4 Steps to Challenge Diet Culture
I want to give you some tools that I have used personally and with clients to cut time thinking about things that do not serve us and spend more time thinking about things that do serve us. This is an interactive post, meaning there are a lot of questions to ask yourself here. You’ll need to be honest with yourself. Keep in mind that this is a process of continual growth and change. You’re going to continuously learn more about diet culture and yourself through these steps, hopefully throughout your life. Let’s get to it.
Be Aware
First things first, you have to be aware of what diet culture is, where it comes from, what the goal is, and what the message is if you want to challenge it. YAY- you’re already there if you read my blog Diet Culture: a Sneaky Little Thing.
Take Notice
It’s time to start noticing specifics. So, where is diet culture coming up in your life? A great place to start is with yourself. What are your own beliefs about food and your body? Where do those beliefs come from? Perhaps the belief that you need to change your body comes from your mother or grandmother saying they needed to change their own bodies. Maybe it comes from a comment made at a doctor’s appointment, a nutrition class, or a coach. Once you’ve done that, notice where diet culture messages are presented in your surroundings. Is it in conversations with your friends and family? TV shows you watch? Instagram accounts you follow? Activities you participate in? Your community, dorm, sorority, church, mom’s group? Is it your studio class, gym, smoothie bar? You likely experience diet culture in many of spaces- that’s normal in our culture. Notice how diet culture is affecting the atmosphere of those places, the attitudes of those people, and the thoughts you have about yourself. Does it stir up discontentment, dissatisfaction, competition, shame, guilt, embarrassment for you?
Make a Choice
Now take the things you’ve noticed that seem to stem from diet culture and stir up things like discontentment, dissatisfaction, competition, shame, guilt, and embarrassment for you. Assess how this is affecting your thoughts and self-talk. Then, ask yourself, “Does this serve me? Do I believe it?” If it doesn’t serve you, which I’m guessing it probably doesn’t if it makes you feel bad about yourself and you’re motivated by fear and guilt, move on to step 4. If it does serve you, it should naturally align with the actions presented in step 4.
Act
The last step is to take action. I recommend using all of these techniques in every day life- they can only lift you up!
Challenge Your Thoughts: Take that diet culture thought and re-frame it with what you know to be true. For example, diet culture says you shouldn’t eat bread. A re-framed thought could be, “I really enjoy bread. It tastes good, it’s fluffy, and it’s an excellent source of carbohydrates and B vitamins for my body.”
Practice Positive Self-Talk: Instead of tearing yourself down and thinking things like, “I’m not as pretty as,” “I’m not as fit as,” “I need to do more or less of,” spin those things into positive self-talk. For example, tell yourself verbally what you like about yourself, what you’re talented at, what makes you happy.
Honor Your Hunger: If you want a cupcake, eat a cupcake. If you want a salad, eat a salad. Instead of agonizing over the calories, the sugar, the exercise you feel like you need to do if you eat pizza- honor what you’re craving and move on. Recognize that you’ll eat again soon!
Respect Your Body: You do not have to love your body, but you need it respect it. It’s the only one you have. That means you need to care for your body. Feed it, water it, move it, take it to check-ups, provide the medication it may need. Thank your body for the things it does for you. No, really. It could be simple things like being grateful that your eyes can see, or your arms allow you to hold your baby or your dog (or your vacuum because your dog/kid is really messy.) Maybe you do love your body. If you love your curves, the way you look naked or the way you look in a particular outfit- tell your body that you love those things! This feels foreign and maybe even wrong. Society tells us it’s self-absorbed to love yourself - for men and women. That’s not true though. If you need permission to start loving yourself, I give it to you here.
Like I said, this is a continual process of growth and change. There’s always something to challenge in diet culture and there’s always something new to discover about yourself. Going through this journey takes effort and patience. If you’re having difficulty noticing your thoughts, identifying what you know to be true about food and your body, navigating balancing honoring hunger cues with making healthy choices, finding things to respect about your body, etc. I highly recommend working with a dietitian. For me personally, I love guiding people though this journey. If you need help determining if a dietitian is right for you, you may want to refer to my first blog.