Dieting culture rant incoming...
How much energy in your life has gone to dieting? This could be actively following a meal plan or diet, spending time trying to change how your body looks, and/or looking for the next “solution.”
Quite a bit, eh?
One of the freedoms of undieting, of realizing that food isn’t a big deal, is time.
And energy.
And general bandwidth.
You get to reclaim this time, energy, and bandwidth.
Imagine how much more creativity there would be in our world if a huge chunk of the population wasn’t spending time hating their body? Or waiting until their body looks a certain way before trying something new, going on a trip, or starting a business?
I have a great quote from Naomi Wolf (The Beauty Myth) that, as a woman, shook me to my core:
"A culture fixated on female thinness is not an obsession about female beauty, but an obsession about female obedience. Dieting is the most potent political sedative in women's history; a quietly mad population is a tractable one.”
Think about the bandwidth/energy that goes to food and diet and what your body looks like. This has been taught to us through magazines that show bodies of women that only a very small population can actually achieve.
In this moment, in this moment of political upheaval, in this moment where our voices are more important than they have been in my 46 years—this is the moment to free up that bandwidth.
To put it into the world and say, "I am here, I exist. This is how I am," and use that beautiful you-ness to make change, to shake the political framework, to just have the energy to not be controlled and to be free.
Jane Fonda summed it up really well:
“Most girls, we're feisty when we're young, man, before puberty sets in. And it's when the spectre of womanhood begins to loom on the horizon that you have to stuff anger [down]... You know, you have to be a good girl. All your life people are saying, 'Be a good girl.' Well, that implies that you're not naturally good."
Fitting into what our society has deemed an ‘attractive female body’ is also part of being a “good girl.”
And here’s the kicker: thinness doesn’t equal health.
While the pursuit of health might sometimes lead to weight loss, the reverse isn’t always true. Chasing after a smaller number on the scale often leads to restrictive diets and unhealthy behaviors that harm both body and mind.
Health is about nourishing your body with food your body loves, moving in ways that feel good, and listening to your body’s signals. When you focus on overall well-being rather than just weight, you’ll find vitality, energy, and a sense of balance.
Let’s bring back our feistiness. The world needs it now more than ever.
xo Lisa