Most days I think about how unfortunate it is that the word ‘dietitian’ leads with the word ‘diet’. Of course, a diet used to simply mean the foods that makes up your eating pattern. Now, it represents an oppressive system that is rooted in body shame and assigns moral value to arbitrary foods. I really hate to see that synonyms for the word diet include eating sparingly, abstaining, or restricting. All in the name of health!
I wasn’t always anti-diet, and it’s okay if you’re not fully onboard at this point in time. Embracing an Intuitive Eating approach takes lot of unlearning about things we were told were hard and fast facts – like, people who are at a high BMI aren’t interested in being healthy, or losing weight is the first step to achieving health, or your body satisfaction will improve once you reach a certain weight, or if you don’t have willpower you will go crazy on “bad foods” 24/7.
My path to rejecting diets has certainly been accelerated because I have the pleasure of working with many people through the lens of nutrition and health. I’ve heard the same story over and over again. People go on diets to achieve a smaller body. They work…until they don’t. But the diet never gets blamed – rather, blame gets placed on the person’s self, on their lack of discipline and willpower. Nothing about this cycle sounds good to me, or healthy for the mind and soul. After hearing this countless times it became really clear to me that the dieting industry (and the fat-phobic healthcare industry) is hurting people’s ability to truly learn about food, nutrition, and self-care. “Health” (defined as weight loss) that is achieved by pitting people against their own bodies is not really health at all. And we have the research to prove that it’s not sustainable.
So let’s celebrate International No Diet Day by practicing a peaceful relationship with our body. What will you choose to do for your body out of self-care or feelings of high self-worth? How will you honor the cues your body tells you – whether that is hunger, fullness, satisfaction, the need to move, or the need to rest? And how can we extend these actions into tomorrow and beyond? If you are looking for someone to help you navigate the process of unlearning diet culture and exploring how to care for your body intuitively, I am definitely here to provide counseling, resources, or support.