Rejecting Diet Culture
written by Sarah Adams
Intuitive Eating has become a popular buzzword among those in the nutrition world from influencers to registered dietitians. But what is intuitive eating and what does it mean to eat intuitively? Intuitive Eating is an anti-diet approach to food and nutrition developed by certified eating disorder registered dietitians Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch. The approach follows 10 principles that can be followed in any order to help you leave dieting behind and enjoy food again.
The first principle of Intuitive Eating is rejecting the diet mentality. The diet mentality is the idea that health is equal to thinness and that thinness is equal to morality. In a culture that celebrates and worships the thin body it can be difficult to reject this thought process. How do you know if you’re in the diet mentality?
Do you:
Carefully check the amount of calories or macronutrients in foods before eating them?
Feel guilty after eating?
Think of foods as “good” or “bad?”
Restrict certain foods?
Compete with your friends who are dieting?
Stick to a strict pattern of eating with no flexibility?
You may be stuck in the diet mentality. The diet mentality leads to the Dieter’s Dilemma, a model created by psychologists John Foreyt and Ken Goodrick to show why dieting is often chronic and doesn’t lead to long-term weight loss.
So how do you reject the diet mentality and leave the Dieter’s Dilemma behind? The first step is to recognize and acknowledge the damage that dieting has caused you. From an anatomical standpoint, dieting is recognized by our body as starvation. This means that when you diet, your body will work to conserve the energy it is losing from inadequate consumption of food. Dieting can lead to a greater retention of fat, decreased metabolism, and greater risk of heart disease. Dieting has also been shown to increase binges and cravings. Think about the first breath you take after holding your breath for a while -- you’ll take a much deeper breath than normal to make up for the air you weren’t getting; the same occurs when you restrict the amount of nutrients you consume. From a psychological standpoint, dieting is strongly linked to eating disorders (those who diet are 8 times more likely to develop an eating disorder by the age of 15!), increase stress, and lowered self-esteem.
The next step is to be aware of diet-mentality traits and thinking. It’s time to lose the buzzwords of the diet world and understand that it is not your fault dieting isn’t or hasn’t worked for you. You cannot “will” your body to need a different amount or kind of food, no matter how much self-control you have. Be mindful of food rules you or those around you may have set for yourself and know that you’re not a failure.
The third step is to get rid of your dieting tools. Many dieters feel a need to weigh themselves and see the number on the scale as a sign of how “good” they are. However, the number on the scale is a wholly incomplete and often inaccurate depiction of health and body composition -- let alone a symbol of your morality as a human. Let go of weighing yourself, put away the scale at home, and ask your medical providers if it’s possible to forgo the weigh-in or complete a blind weigh in. Examine any other items that may be tools you use for your diet, such as social media, magazine articles, or dieting books and get rid of them.
The final step to rejecting the diet mentality is to be compassionate towards yourself. You may have been in a diet mindset for several years, it will take time, patience, and self-compassion to unlearn these ideals. Unlike dieting, there is no failing at intuitive eating. Intuitive eating is an opportunity to engage in self-discovery and learn how to better nourish your body. Remember: a single day, meal, or food will not ruin your health.