Feeling Bad About Dieting? Why and How to Bust Diet Culture
Did you know I’m on a mission to help women get off the roller coaster? If you’re not yet in that boat, then take a listen to this episode, I hope it changes the way you feel about traditional diets and what we’ve been led to believe.
Particularly what we women have been led to believe.
*That each particular diet is THE way to lose weight
*That you'll be HAPPY once you lose the weight
*That your life will BEGIN once you lose weight
No to all!
Listen to this episode to hear more about why diet culture is so harmful and how to resist falling into the diet cycle.
Read the full transcripts
Hi friends, it's Andrea Heyman here with another episode of adventures and feeding my fam. You know, I'm on a mission to help women get off the diet roller coaster. If you're not yet in that boat with me, then take a listen to this episode, I really hope it changes the way you feel about traditional diets. And what we've been led to believe, particularly what we women have been led to believe. This is a topic I'm super passionate about. So I hope that you enjoy it. If after listening to this episode, you're intrigued and motivated to get off the diet roller coaster once and for all. I definitely can help you. I suggest signing up for a 30 minute free discovery call to find out how I can help you start down a new path, a path free of gimmicks free of stress and a new life trusting your body and knowing how to feed yourself. Well. The link to sign up for those discovery calls will be in the show notes. And I really look forward to chatting with you. Like I said it is my mission to help women transform their lives just by starting and focusing on how they approach food. You might think it's a lofty goal to help women transform their lives. But what I see is that I am not exaggerating. There's so many more benefits for the women that I work with than just an improved outlook on diet and food. It really expands out to other areas of their lives. And I really love doing it. I love watching it. You can probably tell it really lights me up. adventures and feeding my fam is a weekly podcast discussing the challenges and fun around feeding your family healthy meals. I'm Andrea Heyman, and I've been a registered dietician for over 25 years. So I know the importance of good nutrition. But I'm also a mom of three so I understand the challenges and tumor that comes along with trying to make this happen. In this podcast, I'll share my tips, tricks and menus, but also share the stories and food prep failures that come along the way to interview guests will discuss family food traditions, how to strengthen bonds around the family table, as well as their favorite family recipes. There isn't one right way to feed your family. But there are countless stories, you can take bits and pieces and learn from all of them. I think I've always known that I dislike the weight loss industry. So it's really really ironic that I am a registered dietician who specializes in weight management because I am literally part of that weight loss industry. However, I don't really adhere to the typical strategies that dietitians are taught. I used to but my style has really evolved. And absolutely I believe evolved for the best. Diet culture has many definitions and facets. But in a nutshell, it's really a set of beliefs that worships thinness and equates it with health and even virtue. So over the past few years, many individuals have started following a system of beliefs referred to as diet culture that prioritize their weight, really over their well being. Diet, culture is glorification of losing weight at any cost. So trying to achieve a certain body shape, body size, at any cost, even if it's not realistic for that individual. In our society, we see diet culture pretty much everywhere we turn. So we will hear friends or people at the grocery store discussing their newest diet to lose weight. Everybody thinks they're an expert. And it's really also we'll see justification of eating what we want. Because we haven't eaten in a day, or I had an intense workout this morning, or I deserve it. Things like that. That never ending cycle that in the brain. I'll start a diet or an exercise routine on Monday. Well, what really happens with this, we have a grand plan, and usually it's very restrictive and incredibly difficult to adhere to plan. And so the results are that women can't keep to it because it's really impossible. And so we feel like a failure, and we're incredibly frustrated. Diet culture also correlates an individual self worth to their weight or their size or how their jeans or clothes fit or feel, or even Have you heard of certain people kind of tout and brag how little they can eat almost like it's a badge of honor. Of course there are times Have advertisements for weight loss products, diet programs, exercise equipment, the weight loss industry is a $70 billion industry. And that is exactly why we see so much of these advertisements and products and programs out there. And really, those programs and products are really telling us that we're not good enough, if we're not pursuing weight loss, or if we aren't currently, a specific thin body shape. Diet culture rears its head when we see people that are our friends or out in the community and they have lost weight, we are perfectly comfortable commenting on their body shape, their weight loss, and that seems to be socially normal 05:50 and acceptable. We often compare our bodies to others and get self worth, like, I'm I'm better than you because I'm thinner than you. Or she must be better than me because she's thinner than me. That culture also suggests that people are more or less good or worthy based on their body size. And this is just could not be farther from the truth, of course, because I certainly know thin people that are also not good people, as well as I know, people at various sizes, who are good people, that culture creates thin privilege, which makes 06:33 thinness Andrea Heyman 06:33 kind of the gatekeeper for jobs, benefits, and other accommodations. So have you ever had like a thin friend who kind of struts around and expects things to be given to her. That's what I mean by the fact that diet culture gives that privilege to those that are thin. So diet culture can be found, literally everywhere we look from social media from Barbies thigh gap to her teeny tiny 18 inch waist, which influences perceptions of what a quote unquote ideal body 07:11 should look like. It's definitely Andrea Heyman 07:14 true that even told that at the first sign of hunger, instead of giving into your body's needs for food, that you should delay that and drink a glass of water or something like that, to just prevent or delay when you're going to eat. And things like magazines, like I love Shape magazine, I love self magazine. But sometimes those articles that are in there are just so you know, they'll promote like a 1200 calorie diet for all body shapes and body sizes and ages. And it's just not appropriate for most people. So I think we can agree that diet culture is very pervasive, but really what are its effects? Really, diet culture harms everyone, with a body really everyone with a body, but particularly those that are in larger bodies. Weight stigma and thin privilege are really real. And no one is really safe from feeling kind of shamed by diet culture, that culture tends to make us feel like failures because the diets that are out there are extremely restrictive, and really set us up for failure because they just cannot be adhered to long term. The typical route is that, you know, someone will claim that they're going to start a diet on Monday or Sunday, and then go into the week with good intentions. However, 08:49 because of this Andrea Heyman 08:49 restrictive nature, they just can't be followed. And so when someone quits or quote unquote, fails a diet, they feel really guilty and it affects their self worth. We just kind of move on to the next phase until we get fed up and kind of say, Okay, I'm gonna try a new diet again. It's just a very, very frustrating and demoralizing 09:17 cycle. Andrea Heyman 09:19 We see a lot of discrimination against body size. And we'll see that on the news by celebrities kind of mocking certain body shapes. And it really encourages businesses, it kind of fuels businesses, to take your money. Think about that over $70 billion weight loss industry that is preying on the fact that we have been duped as women to think that we need to lose weight and that need to kind of adhere or buy in to the next gimmick whether it's so supplements You know, any number of things, like I said, was really just such a setup for feeling like a failure 98% of diets fail. Like I would say that the diets fail, not that individuals fail diets. How can we possibly resist this? Well, first of all, the first step is really knowing that diet culture is out there. And even identifying places where you notice it, for example, last night, I was at a friend's house, and she pulled out some salad dressings that we were going to use for the salad bar that we created collectively. And one of the dressings, the brand was skinny girl brand. And I was like, I don't approve of this brand. I'm sure the folks making it we're really preying on diet culture and the expectations that we have of women. And so Oh, well, if you eat this salad dressing and buy this salad dressing, you can be a skinny girl, too. So I that is just one example. And I will bet that if you start to pay attention, you will notice all over the place where dyad culture is present. And it starts at an extremely early age, almost at birth, like the way we describe kids as girls are petite. And they're Oh, they're so dainty. And those are the adjectives that we will use. So even a baby will be kind of praised for a certain build. So think about it, I want you to take a moment in your day and just notice what kind of images or what kind of messages are being pushed toward you. So that's really the first step. The next is really to take a break from social media. So unfollow the people who promote diet culture on social media, follow people that are body positive activists that are out there. You know, you can follow me, I don't promote diet culture, for sure. That is something in me about me. I would definitely speak out about diet culture, whether it's on social media or with your friends or family or work, friends, and I would definitely eat food that nourishes you and brings you joy. Change the language you use around food and your body. Speak kindly to yourself. As I mentioned before, I work with women all the time to try to get them off of this discouraging cycle. I've got lots of strategies that I use. So if you are interested in finding out more definitely you connect with me on one of my discovery calls. I can't wait to chat with you that link will be in the show notes. Until next time, take care. If you like this episode, please absolutely share it with a friend read it and review the podcast. That's how we get the word out and we begin to share the mission that we have begun here.