It’s January, and some of you are probably taking time out of your schedule tomorrow to go join a gym or start a diet (maybe both both?), and also generally beating yourself up for all the extra food and drink you enjoyed during the holidays. But you might also be wrestling with trying to figure out who you really are after decades of believing that weight loss was all you had to offer the world. If that’s you, read on for five ways to kick Diet Culture to the curb this year...
1. Focus on what your body does for you. My body allows me to wrestle a ridiculously big Christmas tree into a storage bag and pull it up a flight of attic stairs. I can speedwalk toward an airline gate at Atlanta Hartsfield Jackson to catch a flight while carrying a heavy toddler on my hip and pulling an even-heavier suitcase behind me, and still make it to the gate on time. I can bust a move while listening to The Who’s Baba O’Reilley on Pandora, and doing the dishes. (Whether or not I am good at busting said move is irrelevant here).
2. Maximize your qualities, outside of physical appearance. I can listen and be present with clients without flinching or cringing when they share with me the most traumatic experiences of their lives. I value kindness, compassion, and honesty, and strive to practice those qualities every day. I give myself grace when I fail along the way, which is inevitable. I have thoughts, opinions, ideas, and a voice that I am not afraid to use when I need to speak up.
3. 3) Do movement that feels good, not because you think you have to
4) Fight back against the media's take on body image/diet culture. More and more, I primarily give my dollars to size inclusive and body positive fashion brands. I shop at very few brands that continue to perpetuate a narrow idea of what is considered beautiful, including size, race, ethnicity, and other imperfections (freckles, scars, stretch marks). Modcloth, American Eagle and Aerie, who else?
5) Declutter your social media accounts and start following body positive accounts, etc. I do not follow facebook pages or Instagram accounts that harp on dieting, excessive exercise,
Learning to eat intuitively
Self-care instead of self-control (is this brownie really what I am needing right now? Or do I really need to talk things out with someone and problem-solve the issue that is making me want to eat this brownie, later feel guilty, then restrict food…maybe restricting food is also an example – I want to restrict food because that’s the only way I’ll ever get a boyfriend – self-care instead of that, and what it would look like. A peaceful relationship with food is based on self-care, not self-control (make sure not to plagiarize this).
Probably need to say something about people having free agency over their bodies and that if you want to exercise, do it, and do it for YOU because it makes you feel good about yourself NOT because you’re working frantically toward a bunch of lies.
MY DEFINITION OF DIET CULTURE
https://christyharrison.com/blog/what-is-diet-culture
Diet culture is 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.
People, you’ve got one life. At the end of it, what do I want my memories to be about? (Dieting and worrying about conforming my body to a narrow margin of what was decided (who decided, by the way?) attractive, or sexy, or desirable.
What we know - Body image is connected to our desirability, and self worth.