Nourish YXE committee members are opening dialogue on health.

On Nov. 17 and 18, Nourish YXE is back in Saskatoon, and it’s important that you know what it is. This conference aims to raise conversations about health and wellness in a safe and positive environment.

Nourish YXE started as a group of individuals with a goal to open a safe space for body-positive, accepting conversations. Moving forward, they hope to challenge societal and social boundaries on our relationships with our bodies.

This year, Nourish YXE is challenging the flaws of body positivity with the notion of weight neutrality. Jessica Bauer- McLure, a Nourish YXE committee member, says it’s important to change the conversation, because sometimes body positivity can have a regressive effect.

“[Body positivity] exploded into this thing where now, in addition to feeling pressure from mainstream media to meet some sort of body ideal, we’re also feeling this pressure to ‘love your body,’” Bauer-McLure said. “We’re not about just adding another thing for people to fail at.”

In moving towards weight neutrality, Nourish YXE adopts the Association for Size Diversity and Health’s “Health at Every Size” principles, which focus their mission on weight inclusivity, health enhancement, respectful care, eating for well-being and life-enhancing movement.

“We’re looking at how we in society tend to moralize health. How somebody treats their own body is ultimately their own choice. As much as we support people who are aiming for health in various ways, we want to really critically look at what health means — and why, so often, people feel as though they’re judged,” Bauer-McLure said.

Community initiatives like Nourish YXE are important and necessary. While Bauer-McLure says the conference will be of particular benefit to students in nutrition, kinesiology, sociology and health-related fields, it will be an inclusive and accessible space for all those interested.

What do you think about the trend of body positivity? Is it useful for developing healthy relationships with the self, or are we treading into judgemental territory? How can we work around our various body diversities within society and our communities?

Fostering a healthy relationship with our bodies might be the last thing on our minds as academics, but is there room in our busy lives to hear the discussions that Nourish YXE is bringing to the table?

What do you think? Drop a line at thesheaf.com, or tweet with the hashtag #sheafhottakes, and let’s talk.

The Nourish YXE conference will take place at Station 20 West. Registration is open until Nov. 10, and students are eligible for reduced pricing. You can learn more and get in touch with Nourish YXE at facebook.com/NourishStoon.

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Emily Migchels / Opinions Editor

Photo: Krisjan Jude Photography / Supplied