Diet culture is a symptom of an oppressive system that underpins so many of the ways we show up in the world. It prevents us from being present, enjoying the people we love and the things we enjoy, and stops us from caring for ourselves. Although we do not consent to diet culture, we have to deal with the fallout of generations of both men and women playing into the ‘rewards’ of diet culture, while ignoring all of the risks.
Key Takeaways
If You Are Ready To Reclaim What Diet Culture Has Stolen From You, You Should:
What Diet Culture Steals From Us
Diet culture keeps us small in every sense of the word. It keeps us striving for an unattainable and constantly changing body ideal, it keeps us distracted and dulled from using our power, and it keeps us from enjoying life experiences and the people we love.
We were not put on this Earth to achieve a perfect body and then die. Often we don’t even realize what diet culture is stealing from us because we are so immersed in it. I guarantee that when you look back at your life, the people you love will not remember if you have cellulite, they will remember how you made them feel and the memories that you were able to enjoy together.
The Real Risks of Diet Culture
Diet culture doesn’t just make us play small or hold back on our dreams and chase impossible body ideals; it can actually take our lives from us in every sense of the world. Eating disorders have the highest mortality rate of any mental illness out there, but the corporations and companies that fed us this swill only focus on diet culture benefits, not the downsides.
Unpacking and unlearning diet culture takes time and requires self-compassion and connection. While it is not going to happen overnight, just understanding the risks that are very real if we continue to let diet culture perpetuate our lives is a great first step.
Are you ready to stop letting diet culture steal your zest for life? Share which of my suggestions you are going to implement to step away from diet culture and reclaim the things that diet culture has stolen from you in the comments section of the episode page.
In This Episode
Quotes
“I think we need to name how we are harmed by diet culture in these ways, how diet culture has failed us.” (13:59)
“Diet culture makes us play small and it makes us hold back on our dreams.” (17:39)
“Diet culture steals our life from us, it makes us pull back from having the experiences and participating in all of the things that we love, the people we want to be with. And those are really the experiences that stick and that matter.” (21:34)
“When you decide to start unpacking diet culture and start moving away from these practices in your own life, you need support. Do not do this on your own because you will quickly become overwhelmed and subsumed by this larger dominant system.” (32:17)
“The toll that diet culture is taking on us is heavy, and the corporations and companies and diet industry, they are not forthcoming about the risks, they are not forthcoming about the downsides.” (34:06)
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Related Episodes
LTYB 317: Diet Culture and the Patriarchy
LTYB 316: What Food Freedom Is (And Isn’t)
LTYB 298: How to Show Up More Authentically with Grace Edison
Have you ever stopped to consider that dieting and the diet industry work to keep us busy and distracted as a result of the patriarchy? The constant pursuit of body perfection tries to keep us spinning on a hamster wheel so that we do not have the time or energy for anything else, and that needs to stop now.
Key Takeaways
If You Want To Start Uncovering How Dieting and the Patriarchy You Can:
The System Was Built To Make Us Fail
When we are preoccupied with the scale and food restrictions, we shrink ourselves literally and metaphorically. The ideal body comes from decades of the patriarchy that is reinforced by everything around you. The system is designed to oppress women-identifying folks, while the ideal body keeps changing. The time, resources, and attention that pursuit of body perfection takes is just simply not worth it. It is about damn time that we get off this hamster wheel and focus on something other than our bodies.
Reinvesting Your Energy
How often do you compliment someone on their looks as the first thing you say about them? Can you imagine how much time and energy you could get back if you started questioning the influence of the patriarchy on our endless pursuit for body perfection?
Instead of focusing on what could go wrong or what you could miss out on if you start feeding into this internalized intersection of diet and the patriarchy, think about all the things you could gain if you stopped focusing on controlling the way you look.
I truly believe that we were not put on this planet to work ourselves to achieve the perfect body. Your energy, your spirit, and your magic could all be being wasted on the patriarchal view of body perfection, and you are worth so much more than that.
How are you working to stop internalizing and perpetuating the intersection of diet culture and the patriarchy? Let me know how your challenge went this week in the comments section of the episode page.
In This Episode
Quotes
“Dieting for the sake of body perfection keeps us distracted from everything else going on in the world because it is all-consuming.” (6:15)
“We have this constantly being reinforced to us from a very young age that if we look the part if we look a certain way like these body ideals and beauty ideals, that we will be more worthy, that we will be better people. And it is absolutely a tool of the patriarchy.” (11:58)
“Because of body diversity, some people in larger bodies are in great health, just like some people in smaller bodies are in terrible health.” (19:06)
“We live in a patriarchal society, we live in a fatphobic society, we live in a white supremacist society, where all of these things are consistently reinforced. So it is not our fault.” (22:42)
“How can you take your idea of worth, your own worth or what you appreciate about someone else, and expand that? What energy would that buy you back?” (27:14)
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Related Episodes
LTYB 316: What Food Freedom Is (And Isn’t)
LTYB 214: 6 Reasons BMI is Bullshit
LTYB 313: How To Stop A Bady Body Image Day In Its Tracks with Brianna Campos
Finding true food freedom is a nuanced discussion that has roots in many important conversations. The patriarchy, race, gender, body autonomy, and diet culture are just a few of the systems involved in bringing awareness to the food you are eating and how you are treating your body.
Key Takeaways
If You Want To Find Food Freedom You Should:
Listening To Your Body’s Signals
I want you to feel the freedom to question what we have been taught about the ‘right way to eat’. Mindful eating is a great place to start, and it can help you relearn how to connect with yourself and what you enjoy. Nutrition from a non-diet perspective may seem like a strange concept, but it is only by raising your awareness and opening the door that you can stop pursuing perfection and start listening to your body’s signals.
What Is Food Freedom?
Food freedom does not mean restricting yourself, going back to eating ‘regularly’, and then if you begin to feel yourself ‘falling off the wagon’ or ‘losing control’, that the solution is to go back to the restriction.
Food freedom is embracing the freedom to eat foods that make you feel good, that are enjoyable and satisfying, and are without unnecessary restriction. Food freedom means eating in a way that enhances your life, and that is helpful to your mind, and body, and emotions, and spirit, and culture.
Health Over Perfection
Young girls should not be growing up in a diet culture, fatphobic world. You are inherently worthy and valuable no matter what, and we deserve better than a lifetime of hating our bodies and thinking we are worthless because we don’t fit the mold.
Instead of focusing on intentional weight loss, I challenge you to focus on embracing health-promoting behaviors. The pursuit of perfection isn’t getting you anywhere, and it is time to stop denying our own magic just because we don’t fit the mold diet culture has laid out for us.
What conversations are you excited to have in 2021? Share your thoughts with me in the comments on the episode page.
In This Episode
Quotes
“The freedom to eat foods that make you feel good, foods that are enjoyable and satisfying, the freedom to eat without extremes, the freedom to eat without unnecessary restriction, the freedom to eat in a way that is enhancing to your life and not detracting from your life, the freedom to eat in a way that is helpful to your mind and your body and your emotions and your spirit and your culture, the freedom to eat foods that are important from your culture… that’s what I mean by food freedom.” (9:31)
“No matter what body you are in, no matter your health status, no matter your size, no matter your ability or disability, you f*cking deserve respect, and you need to give other people respect in return.” (12:25)
“Can we individually think about our food behaviors and practices and what we eat, while also holding that there is also a larger context? That is going to be really important going forward.” (15:18)
“We only get one shot at this life, as we are right now, and to live with such dissatisfaction of our own magic, and our own gifts and talents and worthiness because we don’t have perfect bodies, crushed me. And at that moment I said, ‘you know what, this has to change’.” (25:52)
“If I am critical on this podcast of diet culture and the influence of the patriarchy on how we live our lives, especially as women, it is not a criticism of you as an individual.” (29:53)
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With the new year here and 2020 in the past, I'm looking both back and ahead. In this solo episode, join me as I share three lessons I learned during the challenges brought by 2020, the top five episodes of last year, and a sneak peak of what's to come in a new season of the podcast starting next week.
Key Takeaways
Top 3 Lessons from 2020
There's so much to be said about 2020. A year of so much unexpected change, upheaval, loss, and sadness. I learned a lot about having to be flexible, the challenge of holding competing emotions simultaneously, and the importance of creating meaning based more on what comes from inside when I ask questions. It was not easy. By no means did I shine at these lessons like a star pupil. Quite the contrary. It's all messy.
My hope is that these lessons will resonate for you or at the very least, help you see things from a different perspective.
Dismantling Diet Culture
The top five podcasts of last year definitely had a theme: diet culture...specifically looking at diet culture from many angles and seeing the need to move toward a kinder, more compassionate, and more inclusive version of nutrition and fitness.
Between guests and solo episodes, we shared many aspects of moving away from dietary and exercise extremes and toward an approach where we listen more to our bodies and let our inner wisdom lead.
The top five episodes were:
A Look Ahead to the Podcast in 2021
I'm excited to share that a new season of the podcast is kicking off next week with episode 316. There will be a refreshed content focus, new guests, and maybe even a new look.
Stay tuned for the unveiling!
Share your key takeaways from this episode with me in the comments section of the episode page.
In This Episode
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Follow me on Instagram and join the conversation about food, fitness, and letting your body lead.
Angie Jordan - podcast strategist
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