Diet Culture-y Things I Do as an Anti- Diet Culture Dietitian
As a dietitian, one of my favorite things is being able to help people have healthy habits while simultaneously having a good relationship with food and their bodies. This looks like being able to engage in health promoting choices and activities out of love and respect for your body rather than the attempt to shrink, manipulate, shame, or punish your body. I know this can seem far fetched for you if you’ve been on diet after diet without the results you desire, if you’re a weight cycler, if you’re in eating disorder recovery, if you feel totally overwhelmed by health. To give you an idea of what is possible when you heal your relationship with food and your body, I want to share a few things that I, a registered dietitian, do (on most days) to support my health. These things may seem “diet culture-y,” but they are not. They only seem like diet culture because many many diets use these things to make you feel like you’re not enough and there’s something wrong with you if you can’t do them “perfectly.” I want to give you a little hope if you’re thinking about pursuing intuitive eating and healing your relationship with food and your body. I would not be able to do all of this joyfully and non-obsessively if it were not for my own journey with intuitive eating and mending my relationship with food and my body
Drink lots of water
Hydration is important. For homeostasis, electrolytes, organs, skin, mental clarity, alertness, life. I aim to drink water throughout the day and tune into when I may be feeling dehydrated. I do not drink water to test if I’m “truly hungry.” If I’m hungry, I eat. If I’m thirsty, I drink water. If I want to be awake, I drink coffee. A good test of hydration is how you are feeling and the color of your urine. Pale yellow is just right.
2. Eat fruits and veggies as often as possible
Fruits and vegetables are great sources of vitamins, minerals, fiber, and water. They play a key role in the diet and in our health - we need them. I feel so much better when I’m eating them at least at each meal. I don’t eat them instead of the foods I really like - I eat them because I truly enjoy them & understand their value for my body.
3. Don’t “over do” it on carbs
By this I simply mean balancing my meals- having starches and proteins and fats and veggies and fruits and dairies. I know that eating all carbs will likely not keep me full and will probably cause my blood sugar to spike. By balancing all of the food groups at meals & snacks, I can improve digestion, absorption, hormonal balance, and enjoy a diverse &satisfying meal.
4. Choose minimal ingredients
I like to eat as many whole foods as the next dietitian. I opt for minimal ingredients, additives, colors, etc. Yes, this is my first choice, but I don’t freak out and feel like I’m ruining my health if the option available to me is the option with more ingredients and additives and colors. It’s called being flexible!
5. Limit inflammatory oils
See #4 - the same goes for vegetable oils, which are inflammatory. Do I prefer vegetable oils or recommend them for the best health? No. Do I believe I failed if I have something with vegetable oils? No.
6. Exercise regularly & challenge myself
This is a big one and took a lot of work for me! I always saw exercise as a chore, a way to earn the foods I wanted to have, and not worth it unless I was dripping sweat. None of that is true, which I thankfully realized after working through my relationship with food and my body. This required many many days, sometimes weeks, of skipping the gym. Now I love moving my body daily and doing a structured work out several days a week. I enjoy pushing myself, getting my heart rate up and getting stronger because it feels great and it’s great for my body. Being active is a great and necessary part of living a healthy life; however, we just have to make sure we’re using it for the right reasons.
7. Easy on the alcohol
Ya girl loves the bubbles, the dark reds & the craft beer but that doesn’t mean I have it all the time. Alcohol is still a toxin to the liver. I wouldn’t say drinking is as much of an “intuitive” thing as food - habituation with alcohol is kinda the opposite of habituation with food. This doesn’t mean alcohol is going to destroy your health in moderation. I am even more so particular about this and try not to drink too much because alcoholism runs in my family.
8. Not too much dessert or artificial sugar
I love love love dessert, but I don’t love to have dessert and sugary things all the time. It doesn’t make me feel great and its not really enjoyable when I’m just chasing sugar rather than enjoying a dessert. I ate desserts a lot more when I wasn’t giving myself permission to have them and at the beginning of my intuitive eating journey when I was working through that habituation process.
Being able to have really great, healthy practices in your day to day life is actually so much easier and enjoyable after you work through any hang ups with food and body peace, health, or general nutrition that you have. I hope all of these things can be great additions to your lifestyle in a freeing and non-obsessive way. If you need support in balancing healthy behaviors and a health thought process around food and your body, reach out to me here and we’ll start your journey, together.
Desa