Have you ever considered that at some point, an obsession with healthy eating can turn unhealthy? Many of us struggle to understand what healthy eating really is and where it crosses the line into an unhealthy preoccupation. This is why I have brought my guest, Mimi Cole, onto the show today. Please be aware there is a trigger warning for weight loss and eating disorders in this episode.
If You Are Ready To Reexamine Your Relationship With Food and Your Body, You Should:
What Is Healthy Eating? With Mimi Cole
Mimi is a graduate student currently working on her Master’s degree in clinical mental health counseling. She is the host of the Lovely Becoming Podcast and specializes in learning about disordered eating and eating disorders. Mimi knows firsthand the issues that those with eating disorders face, which is why she is passionate about breaking down stereotypes, meeting others with compassion, and helping people break out of the labels that surround these topics.
There Are No ‘Bad or Good’ Foods
Clean eating culture is intertwined with many nuanced topics such as fatphobia, orthorexia, and weight-centric care. The clean eating industry wants you to label your food choices as ‘bad or good’, which inherently misses what the fluidity of humanity really is.
By unlearning what diet culture has taught us, we can start to get curious about the dichotomy of the rules of food and begin to view food as neutral. When we understand that food does have to fit into the binary of ‘good and bad’, ‘healthy and unhealthy’, or ‘clean and guilty’, you can give yourself permission to follow your humanity.
Using Your Values as an Anchor
Society tells us that certain eating disorders are only applicable to certain body types. In reality, it is about the mindset of a person, not the size of their body, that determines their relationship with food. We need to do a better job of breaking these labels down and expanding these definitions to include every body.
Mimi suggests getting clear on your values to anchor you when you may feel discomfort about your body. Working on your body really means working on your body image, your perspective, and how you feel about your body. By reminding yourself what you are working towards and what you are living for, you can live a life more aligned with your values and stop focusing on all of the restraints that come with food.
Which of Mimi’s truth bombs today shocked you the most? What piece of her advice are you going to put into practice first? Share your thoughts with me in the comments section of the episode page.
“It doesn't have to be either ‘this or that’, I think there is a lot of nuance to nutrition.” (8:29)
“It's a lot more subtle than we think it is, and I think it's a lot more intertwined with this clean eating culture. And so sometimes that push back where we say ‘I just want to eat healthy’ is really tied to different systems like fat-phobia and weight-centric care, and sometimes it looks like it's a healthy thing, and it sounds like it, but it's not really.” (13:25)
“There are some people that might say, ‘if you are going to be anti-diet, you need to do it all right now’. And I think I take on a slower approach where when we are unlearning it takes time and intentionality, and a lot of compassion for where we are at and meeting people where they are.” (22:20)
“Working on your body for summer means learning how to nourish it, learning how to accept it and collate the distress around it, learning how to put on a swimsuit and work towards your values of enjoying time with friends, enjoying time with loved ones and family members, and being able to move towards your values when you feel uncomfortable in your body.” (31:54)
“Moving towards a value doesn't necessarily mean moving you away from things you don't want to experience. So there is not necessarily less fear, but it means with that fear I can move towards those values.” (35:06)
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