Making Peace With Your Pandemic Body

Over the past year, our habits and routines have transformed. It's no surprise our bodies have, too.

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By Paola de Varona, Associate News Editor This week, Latinx Heritage Month is coming to a close. I personally celebrated the month by indulging in iconic clips and admiring reggaeton artist Bad Bunny's Allure cover photoshoot.   Over at Verywell, we heard from Latinx writers each week about everything from how the community balances herbal remedies and modern medicine to the ways teachers are struggling with their mental health amid school reopenings.   For our final piece, one writer explores how Latinas everywhere have experienced a reckoning with their relationships to their bodies and eating habits throughout the pandemic. Today's Top Story How COVID Helped Latinas Confront Body Image Issues The pandemic has transformed many of our habits and routines. We sit more, walk less, and have found new ways to cope (like emotional eating).   It's no surprise our bodies have undergone a period of adjustment, too. "I never thought about how my body would change because of the ways I changed," Natalia M. Pérez-Gonzalez writes.   For many Latinas, COVID shutdowns placed a strain on relationships with their bodies.   In the Latinx community, diet culture can start really young. Nathalia Parra, 26, first became aware of her weight in the second grade, when she felt too big for her school uniform. Her mom, in turn, told her she shouldn't be eating pizza at school.   The pandemic only exacerbated that fraught connection between families' comments, self-esteem, and eating. Pérez-Gonzalez caught herself becoming overly self-critical and obsessive about tracking her eating patterns.   But as our lives slowly start to get back into a rhythm, people are showing themselves grace. Some are tossing clothes that no longer fit. Others are going back to old physical hobbies, like dancing, that make them feel whole.   "I'm reminding myself that my body carried me through one of the most tumultuous years of my life. It deserves to be honored and cherished," Pérez-Gonzalez writes. Know More Statistics from a Mental Health Foundation poll in 2019 show that negative body image can affect people of all ages. And it can even trigger feelings of anxiety, depression, and shame. Feel Better Mental healthcare professionals have seen their clients turn to maladaptive coping mechanisms this year. If you're prone to eating disorders or body image issues, taking control over your weight or eating can unfurl in an unhealthy way.   "I always tell my clients: thoughts are not facts," says Jacqueline Guevara, DSW, LSCW, a licensed clinical social worker in Arlington, Virginia. "Do not believe the first thing that pops into your head. A lot of times our body image issues or eating disorders are spurred on by dysfunctional thinking.'" READ MORE If you've experienced changes in your body throughout the pandemic, know you're not alone. An American Psychological Association survey found that nearly half of U.S. adults experienced undesired weight gain. Some even experienced undesired weight loss. This Latina OB-GYN Takes Her Lessons to TikTok Ali Rodriguez, MD, also known as The Latina Doc, has mastered the art of being online by answering questions, discrediting misinformation, and sharing invaluable tips to her 1.4 million followers on TikTok. On Rodriguez's page, no issue is too taboo to be addressed. And she manages to join in on the app's latest trends and dances, too. She spoke to Verywell about some of the challenges her Latinx patients face and how she's breaking across these barriers. READ MORE Neighborhood Botánicas Play a Healing Role During COVID Ever seen a Botánica on your block? These shops have a history of flourishing in Latinx communities selling a variety of herbs, as well as religious candles and other products meant for physical and spiritual healing. Our writer takes us inside a Botánica based in Tucson, Arizona—where storegoers share how the remedies they find in these stores complement modern medicine.   "When we're talking about spiritual healing, it's not only looking at the physical manifestations of illness on the body but also the spiritual, the emotional, the communal, the familial," says Michelle González Maldonado, PhD, dean of The University of Scranton's College of Arts and Sciences in Pennsylvania, who has studied religion and culture in the Caribbean. READ MORE   Eating nutritious foods shouldn't come at the expense of your culture. Malena Perdomo, RDN, a registered dietitian and certified diabetes educator in Denver, Colorado, shares how you should embrace your cultural staples instead. I encourage people to get rid of the mentality that certain foods, like tortillas, for example, are 'bad' and that they can't have them. There's a lot of misinformation and dieting obsession, even within our own culture. It hurts a lot of people, my profession, and what we do. Malena Perdomo, RDN Registered dietitian and certified diabetes educator in Denver, Colorado   Keep Reading   ■ An Unvaccinated Man Met a Doctor at a Bar. He Left Agreeing to Get His First Dose. The Washington Post     ■ Kansas Has Become a Beacon for Abortion Access. Next Year, That Could Disappear. The 19th     ■ A Doctor Watched 'Squid Game' and Diagnosed Every Gruesome Injury. Men's Health More From Verywell How Alcohol Affects Blood Pressure READ MORE Can I Get a Flu Shot While Sick? READ MORE What Is Broken Heart Syndrome? READ MORE   How'd we do? 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