Dieting doesn’t work. 95% of diets fail, and that has nothing to do with you. The diets are the problem and are extremely harmful to us physically, emotionally, and psychologically. Many of us are told we need to diet to lose weight so we can be “healthier”, but dieting ends up doing more damage.
What is a diet?
I literally just Googled the word “diet” and this was the definition given: to restrict oneself to small amounts or special kinds of food in order to lose weight.
One key word I really want you to focus on: RESTRICT.
So at the core, most of us define the word diet as restricting ourselves. Or making ourselves smaller in an effort to lose weight.
Our team here at Find Food Freedom® has reclaimed the word “diet.”
What does this mean exactly?
It means that we have reframed how we define “diet.” Rather than associating this word with diet culture implications of restriction and weight loss, we define diet as any food that we eat or drink. Doing so is a crucial first step in rejecting the diet mentality.
What is diet culture?
We have to be aware of what diet culture really is, the harm that dieting causes and our own beliefs about diets.
Shoutout to Christy Harrison for her incredible definition of diet culture. She defines diet culture as a system of beliefs that:
- Worships thinness and equates it to health and moral virtue
- which means you can spend your whole life thinking you’re irreparably broken just because you don’t look like the impossibly thin “ideal.”
- Promotes weight loss as a means of attaining higher status
- which means you feel compelled to spend a massive amount of time, energy, and money trying to shrink your body, even though the research is very clear that almost no one can sustain intentional weight loss for more than a few years.
- Demonizes certain ways of eating while elevating others
- which means you’re forced to be hyper-vigilant about your eating, ashamed of making certain food choices, and distracted from your pleasure, your purpose, and your power.
- Oppresses people who don’t match up with its supposed picture of “health”
- which disproportionately harms women, femmes, trans folks, people in larger bodies, people of color, and people with disabilities, damaging both their mental and physical health.
DIET CULTURE IS A LIFE THIEF!
Think about what diet culture has robbed from you. Is it time, money, memories, happiness?
Diets are damaging, and spoiler alert: DIETS DON’T WORK.
But remember my friend, you are NOT a failure. You have the power to reclaim your life from diet culture. Finding food freedom is possible.
So how can we reject the diet mentality that we have been taught?
Four Steps to Reject the Diet Mentality:
- Recognize and acknowledge the damage that dieting causes
- Be aware of diet mentality traits and thinking
- Get rid of dieter’s tools
- Be compassionate towards yourself
Step One: Recognize & Acknowledge the Damage That Dieting Causes
- Your body doesn’t know the difference between you on a deserted island or going on a diet. It just knows that you are starving.
Step Two: Be Aware of Diet Mentality’s Traits and Thinking
- Reflect on how willpower, rigid rules, and fatphobia may be influencing your relationship with food.
Step Three: Get Rid of Dieter’s Tools
- Scales, calorie counting apps, diet plans – these all interfere with your ability to listen your body’s natural hunger and fullness cues.
Step Four: Be Compassionate Towards Yourself
- Give yourself grace throughout this process.
There is no ” willpower ” in intuitive eating.
You cannot “fail” at intuitive eating.
Every set back and struggle is another opportunity to learn more about yourself.
Want to learn more about intuitive eating?
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