How to Break Free From Diet Culture

Diet culture taught you that they know what’s best for you. Diet culture says eat this and don’t eat that with a zillion conflicting reasons why this time will be the answer you’ve been waiting for, all just to sell you more memberships, packaged foods, pills, shakes, drinks, and random products that don’t work.

We firmly believe that you know what’s best for you. The reason why you don’t believe that now is because of the confusion diet culture has created and the mess our food environment has made. There are social, biological, and psychological reasons why we overeat. Our environment doesn’t make it simple! We love convenience and ease. Who doesn’t?! So how do we change?
Here are some ways you can get started.

1. Recognize that just because you are leaving diet culture behind does not mean that you are giving up on yourself. The opposite is true! You are willing to go deeper into building the skill sets that create a happier healthier life.

2. Explore letting go of diet foods with a caveat. If you lean towards choosing foods that make promises like "diet," "keto," "heart-healthy," "low-carb" etc and you choose them because you think they are better or healthier for you, then think again. Oftentimes these products are actually less nourishing and offer less satisfaction than the non-diet version. The caveat to this is that if you choose diet foods because you absolutely love them and you think they taste great and they feel good in your body then there’s a place for them. Here’s a brief example. If you don’t want cauliflower rice (because I don’t!), go ahead and have a portion of rice. *OK, there is a second caveat as to why you might choose food alternatives which is if you have a medical condition like diabetes or food allergies/food sensitivities etc. The main questions to ask yourself are, "Why am I choosing this?" and "Do I like my reason?"

3. Understand that there are no good or bad foods. If all food is medicine then consider the dose that works for you. We have found that a consistently high dose of vegetables is great for most people but that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy your chips or cookies 100% guilt-free too. A mistake we often see is that when you do believe in "bad" foods you tend to over restrict them only to overindulge in them down the road, feeling bad physically and mentally. When you can find the doses that work for you, then you can include all foods often. No more willpower necessary!

4. Stop comparing yourself to others and especially to a younger version of you. Maybe you see a friend that has gone through some changes and assume that they are happy and well. This just isn’t always the case. Or, you think back to a time when you were in a different body and you remember only certain things about that time without accepting the whole picture. It is absolutely normal and natural for your brain to want to do this but remind yourself that you are simply here now. When you can accept where you are at now, then you can move forward. This takes practicing gratitude and self-compassion.

5. Generate and remember your best reasons for breaking free from diet culture. When you see the latest fad diet come your way you might be tempted to hop aboard. There’s nothing wrong with exploring different ways of eating, however, it helps to remember why you no longer diet. Is it because you want to be a good example? Maybe because you remember how emotionally taxing it is to lose and regain the weight. How could you approach trying something new without making it a diet if that’s what you wanted to do? What are your reasons why you know you can’t be in the diet cycle any longer?

6. Learn to feel and process your feelings. Oftentimes we assign food the job to solve our problem of uncomfortable feelings. It is not food’s job to fix the way you feel. Now, trust us, we still eat our feelings on occasion but we do it with such awareness that we laugh about it. We never feel bad, guilty, shameful, etc. for eating food. And many times we decide to feel the feeling instead. Coping without food, especially when you’re wired to cope with food, takes lots and lots of practice. Getting coached or trying nutrition therapy can help.

7. Experience what it feels like to be nourished. What does it look like to have luscious vibrant hearty meals often? What does it feel like not to skip breakfast and lunch only to live off coffee and snacks and binge at night? Maybe your routine or rhythm is off and you know it but you aren’t sure where to start. You know that eating "clean" during the week and then going "off the rails" all weekend doesn’t feel right. When you can create and live in a pattern that works for you you will be set free from dieting forever.

8. Empower yourself to learn and understand your inner health. Thinness does not equate to health. Have you had your lab numbers checked recently? Do you understand them? Data is necessary because there’s individual genetics, environmental toxins, chronic infections, and lifestyle factors like over or under exercise, stress, and sleep habits, that all play a role in our internal health. Many people may say that they feel fine because they don’t have extreme symptoms, but often the reality is that we slowly have gotten to a place of diminished health, so we don’t realize the impact it has on us until we are bottoming out. Become your best health advocate and take charge.

9. Envision a future you. Pull out some paper and a pen and design the future you. Who is she? When you’re stuck in diet culture, one of the first thoughts is of a body at a certain weight…but what else? Your destiny requires more of you than the size of your jeans. How do you show up? What do you do differently? What does future you need to believe about you and the world? What impacts will you make? When you can invite more value into your being besides the number on the scale you will be able to understand your inherent worth much more deeply. If future you is happier, how can current you be happier right now? What else are you putting off into the future that can be done right now? Hint: Go buy some new clothes NOW. You don’t have to buy an entire wardrobe, just some pieces that will brighten up your spirit today.

10. Practice putting an end to negative self-talk. The journey doesn’t end when you wake up one day never thinking a negative thought. It happens. Your brain is wired to do this BUT you are also conditioned to believe these random thoughts thanks to diet culture. The success comes from being able to reduce the frequency and not believe them when they pop up. We can’t go from the belief of, "I hate my cellulite" to "I freaking love it." That’s inauthentic and unhelpful. So we start with something like, "I have cellulite on my legs and my brain doesn’t like it and that’s OK." This is more neutralizing and leads to more self-acceptance. And when you like yourself you actually start doing the things that serve your wellbeing. Taking baby steps is key!

If you’d like help putting these to practice and integrating them in your daily behaviors, we’d love to help.