The number one question I always get asked when it comes to food is “how do I get to the point where I’m not constantly thinking about food and getting rid of the good/bad title that comes with diet culture?”. The answer is that it can take awhile to get to this point and can be a complicated process. We need to ask ourselves why we make food choices. When it comes to giving food a “good” or “bad” title we want instead to switch the language to eat more of and eat less of. Never ever restrict! Don’t think of subtracting things from your diet, but instead think of adding in more healthy options. We’re talking about loading up those plates with fruits and veggies. That way when you get to the eat less category you are less likely to binge on those items since you will be more full from the eat more category. We are conditioned by friends, family, and society as a whole to constantly think we need to restrict ourselves to be able to achieve our health goals. Restriction will always lead to binging. I’m going to tell you now that it is not easy to get to the point of trusting yourself that it is okay to eat the donut and not feel bad that you did. This feeling can also come from our past and how we were raised. As women we have always had to fight for ourselves because we are used to fuel patriarchal capitalism and that’s all we are seen as from a society view point. In short, make babies for the workforce.
Almost everything we do is based on what society tells us to do and not how we actually feel. Most of the time our emotions are invalidated by something or someone when they should not be. We are told often to lose weight, have a big butt and a small waist, don’t weigh over this specific amount or you are deemed worth less than others.
Even the medical system is against anyone who is deemed overweight/obese by BMI and those people have to fight a lot harder for proper healthcare. So then we get into the conversation of why? What is the reason you want to fix your nutrition? What is the reason why you want to lose weight? Because I promise you it is not all that it’s cracked up to be. I have seen so many people lose weight and they are miserable, they have body dysmorphia, losing weight didn't fix any of their problems like they thought it would, and they were unhappy.
We have to find the happy medium. Your body will find its homeostasis, the weight it likes to be at where you can run all your systems properly and you can do all the things you want to do in life with no issues. We have to remember that bodies are just skin suits for our brains and we are much more than our skin suits.
The entire fitness and nutrition industry that is presented to the public is filled with toxic manipulation and based solely on people's insecurities instead of being based on longevity and living a lifestyle, where your only goal is to do all the things you want to accomplish in your life.
Back when I was living in NY and I was trying to lose weight I could never do it because I was hyper focused on it and eating the “right” things and working out 3-5 days a week and it didn't work because I was so obsessive about it. As soon as I stopped trying and focused on what foods I enjoy eating and what are the foods and activities that make me happy that's when I saw the weight come off, only after I reset my mentality toward food and the industry did I make long term progress.
We also have to remember, circling back up to our skin suits, that we will never be the same or have the same body that we had when we were younger. Our bodies and our minds are meant to grow and change based on our lives and that's okay. But trying to get back to what we looked like in college or even 10 years ago is an unrealistic expectation that will set you up for failure.
Enjoy life, enjoy the things that your body is able to do for you right now and the things your body has done for example created human life. We don’t thank our bodies enough for that.
