What if I told you that you’ve been trained to look at your body flaws shamefully?
What if I told you that it’s our dieting culture that put the idea into your head that your squishy places and cellulite is a “problem” and a sign of weakness or low willpower. That you’ve been trained to think that your naturally beautiful body is something to be ashamed of.
And, what if I told you that this is just another means of control and distraction? If you felt really good about yourself, you wouldn’t buy the latest product that promises a quick fix.
Promoting the idea that you need to be feel shame about your beautiful body is a great way for big companies to make a buck.
This has been going on for decades. Diet after diet have promised to create that slim “perfect” body promoted in magazine after magazine. Nowhere does that promise tell you the truth – those photos in magazines are highly airbrushed and the models have a genetic quirk of extreme leanness. They’re photos of completely unreal people.
Or, what about the TV shows, showcasing person after person “overcoming” their overweight bodies with just a bit of hard work. When, in actuality, they’re put on starvation diets and forced to exercise for 4 – 5 hours a day. And, research has found that their metabolisms are permanently damaged from that starvation diet.
And, don’t forget about the diet books that spend the first 50 pages trying to scare you into believing that your health is in jeopardy unless you follow the diet they’re promoting exactly (gluten-free, grain-free, lectin-free, etc).
Uggg….am I right?
This rant could go on and on. There’s so much about the dieting industry that makes me angry. But, the most frustrating thing is when this horrible, fear-inducing, body-shaming industry calls itself “wellness”.
Let me make this very clear – there’s NOTHING about the dieting culture that promotes wellness.
I’ve spent the last 10+ years trying to pull the controlling threads of the dieting culture out of the minds of amazing, beautiful-exactly-as-they-are people. Because, real wellness doesn’t involve fear, control, manipulation, or a restrictive diet.
Real wellness = Undieting.
Undieting is re-learning how to eat. It’s bringing back enjoyment, satisfaction, and joy.
It’s eating real food. Food that you enjoy. Because you’re hungry.
Recently, I asked the lovely people on my email list to tell me about their experience with dieting & undieting, and my friend, colleague, and amazing yoga instructor Carol sent me this:
“I think I started dieting around age 11 or 12, and instead of becoming healthier I developed bulimia/anorexia which I battled until I was in my 20’s.
It was only when I started “undieting” that I made peace with my body and actually maintained a healthy weight. I’ve lost 20 pounds in the last year and it’s been effortless keeping it off. I still eat like a queen and don’t feel like I need to exercise like a maniac to make up for “cheat days.” I just listen to my body and eat real food. It’s so simple!
…It’s like we are waging an endless war that can’t be won, except by the multimillionaires at the top of the dieting food chain. And our metabolism and our body’s overall balance is the collateral damage! 😤 THANK YOU for being a voice of reason in all this dieting chaos.”
If your brain is fighting back and saying, “but! I’d eat everything in sight if I allowed myself to enjoy food again???” Don’t worry. That’s just a bit of dieting culture residue that needs to be cleared away.
When you eat food that you enjoy and you do it with presence (instead of guilt), then you’ll eat as much as you need. No more.
Without guilt, you can enjoy every bite.
When you enjoy every bite, you easily stop when you’re satisfied. Especially when you know that your favourite food is never off limits. When you know you can have some more tomorrow if you’re craving it, it’s easy to say, “I’m full, that’s enough for now”.
Undieting involves tapping into your own body’s wisdom.
You’ll learn what your body wants, needs, and loves to enjoy. Your body wants nothing more than to be healthy and by learning its language you can feel better than you’ve ever felt before.
The power of undieting is amazing. And, once you’ve felt what it’s like to undiet there’s a good chance you’ll never be swayed by another fad diet, crash diet, or restrictive diet ever again.
Undieting is freedom, enjoyment, and body love all rolled into one. This is where real life healthy eating shines. No more deprivation. No “bad” or off-limit foods. Just pure food bliss.
Wanna get started on your Undieting journey? Grab my 3 Steps to Undieting by entering your email address below <3