Cancel Diet Culture

Happy New Year to you!!!

Many people start diets in the new year. This post may have you rethinking that a bit. Lately, I have been studying more about Intuitive Eating which is about rejecting diet culture, listening to the body’s cues, and trusting oneself with food.

Eating a plant-based diet has helped me to work on Intuitive Eating. A plant-based diet is not a weight loss diet; it’s a lifestyle choice. I’ve noticed that going plant-based has helped me to allow myself to eat what I want and as much as I want more of the time. I am learning to trust myself with food. 

This week I reflected on the problems with dieting and diet culture. 

Evelyn Tribole says, “The problem is that whatever names diet culture falls under, its roots remain the same: the perpetuation of fat phobia, body shame, and self-disconnection.” Dang! That’s quite an indictment against dieting.

I started dieting at around 13 years old. I took a small can of tuna, an apple, raw carrots, and some rice cakes to school for lunch very regularly in high school. I was a bit chubby, so I felt I needed fixing. I started to diet. The dieting coincided with teenage angst and insecurities. There was a sharp uptick in binge and compulsive eating. The more tasteless cans of tuna I ate in the day, the more treats I consumed at night. 

Dieting can cause us to disconnect from ourselves and override our ability to listen to the body about what and how much it needs. Overriding what the body needs can cause us to rebel and develop disordered eating habits that often sabotage our efforts.

The bottom line is that rather than dieting, we may need to re-learn how to listen to the body’s cues and to trust ourselves with food.

Coming up on January 18th, I am offering a free online workshop called “Plant Forward in 2022.” In this workshop, you will learn why you may want to incorporate more plant-based food into your life this year…not to be on a diet, but to take small, positive steps for your health, for the climate, for animal welfare, and perhaps for self-connection.