Food freedom may sound good in theory, but if you just can’t resist going back on one more diet these may just give you some insight on why.
You have probably been dieting for a while so you can’t just break that mentality overnight. I’m sure you have a list built up in your head of why you “should” diet, but before we dive into the reasons why you feel trapped dieting let me list a few reasons why you shouldn’t diet that doesn’t seem to be as commonly spread knowledge.
Dieting leads to a slow metabolism, statistically long term weight gain, obsessive thoughts around food, loss of hunger and fullness cues, fatigue, increased stress, irritability, decreased self worth, negative body image, etc.
So if dieting is so bad, why is it so hard to stop?
1.We are told by the media and marketing from the diet industry that we need to look a certain way and dieting is promised as a “quick fix.”
People in all bodies have insecurities and companies can make a lot of money by fixating on them. The diet industry in the US alone is an over 70 billion dollar industry. It thrives off of failed dieters returning to the next big thing.
This also creates a cycle of yoyo dieting and weight fluctuations that are more harmful to your health than just staying at one weight.
2. We are taught from a young age that weight=health=happiness
Fill in whatever word fits for you there. But the point is somewhere along the line we were taught that our weight determines our health and that health is a moral obligation and we are somehow “better” if we are “healthy.” If this were true all thin people would be healthy, which is not the case.
So that argument then becomes “well what about the research.” When you look at the research of weight science they do not put into account the lifestyle factors causing the weight change. Healthful behaviors like increased activity, increased nutrient dense foods and water intake and decreasing stress all have direct effects on health, weight is just an outcome not a determinant of health.
3. We crave the sense of control it promises
Oftentimes when we feel like we are losing control in our lives we cling to wherever we have been able to grasp control in the past. So if you have found yourself in a hard life situation you may have found yourself diving deep into a diet. This is a common coping reaction to have a sense of control. The problem comes when you experience guilt and shame for not being able to stick to it.
4. We are taught we can’t trust our bodies
Body trust can be a hard concept to grasp if you have been controlling your intake for so long. I often hear clients talk about how they don’t even know how to decide how much they need. Losing hunger and satiety cues is a coping mechanism our body uses when we do restrict for an extended period of time. It’s actually trying to protect you from the discomfort and essentially gave up wasting energy on the cues you were avoiding. Gaining back body trust is a process, but our body’s are absolutely created to keep us alive. They know what they are doing better than our mind does, even if we grew up learning otherwise.
5. It becomes a part of your identity
Dieting can come with community, structure and something to share in common with friends and family. It becomes a part of who we are, so when you go to leave dieting you need to rediscover yourself. This may sound silly, but think about how much space dieting has taken up in your life from stressing over menus, meal planning, researching what you should and shouldn’t eat or what you should do next, the amount of conversations that revolved around dieting, the mental space of worrying about food and maybe countless hours in the gym feeling miserable. Bottom line is it has probably taken up a lot of your time and energy. So in order to rediscover yourself you have to fill that time and mental space up with things your enjoy, maybe trying something new and probably redirecting some conversations until you are confident in your quest for food freedom.
6. You are afraid you’ll lose approval
Dieting and fatphobia often become generational. If you find yourself afraid to give up dieting and find food freedom because you will lose the approval or your family will not understand, you are not alone. Weigh your options to see if food freedom is right for you. It may take setting some boundaries and reinforcing new belief systems, but it is possible to break free from generational dieting!
So what is holding you back from leaving dieting for good? Be honest with yourself about your past experiences, often we look at our dieting selves with rose colored glasses. Only seeing the good that we felt and ignoring the side effects like irritability, low self esteem and fatigue.
Are you ready to find food freedom and break free from these for good?
Check out our private coaching and work with me!:)
-Morgan
