What if dieting was never a thing? What if we were never exposed to changing our bodies? What if people loved us for who we were and didn’t judge firstly on our appearance? What if we were fully connected with our bodies and did what was right for them?
Imagine, living in a world where weight and shape wasn’t a thing,
Where you didn’t base your whole self worth on someone else’s opinion of you, or on the scale weight.
If you were poorly, you were still connected to your body, and you navigated it with the more softer side of compassion,
Where you felt comfortable in a rested state, not that you always had to be doing something as a way of validation.
Where people didn’t judge you based on the way you look, how you eat, how you move.
Where we communicated about more interesting things than dieting, chatted to people about things outside of their shape, their weight, where we asked how they were,
Would mental health be as big as it is? Would people live an unsatisfied life in their bodies? Would cardiovascular health be on the rise? Would overworked people in their 30s, in a normal phenotype be getting diagnosed with chronic illness? Would we communicate better? Would we be fitter? Would we actually be healthier…..
Horace Fletcher, with his chewing diet, in the early 1900’s slimmed down and made dieting a thing, and now dieting is a trend, A trend however that can cause so much suffering for many people, The impact on mental health with dieting is more prevalent than ever before, People dieting for the wrong reasons, with the wrong intention, for validation, from a place of guilt, shame, resentment, perpetuating a cycle of disordered eating patterns.
But what if we never dieted…..
Would women not feel this intense desire to always be smaller, to be leaner, Diet culture is a very toxic and damaging social expectation that tells us how we should eat and look, and that if our bodies look a certain way – we are more accepted. Promoting restriction, obsession, control around exercise & food.
But what if it never existed….
Would there be no internalised weight stigma, no weight bias, no internalised misogyny portrayed outwardly, would there be no catcalling, would there be more connection, more togetherness, more wholeheartedness, not only with others, but with ourselves.
Would you recognise more of your bodily processes, what your body does for you everyday, how it wakes up and gives you breath to breathe, how it allows you to touch those you love, to digest food, would you be more accepting of your body, more appreciating of your body, if you didn’t have the toxic trait of comparison.
What would your relationship with food be like?
Ponder on that, How would you eat? Would you wake up feeling confused and stressed about food? Would you feel guilty and ashamed about eating something you “shouldn’t”? Would you still binge? Label food as “good” or “bad”? Hate your body?
Diets promise simple and easy weight loss. Pictures of happy, thin people accompany diet propaganda. “Lose weight and life will be perfect – just eat how we tell you” is the message.
But that’s not the reality.
The reality is that dieting is a risk factor for both obesity and eating disorders.
A study in 2016, Preventing Obesity and Eating Disorders in Adolescents, of 14-15 years olds who dieted moderately were 5 times more likely to develop an eating disorder. For those who dieted severely, the risk increased to 18 times more likely. The study concluded that dieting is the most important predictor of developing an eating disorder.
And for most people, dieting started from teenagers,
But where are you now?
Jo, a client who recently came on the podcast spent 33 years dieting!
Its time to curate a narrative of; Healthy relationships with food, with your body, Of loosing weight for the right reasons, Behaviours that support longterm health, To break the notion of diet culture and reconnect back to your body, Rebuilding respect back to our hunger and fullness signals, Move our bodies for functionality, for appreciation.
I am by no means anti diet,
I am anti diet culture messaging and praying on the vulnerable. I was there. I get it!
There are many people who would benefit from loosing weight, and that’s what I specialise in,
BUT FOR THE RIGHT REASONS, WITH THE RIGHT TOOLS, THE RIGHT BEHAVIOURS, TO SUPPORT THEIR HEALTH AND WELLBEING LONG TERM.
It’s time to get off the rollercoaster, Embrace the now, Start living a life from the inside instead of living outwardly. For you.
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