Latest news with #healthyrelationship
Yahoo
3 days ago
- Health
- Yahoo
We grew up with food rules, guilt and shame. Our kids don't have to.
Diet culture is everywhere, often putting people in a perpetual cycle of restricting what they eat to try to lose weight, then indulging after feeling deprived, followed by heaps of guilt and shame — and then repeat. Whether parents realize it or not, those internalized messages many of us picked up while growing up — from unhealthy food rules to body dissatisfaction — can be passed down to our children if we're not paying attention. In the fourth episode of their podcast After Bedtime With Big Little Feelings, Big Little Feelings founders Deena Margolin, a child therapist specializing in interpersonal neurobiology, and Kristin Gallant, a parenting coach with a background in maternal and child education, along with Gallant's husband Tyler, discuss how diet culture shaped their own relationships with food and their bodies and how harmful those negative messages can be. For Yahoo's column , Gallant shares four ways parents can help break the cycle of diet culture and raise kids to have a healthy relationship with food and their bodies. For many of us, food wasn't just food — it was rules, guilt, restriction and confusion. Maybe you grew up watching your parents do SlimFast or Jenny Craig, talk about 'cheat days' or cut carbs before vacation. Maybe you were told to finish your plate, and then told to 'watch your attitude' in the same breath. Maybe you lived in a house where all the 'fun food' was off limits, so you snuck it when you could, eating in secret. Or maybe, like so many, you absorbed the quiet, relentless message: Your body isn't good enough unless it's smaller. For Deena, this turned into an eating disorder. For Kristin, it meant years of hating her bigger body. For Tyler, it was the shame of sneaking 'forbidden' foods at friends' houses. Diet culture was the air we breathed. And now, we're trying to raise kids in clean air. But how do you undo decades of conditioning while parenting in real time? Here are four concrete steps you can take. We were handed a script: Be smaller. Eat less. Look 'good.' Don't take up too much space. Today, we're writing a new one. We want our kids to have a relationship with food that's grounded in trust, joy and respect. We want them to move their bodies because it feels good, not to punish themselves. We want them to know, deep in their bones, that all bodies are good bodies. That starts by recognizing how we were shaped, so we can choose something different. You don't have to throw out nutrition to break up with diet culture. You can serve a variety of foods without labeling them 'good' or 'bad.' You can offer structure, like set mealtimes and cues that the kitchen is closing, without control or scarcity. You can also teach kids how different foods help them feel energized, focused and strong — without tying their worth to what's on their plate. This isn't about 'perfection.' It's about consistency, balance and a safe emotional environment around food. We want our kids to feel confident around food. Not obsessive or ashamed. Just … free. That means: Talking about food as fuel. Which foods help us feel strong, full and focused? Letting food be fun sometimes, without making it special or off-limits. Keeping food neutral. Food isn't a reward. It's also not a punishment or a bribe. It's just food. When the pressure is off, kids learn to listen to their bodies and trust them. Let's teach our kids that movement isn't about 'burning off' anything. It's about coming home to your body and feeling alive in it. So run because it clears your mind. Dance because it's fun. Stretch because your body deserves care. That shift? It's powerful. It tells our kids: 'Your body isn't a project. It's a gift.' Here's what we know: Body image isn't just shaped by what your kids hear; it's also shaped by what they see. When they see us treating our bodies with respect — feeding them, moving them, resting them — they learn to do the same. When they see us existing in photos, wearing the swimsuit, eating the cake, being present … they learn that worthiness isn't conditional. Let's build homes where all bodies belong. Where the goal isn't thinness — it's wholeness.
CTV News
15-05-2025
- Entertainment
- CTV News
Cassie Ventura and Alex Fine's powerful love story is rooted in a shared adversity
Cassie Ventura has Sean 'Diddy' Combs to thank, in part, for finding the true love of her life. Ventura's husband, Alex Fine, was Combs' personal trainer before he became Ventura's trainer, which led to them falling in love. The two wed in 2019, after her tumultuous relationship with Combs played out, off and on, between 2007 and 2018. Based on their social media posts and interviews, the relationship Fine and Ventura share is in direct contrast to the horror she says she suffered at the hands of Combs. As she has testified about those allegations in the federal sex-trafficking trial against Combs this week, Ventura's husband has been in court supporting her, much like he vowed to do in an open letter he shared on social media in 2019. 'I promise you that I will do every single thing in my power to support you and help you,' he wrote at the time. 'I promise that you will never be alone. I promise that you will be loved beyond expectation and we will show our children how to be in a healthy relationship.' Cassie Ventura and Alex Fine Cassie Ventura and Alex Fine in 2022. (Johnny Nunez/WireImage/Getty Images/File via CNN Newsource) Loving 'Poonie' Fine has a nickname he utilizes as his social media handle on Instagram. 'I'm Alex to everyone, but to close friends I'm 'Poonie,' a nickname I've had since I was young,' he told Zero magazine. In Fine, Ventura found a man who could sympathize with the violence she has said she was subjected to by Combs. Attorneys for Combs have said the violence in his relationship with Ventura was 'mutual.' In a March 2020 post on his Almost Home site, Fine explained why he chose to run a 50-mile marathon to raise money for his domestic violence charity, inspired by experiences his beloved mother had suffered. 'When I got the news that my mom had been the victim of domestic abuse and violence, I really didn't know how to handle it,' he wrote at the time. Fine said his 'anger' over the abuse is mother endured deeply affected him. 'I didn't want to give in to those paralyzing feelings,' he wrote. 'So, I decided to channel my anger and feelings of helplessness by running fifty miles to bring awareness and hopefully raise some money for other victims of domestic violence.' That type of sensitivity was on hand when he proposed to Ventura in 2019. 'I knew that Alex was designing a ring, but I honestly wasn't expecting a super elaborate proposal because we already had the wedding date set, but he planned such a beautiful experience for me,' she told Vogue. 'I was so surprised!' A cowboy at heart, the trainer turned model and actor was on location with the Compton Cowboys and asked Ventura to meet him for what turned out to be a surprise proposal. 'He told me to come ready because we were driving straight to dinner to celebrate my birthday early that night as my family was coming into town,' she recalled. 'I was running a little late, so he called me to check in.' Ventura said she heard a Stevie Wonder song playing and spotted 'the guys on their horses waving at me.' 'I looked up and saw our initials tied up above them, then Alex came around on his horse. When he got down on one knee, everything just stopped,' she told the publication. 'I felt like I lost my sense of hearing; I just saw his mouth moving, and he said 'I want to spend the rest of my life with you.'' They then went to Playa del Rey, where Fine had arranged for two of their friends to set up dinner and a bonfire on the beach. 'I will never forget how special Alex made me feel that night,' Ventura said. 'Being a dad and husband is the greatest thing I've ever done' Fine has continued to show Ventura that she is unrivaled in his affection. They are the parents of two daughters, Frankie 5, and Sunny, 3. Ventura is due to give birth to their third child soon. 'I'm a father, husband, and actor,' he told Zero. 'Family and work take the most importance and focus in my life. I became the man I am today a lot from the environment I grew up in. My mom and dad are the best.' 'Being a dad and husband is the greatest thing I've ever done and I don't know how I got to be so blessed,' Fine said. Ventura has returned the praise. In honor of Father's Day last year, she shared a series of photos and video of Fine. 'There is just no one like you,' Ventura wrote in the caption. Fine paid a public tribute to his wife on their third wedding anniversary. 'I'm so lucky that I got to marry my best friend and most beautiful wife in the world. Every morning I wake up and see you and the babies I get so happy,' he wrote in the caption of a series of wedding photos. On Wednesday, Fine appeared stoic as he left the Manhattan courthouse of the Combs trial, where his wife has spent more than eight hours testifying so far about her troubled past relationship with the embattled music industry vet. 'She's holding up strong,' Douglas Wigdor, Ventura's attorney, told reporters outside court. When asked how Ventura's husband was doing, he said, 'put yourself in his shoes.' Combs has pleaded not guilty to charges that include racketeering conspiracy, sex trafficking and transportation to engage in prostitution. His defense team has said they may call Fine to the stand to testify. A challenge he and Ventura will likely get through, together.
