Is Body Static Drowning Out Your Intuition?

Written by Vania Phitidis
Peaceful Eating Coach
Last updated on 21 October 2024

One primary need we have as human beings, is a sense of belonging. Belonging to a family, group, tribe, culture, religion, nation, belief system etc.

On a primal level, when we belong, our chances of survival massively increase – and not simply our survival as individuals – belonging protects the species too.

Because the group will:

• protect us from danger
• provide a pool of suitable mates
• provide opportunities for procreation
• help us raise our young
• share resources
• cooperate for maximum survival chances
• help us in times of need etc.

The advertising industry exploits that need. It creates a sense of lack of enoughness so that we’ll buy whatever product they’re selling, which will remedy the perceived lack and guarantee our belonging.

When we belong, we’re accepted. We fit like a puzzle piece.

And it means we survive.

Body static

Although it’s tempting, this blog isn’t about the perils of the advertising industry and how it makes it extremely difficult for people to maintain their sense of self-worth in the face of exposure to marketing messages anywhere between 250 – 3000 times a day. Some estimates are as high as 20 000!

What this blog is about instead, is the effect that body static has on our intuition – our ability to tune into our bodies and hear our own voice about what, when and how much to eat or exercise.

You’re probably wondering what body static actually is!

Can you remember the days of analog radio? Remember tuning to a station? Here’s a little refresher if memory escapes you (or you’re too young to know!). That buzzing or hissing sound between stations or even when you’re tuned to the correct frequency but don’t get clear sound, is called static. Basically, it’s interference on the signal.

Essentially body static is interference that originates outside of you but shows up on your radio (in other words it’s internalised) and disrupts your internal signals.

Some examples of body static:

• over-exposure to images of idealised, unrealistic (for 95% of people) and often unnatural body shapes and sizes in magazines, newspapers, online and in print; on social media, TV, billboards, in movies as well as the majority of store-front mannequins… in other words – practically everywhere.
• persistent conversations about cellulite, ‘love-handles’, ‘saddle-bags’ and ‘dimply’ knees – in the work environment, at parties, over coffee with friends, in the gym…
• conversations in school playgrounds, bathrooms and changing rooms where kids compare, criticise and tease those with big bodies, very thin bodies, the ones with knobbly knees and the ones with pigeon toes; the ones with red hair, curly hair, big breasts, small ones, stretch marks, big or small penises… indeed any feature that stands out – or just because…
• commentary in the media on women in the public eye (be they politicians, scientists, actresses or musicians) very often involves commentary on their bodies, clothing, make-up or hair-style.
• female athletes face the same thing – disproportionately to male athletes.
• the unavailability of your clothing size in high street (for non-UK-folks, regular, non-specialist) shops.
• the conflation in both the media and the medical world of health and thinness.
• tabloid obsession with and scrutiny of the changing body shapes of celebrities – it’s front cover news!
• changed your profile picture on social media recently? How many Likes and Comments did you get about your appearance?

And there’s more!

This noise or static lends itself to a looong list of ‘shoulds’ and ‘have tos’ with regard to our bodies. If we meet those shoulds and have tos – we believe we belong. If it seems ‘everyone out there’ has or is striving to have the particular body shape that is desired, and you’re not, you will be swimming against the current. And those who swim against the current appear to not belong to the current.

Is this making sense?

Body static disrupts your intuition

If your mind is cluttered with messages about how your body should be in order for you to measure up to cultural expectations and to belong, you will be trying to force it into a different shape. To do this, you’ll likely:

• set up rules about what, when and how much to eat
• start tracking calories and/or grams of macros
• decide on how much and what type of exercise you must do in order to achieve the body you believe will guarantee your belonging
• ignore your hunger
• eat things because of their weight loss/ fat burning/ muscle building potential, not because you enjoy them
• eat everything you’re ‘allowed’ even if you’re full or don’t want any more food, because you won’t be able to eat again for x many hours according to the new rule book.
• over-ride your need for rest, relaxation and fun because you ‘have to’ exercise, or you’re too hungry and weak to participate
• avoid situations that make it harder to stick to your regime – even if it means missing out on human connection with friends and family, that you actually want

Whereas if you were following your intuition…

You would:

• eat when you’re hungry
• stop when you’re satisfied
• eat whatever you want to eat in that moment, without judging yourself or the food – regardless of the nutritional components of that food
• rest when you’re tired
• move your body because bodies are made to move and you enjoy moving your body
• engage with physical activity in a way that makes you feel strong, enlivened, connected, joyful – or whatever feeling it gives you that you want to experience
• accept your body’s genetic blueprint and allow it to be the shape it’s meant to be
• go out and enjoy spending time with friends and family if that’s what you’re called to do

The truth about belonging

Since all of this stems from the exploitation of our need to belong – I think it’s helpful to look at what is true about it. Although the need for belonging is a true and primal one, how we come to know we belong is something we can decide.

So ask yourself:

• is there a certain way I need to be, look or have in order to belong (or be accepted, if that word resonates more with you)?
• who decided that?
• on whose authority/ according to whose rule book?
• do I agree/ consent?
• is it true? (remembering that it needs to be a fact to be true, and it needs to always be true and to apply to everyone. If there are exceptions, it can’t be true; it’s then an opinion or assumption)

Consider this too:

If you’re human, you belong to the class of homo sapiens – this is true whatever your race, religion, height, body shape, sexual orientation, hair or eye colour. It is true if you’ve committed a crime, lied, cheated or purposefully hurt others.

You belong because you are breathing. You are here. That is all that’s needed.

Clearing the way for you to hear yourself

You get to choose what you want for yourself, where you will put your attention, what you will practice and what you want your life to mean.

If what you want is peace with food and your body, then it’ll really help to seek out an eliminate the body static that is drowning out your intuition about what, when and how much to eat and exercise for your unique body at this moment.

Actions you can take:

• curate your social media by unfollowing anything or anyone the promotes unrealistic, or idealised bodies;
• curate your social media by unfollowing anyone or anything the promotes restrictive ways of eating even if they say it’s ‘for your health;’
• remove yourself from conversations that revolve around diets, detoxes, comparing bodies in any way and body shaming of any sort;
• stop buying tabloids;
• stop buying magazines that make money by exploiting your fear of not belonging;
• stop posting pictures of yourself on social media if you even vaguely suspect that you crave other people’s approval of your appearance. Post about your experiences, people you’re with, sunsets, your dog… but keep your face and body out of it until you really don’t care who says what about how you look. Be honest with yourself.
• practice seeing bodies simply as bodies; notice and let go of judgements (‘positive’ or ‘negative’)
• Tweet, email, post on Facebook complaints to the media when you notice commentary on people’s bodies or appearance that really have nothing to do with why they’re being interviewed/ featured.

I’m sure you can think of other things too – I’d love you to share your ideas with me.