I have been into listening to podcasts lately, mostly nutrition and health related with some motivational ones thrown in there, and I love them! It's hard for me to sit down to read because I get bored and fall asleep quickly. Truth! I can listen to podcasts while I'm driving, cooking, walking or getting ready, which works great for me. I listened to one today called RealTalk RD, which gave me the idea for this post. She broke down articles and other topics with another RD. I will probably be doing more like this because I have a few RealTalk topics I'd like to put out there.
So, can we talk about diet, diets and dieting? I haven't really talked about this on the blog yet but I've been suffering from disordered eating for a while now. My disordered eating includes constantly thinking/obsessing about food, falling victim to dieting, and considering self-worth based on my weight and body size. I really don't know when all of this started but it has gradually gotten worse the last few years and I am so ready to deal with it so I can live my life again.
Whew, that is a lot to admit to a lot of people I don't know. But it's important to know that everyone has their own struggles, and yes, even Dietitians. Hopefully this can help someone else going through the same thing. Anyway, since starting my blog in April, I've been following more Dietitians on social media and listening to podcasts as I mentioned and I am loving all of the anti-diet stuff out there right now. Other hot topics are intuitive eating and HAES, which is the health at every size movement.
We've known for a long time that diets don't work, yet we still get fooled into trying them, myself included. Has anyone dieted with success but then gained all the weight back after stopping, maybe even more weight? We "starve" our bodies of calories and/or nutrients it needs so when the diet is done our bodies overcompensate to prepare for another starvation. And the cycle continues.
What might even be worse is what it does to us mentally. The yo-yo dieting, restricting foods that we love, giving up social events to not slip up, and working out so hard to burn what we eat is really taxing on our mental state and happiness. Not to mention that it can affect hormones, metabolism and stress levels. Increased stress does not help you lose weight!
You will see me mention Whole30 in some of my posts because my husband and I completed it last year. I thought it was going to help me figure out my digestive issues and maybe help me lose a little weight. After all it is a "short-term nutrition reset", not a diet, right?
We made it through, I felt pretty good and lost 5 pounds. I gained those 5 pounds back within probably 3-4 months. What I really noticed was that I was starting to label foods as good and bad based on whether they fit into the Whole30. I would get mad at myself for eating the "bad" foods when I obviously could do better. Then when I felt like I was getting out of control with my eating or my weight I would try to do a week of Whole30 again. It was really bad for me mentally and for my self-esteem.
I am working on loving my body and listening to my body when it comes to eating. I am trying to live a lifestyle that works for me, my 4ever healthy lifestyle, which includes a lot of foods that are good for my body and some foods that are good for my soul. I am also working on listening to my body when it comes to exercise and take a break when I need it and stretch more when I need it. I am not perfect and won't ever be but what is perfect, really?
Let's throw diets and the diet mentality out the window because our bodies deserve better than that. Let's love ourselves so we can better love each other. Thanks for the real talk!
Lin