BE REAL is changing a culture that isn’t working for any body.

BE REAL’s MISSION

We’re spreading body confidence across the entire USA, so every child can grow up with a healthy relationship to food and their body.

BE REAL is a nonprofit that links people in local communities, businesses, and government with opportunities to change our culture that isn’t working for any one’s body image today. 

We live in a time and place obsessed with appearance. Today’s social media—where so many young people edit and curate their own images—has created a culture where 77% of adolescents don’t feel comfortable in their own skin (Milton et al., 2021). Our children feel “flawed in comparison” to “perfect looking” images they see on Instagram, TikTok, and other visual social media (Jiotsa et al., 2021). Young people’s body dissatisfaction contributes to serious mental health problems, like eating disorders, depression, isolation, anxiety, risky sexual behavior, substance abuse, and low self-esteem (Stice & Shaw, 2002; McLean et al., 2022; Perkins & Brausch, 2019; Fergus et al., 2019; Bornioli et al., 2019; Paxton et al., 2006).

Our children’s focus on their bodies—how they appear to others, what measurements they need to meet, and what to feed them — has become an overwhelming distraction in their lives. It steals their time and energy because they spend so much of that time and energy focused on how they look. What could they do or how could they grow if they had all that time back? Research shows that children who grow up body confident have better physical and mental health, perform better in and out of school, and are more likely to fulfill their unique potential.

HOW TO GET INVOLVED

 BE REAL’s BodyKind™

High School Curriculum

BE REAL created BodyKind™ to provide an research-based, tested high school body image curriculum to address the needs of today’s students. This 4-lesson curriculum for high school, health or advisory class.  

Get our BodyKind curriculum.

BE REAL’s Ambassador Program

BE REAL Ambassadors give BE REAL’s Body Confident Schools and Body Confident Kids presentations on body confidence to the adults (educators and parents) in children’s lives. Our participants learn where our thinking and behavior needs to be shifted due to problems our “diet culture” mentality has caused.  Participants learn how to create mentally healthier, more body confident spaces for children.

Learn more about our Ambassador Program.

Be Generous

Donate now to support BE REAL’s mission. Your tax-deductible donation goes directly to trainings and materials for teachers. We have other exciting giving opportunities for funding larger projects with potential for greater impact. Be generous and make a donation to BE REAL today!