4E - Jackson Hole Woman JACKSON HOLE NEWS&GUIDE, Wednesday, October 20, 2021
MEG POTTER / NEWS&GUIDE PHOTOS
Tanya Mark is a non-diet nutrition and body image coach. “My clients are women who are badass,” she said. “But this piece really holds them back, this piece that we spend so much time and energy on that we could be using to live.”
Body image can be ‘life thief’ Body image pros want to wean women from unrealistic expectations.
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By Jeannette Boner
e’ve all been there. Standing in front of the mirror, pulling at our clothes that seem to stick a little too tightly to our stomachs or arms. Changing out three or four outfits before leaving for the day. Eating a nice lunch out with co-workers while secretly promising ourselves we’ll run an extra 3 miles later or skip dinner that night. “It’s really easy to get sucked into this kind of thinking,” said Mary Ryan, a Jackson-based certified eating disorder specialist through the International Association of Eating Disorder Professionals. “We fixate on whether our pants fit too tightly, or we are constantly asking, ‘Am I getting my heart rate up?’ That mismatch between what we are doing and what is expected of us, it’s real and it can be really difficult to break that cycle of self deprecation.” Women’s issues can hardly be talked about without shedding some sort of light on the relationship — often fraught — that women have with their bodies. What is healthy? What is culturally prominent and acceptable? Here, two body positive professionals talk about this tension. The diet industry preys on weaknesses. Scrolling through social media platforms, users are bombarded with ads promising a “new way to eat,” “cleanses for the health conscious” and, of course, the more overt “lose weight now!” “The pandemic created massive body image issues,” said Tanya Mark, a nutrition therapy practitioner and eating psychology coach in Jackson. “The changes in our lifestyles caused by the pandemic
turned us upside down, and the diet cul- ies. Even walking the dog can become a ture clamped down. They are spending hike up Munger Mountain instead of a massive amounts of money on diet meth- stroll through the park. ods, and this kind of advertising ramped “My work is really about helping our up tenfold during the pandemic. It’s not community to build community around our fault that we feel compelled to click the practice of separating what our body on the ‘lose weight’ button. We want to fit looks like from what is fitness and health,” into our culture around here.” Mark said. “And that is not easy, and it is Mark is a non-diet nutrition and body difficult to do alone. We are constantly image coach in Jackson working to un- bombarded with these images of perfectangle individuals from the self-deprecat- tion. When you consider that less than ing web of society’s definition of bodily 5% of women have this perfect ideal of perfection. She believes strongly that it what a body should look like while socitakes a community to reclaim a holistic ety tries to sell us this perfection, it’s really approach to health hard on all of us. I and wellness. Ryan think first we need is a licensed clinical to educate and cresocial worker and ate awareness and registered dietitian shift our thinking nutritionist with a from the idea that Master of Science what you are seedegree in foods and ing in the mirror nutrition. is not the probWhile she and lem. The problem Ryan operate difis the perfect culferent practices in tural ideals that are — Tanya Mark more prominent in Jackson, both are committed and NON-DIET NUTRITION AND BODY IMAGE COACH the Jackson area.” passionate advoIn January, cates working to CNBC reported defend and reclaim our health against the that 45 million people in the United States untold damage that dieting and the cul- pursue weight loss programs. “Diet and ture of dieting leave in their wake. weight loss have grown to be a $71 billion “We’re off swimming in this toxic industry, yet according to studies — 95% pool of what our bodies are supposed to of diets fail,” read the report. be like,” Ryan said. “I’ve had a lot of my Ryan, like many of us, moved to the own issues with food at different times in Tetons for the love of the big landscapes my life. I remember the first time I heard and endless adventures. And while so the term ‘muffin top,’ and I had all these much of the Jackson lifestyle is found in mixed emotions. These kinds of terms can pursuit of the mountaintop experience, send people spiraling.” Ryan slowly peeled away some of the All of that is easier said than done in darker realities of Jackson’s “healthy” Jackson, where post-powder day debriefs lifestyles. are epic stories of how high and how deep “We don’t understand how it’s impactthe snow was that day. Trail runs are not ing us,” she said of the high pursuit of the meandering walks through the woods but ultimate Jackson lifestyle modeled by instead often a means to push back on uber athletes and the bodily perfection what aging is naturally doing to our bod- that follows. “And what is that costing
“It’s not our fault that we feel compelled to click on the ‘lose weight’ button. We want to fit into our culture around here.”
us? What is the cost of you not beating yourself up, juggling kids, work and everything else, because you didn’t get up Glory? I think awareness of what we trade off is just a process of all that we have to go through. You don’t figure out your body image problems and live happily ever after.” Ryan explains on her website, “Beyond Broccoli,” that her mission “has always been to guide and support you toward nutrition changes for health and well-being. I have expanded this mission with my additional therapy skills for us to work together towards any lifestyle changes that help you make your life better.” Mark is also sounding the alarm on diet culture and specifically where it seeps into the Jackson culture. She said the diet industry has changed the way it uses certain terms. “Clean,” “detox” — those words are really the same as the word “diet,” Mark said. “My clients are women who are badass,” Mark said. “But this piece really holds them back, this piece that we spend so much time and energy on that we could be using to live. It’s what Christy Harrison calls the ‘life thief.’ We change our clothes three times before we think about going out, and then we just don’t go out. Or you don’t take your daughter to the Rec Center because you are uncomfortable in your bathing suit. We are smart, successful women, but this piece, this way of seeing our bodies as less than perfect, can be crushing and hold us back. That is where we need to do this work collectively.” “We have so much more power collectively as a group,” she said. Mark hosts group workshops that bring clients together to share struggles and triumphs where body image, health and well-being intersect. “This is about reclaiming our health back from diet culture. I really encourage our community See BODY IMAGE on 5E
