Loved this essay, and it's so true. I laughed out loud at, "People, we’ve lost the plot. No one is going to reach food freedom by eating things that make them shit themselves." I feel like we desperately need to teach our population better critical thinking skills, or put a bajillion asterisks after every post, because apparently many people can't seem to understand *when a message is not for them.* Truly, how skewed is the messaging out there that people who have food intolerances and allergies think they are restricting food in a bad way?? It boggles the mind.
This reminds me of an IG story I recently saw...the woman talked about how she was so concerned with being "body positive" that she minimized her growing lower abdomen for months. Because of the messaging that "women have lower body fat and that's normal" and "being concerned about weight gain is always bad." Turns out she had fibroids the size of a grapefruit, and actually, being concerned with a change in body shape/size is not necessarily disordered diet culture thinking!
It's crazy out there...we need the pendulum to swing back toward the middle, because this extreme doesn't seem to be serving anybody any better than the diet culture extreme is.
Thanks Kelly. I agree that extreme thinking in either direction can set us up for some undesirable results, and I understand too where this comes from. Many of us have been so hurt for so long by the push to diet, lose weight, not eat, etc., that the faintest suggestion that something is related to these things is met with suspicion or outrage. We *should* be on the lookout for when these things are potentially or definitely harmful, of course, but it's all so nuanced and personal that there really isn't a great one-size-fits-all response, which drives people crazy. "Diet to be skinny because that's how you should be!" isn't a great one-size-fits-all directive, and "never be concerned about weight gain and indulge every single craving" isn't either. We want sweeping solutions and I don't think there are many.
Oh, definitely! I mean, heck, I would love for the solution to be simple and easy and equally applicable to everyone. But it doesn't work like that. Also, nuance doesn't sell well.
I'm late to the game reading this essay, but it couldn't feel more relevant to what's been going on in my head recently. Specifically with dessert: I'm only realizing how ridiculous my relationship with it has been (for context: when I was younger, I had a *massive* sweet tooth, and then in high school, my ED completely threw dessert out the window).
Now, after having gone through many years of recovering my relationship with food and body, dessert is still the one piece I'm over-correcting for. I have this habit of *always* buying treats and then taking a little nibble and forgetting about them. My boyfriend pointed this out and I was like oh. Right. I should examine that.
I think I want to prove to my brain, like "yes! we deserve treats and dessert if we want! no restriction here!" but when I think more deeply, I don't *actually* want all those treats, all the time, and while I love dessert so much, I know it only makes me feel good when I enjoy it in moderation.
Anyway, another over-correction of anti-diet culture at work. That has made me laugh. And now I'm trying to *not* buy every pastry I see in a shop window, because maybe that's not what I need anymore.
Loved this essay, and it's so true. I laughed out loud at, "People, we’ve lost the plot. No one is going to reach food freedom by eating things that make them shit themselves." I feel like we desperately need to teach our population better critical thinking skills, or put a bajillion asterisks after every post, because apparently many people can't seem to understand *when a message is not for them.* Truly, how skewed is the messaging out there that people who have food intolerances and allergies think they are restricting food in a bad way?? It boggles the mind.
This reminds me of an IG story I recently saw...the woman talked about how she was so concerned with being "body positive" that she minimized her growing lower abdomen for months. Because of the messaging that "women have lower body fat and that's normal" and "being concerned about weight gain is always bad." Turns out she had fibroids the size of a grapefruit, and actually, being concerned with a change in body shape/size is not necessarily disordered diet culture thinking!
It's crazy out there...we need the pendulum to swing back toward the middle, because this extreme doesn't seem to be serving anybody any better than the diet culture extreme is.
Thanks Kelly. I agree that extreme thinking in either direction can set us up for some undesirable results, and I understand too where this comes from. Many of us have been so hurt for so long by the push to diet, lose weight, not eat, etc., that the faintest suggestion that something is related to these things is met with suspicion or outrage. We *should* be on the lookout for when these things are potentially or definitely harmful, of course, but it's all so nuanced and personal that there really isn't a great one-size-fits-all response, which drives people crazy. "Diet to be skinny because that's how you should be!" isn't a great one-size-fits-all directive, and "never be concerned about weight gain and indulge every single craving" isn't either. We want sweeping solutions and I don't think there are many.
Oh, definitely! I mean, heck, I would love for the solution to be simple and easy and equally applicable to everyone. But it doesn't work like that. Also, nuance doesn't sell well.
Really enjoyed this essay, thank you!!
Thank you, Ellen!
I'm late to the game reading this essay, but it couldn't feel more relevant to what's been going on in my head recently. Specifically with dessert: I'm only realizing how ridiculous my relationship with it has been (for context: when I was younger, I had a *massive* sweet tooth, and then in high school, my ED completely threw dessert out the window).
Now, after having gone through many years of recovering my relationship with food and body, dessert is still the one piece I'm over-correcting for. I have this habit of *always* buying treats and then taking a little nibble and forgetting about them. My boyfriend pointed this out and I was like oh. Right. I should examine that.
I think I want to prove to my brain, like "yes! we deserve treats and dessert if we want! no restriction here!" but when I think more deeply, I don't *actually* want all those treats, all the time, and while I love dessert so much, I know it only makes me feel good when I enjoy it in moderation.
Anyway, another over-correction of anti-diet culture at work. That has made me laugh. And now I'm trying to *not* buy every pastry I see in a shop window, because maybe that's not what I need anymore.