call with a friend who lets me worry and weep, and other times it's asking for an accountability buddy--like i did in this text message (above) to @chez.balou the other day. - 3. heightened sensitivity. my nervous system's cup is FULL right now -- so the heavy social media use and adrenaline-filled dramatic tv shows that my nervous system could manage last week are now too much, and can lead to anxiety or panic. - it can be scary and frustrating to have to make these kinds of adjustments. but it can also feel tender to be attuned to your body and have the flexibility to honor its needs. - how have your body's needs changed this week? what changes are you making? how does that feel? what support do you need? tell me in the comments! 💛

it's ok to not feel ok right now. - no matter how well-stocked your house. no matter how (relatively) stable your financial situation. no matter how extensive your support network. no matter how good your health. - even those of us who are well-resourced are struggling at the moment. many of us have nervous systems that hold rich histories of trauma & fear, and despite the reconnective & reparenting work that many of us have done, in the face of this degree of stress it can feel like we're shifting into a previous version of ourselves. - i promise that that backsliding feeling is not forever. i promise that the work you've done, the strides you've made, the tools you've developed to heal you are still there. - gratitude is important. seeing the opportunity in the tragedy is beneficial. but ultimately, the kindest thing we can do for ourselves is to hold space without judging, minimizing, or pushing away feelings of overwhelm & fear. - for many of us, trying to tell ourselves it'll be ok when we're in a moment of crisis or overwhelm feels like gaslighting; even if we cognitively know that things will be alright our nervous systems may believe otherwise. so i’d like to share with you the language i’ve been using for a while to guide & support my nervous system during times of panic & helplessness. (you may want to write your own script.) - "you spent your life receiving information that indicated you weren't safe. first it was from your family, and from your environment growing up. then it was from the beliefs about yourself that formed from the original cues. you didn't have knowledge or resources to move away from danger & toward safety, to learn to regulate & thrive. and while you still have these old neural pathways that make you feel in the present like you're in the danger of the past, they are the original messages refracted through the ways in which your body has learned to hold your fear. the danger is no longer real. it is ok to still feel like it is, because it's what you know, but it's also ok to move toward new beliefs that you will be ok. ps healing isn't linear, so some days will be worse than others; try not to let that pull you into the vortex."

i don’t need to tell you that we’re living in a stressful & confusing moment. if you are dealing with recovery from an eating disorder or disordered eating, please know that now is an *especially* important time to support your system & manage your stress. - worry about money & food access -- both currently affecting many folks in a significant way -- can be a major trigger for disordered eating habits to flare. when our nervous systems are overwhelmed they do what they can to maintain stability -- and unfortunately, if we don’t have the tools to mitigate that overwhelm, we're liable to get caught in the riptide of coping mechanisms that no longer serve us. - seven years ago my eating disorder was in remission when suddenly & traumatically & profoundly & expensively my cat got sick. i turned to old coping mechanisms; i turned to a focus on food & on my body to try to regain a sense of control. - i spiralled back into anorexia, bulimia & workout addiction, and it took me two years to right the ship; i’m lucky that it didn’t take longer, and that i’ve since been able to address the underlying issues that made me susceptible to relapse in the face of stress & trauma. - now is the time to support our inner children. be gentle, have compassion. focus on communicating safety to your nervous system. make sure you eat. make sure you eat enough. make sure you hydrate. make sure you move your body, gently, for the sake of nothing more than moving & connecting. when you experience emotional discomfort, hold space for it with curiosity & patience. social distancing is for our bodies, not our spirits; don’t forget to reach out to your community. take a break from social media accounts or tv shows that amplify your brain chatter. remember to breathe. - folks who are in a position to help will do what we can, so use the comments to tell me what kind of support you need right now. we’re all in this together 💛

HEALTH is something that’s yours. it is not the adjective that describes it; it is what your body needs and does, the aggregate of certain measurable markers (like blood pressure, liver & kidney function or blood sugar regulation) with how you feel in your body and about your lived experience. - HEALTHFUL has traditionally applied to things that promote health, like hydration, stress management and eating nutrient-rich foods. but over time, “healthful” has been replaced with the term “healthy”--and here's why that's a problem. - on its own, HEALTHY technically means to possess good health. but in practice, it gets assigned based on an unclear set of standards, by anyone with an opinion. and “healthy” & “unhealthy” don't stop at describing a state of health; they're also used to refer to how we and others look, feel & eat and what we do. - many of the assumed indicators of health we label as healthy (or not) don't come from medicine, but from diet culture & beauty culture, adopted into a wellness shorthand. moreover, the average person has been taught to feel empowered and entitled to do this labelling, not only of themselves but of others--which is a product of diet culture as well. - because health is so multifaceted and what is healthful is so individualized, the terms HEALTHY and UNHEALTHY don't mean anything concrete. at best, they are unhelpful and at worst they are harmful. - we need to push back on the normalization of categorizing people in ways that we are neither qualified to nor should be concerned with. stopping & thinking about what we actually mean when our instinct is to use the terms "healthy" and "unhealthy" is how we start challenging this programming. - questions? leave a comment! 👇

when boys and men see and hear womxn talking about their own and each others' bodies--praising certain bodies while criticizing or ignoring others--how will they learn to not do the same? - when girls and womxn hear these boys and men commenting on their bodies, what will prepare them to reject the narrative? - break the cycle. don't comment on bodies.

diet culture did not start with science and work its way into popular culture -- it moved in the opposite direction. given that fact, it's unsurprising that diet culture is medically unsound. - for example: - dieting often causes weight cycling - weight cycling can cause insulin resistance - insulin resistance increases the risk of type 2 diabetes - yet dieting is what's prescribed to reduce your risk of type 2 diabetes - isn't dieting important if you're overweight, you may be wondering? that's what we've been told by doctors, taught in school, heard from our families and friends and colleagues, seen on talk shows, and definitely what's been modeled in mainstream entertainment. - the answer is NO. not only do 97% of dieters regain their lost weight (and then some) but the relationship between weight and health is correlative, *not* causative; that means your weight in and of itself is not a negative health outcome. - medicine is fatphobic; the same eating disorder behaviors that are guarded against in smaller bodies (when they are screened for at all) are condoned for larger bodies. whether western or holistic, most wellness practitioners (including me) were taught that weight was a super important measure of health -- and it's really, really not. - the good news is that many of us have been learning the anti-diet and health at every size paradigms that allow us to provide comprehensive, compassionate and medically sound care to our patients, regardless of their body size. - by the way, a big part of how you actually reduce the risk of type 2 diabetes is keeping your blood sugar regulated--and that's done by eating, not starving, and by learning to hear your body's hunger and fullness cues 💛

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