This absolutely resonates. I grew up with some pretty severe fatphobia in the house, and I'm honestly not sure I'll ever escape some of that thinking. Will I ever be ok with my body, will I ever have a normal relationship with food? I've spent a decade trying and failing, and now I mainline Maintenance Phase and hope that my inner gremlins will turn into inner Gordons and Hobbes with enough repeated listening.
Thank you so much for this! Definitely resonated with me and I feel I’m in this same journey taking similar steps. I love food, I love baking and I just turned 30yo in a different country where food and my rhythm of life are completely different resulting in gaining weight! I tried some things and my weight it’s still there, but I decided to not guilt and shame myself about this. A few months ago I felt the same, am I not going to enjoy the night out because of restricting myself? hell no. There is a lot of fatphobia in social media and in the world to bring that into my head! Why should I? I decided to exercise to the point where I feel comfortable and happy, and same with food!! As long as my body is happy, healthy and working, why shouldn’t I have a piece of the incredible cake I baked?? Love this Christina 🫶🏼 love to you!
Thank you for sharing this journey with us Christina. I’m a registered nutritionist specialising in intuitive eating and helping people heal from disordered eating and body shame. It means a lot to see food writers push back on diet culture and create safe spaces for all bodies to nourish themselves without guilt or shame. Looking forward to reading more of your writing on this!
I understand the level of sensitivity needed here, but I hope my response is not immediately flagged as insidious. I’m happy to be disproved in any way, just this is where I’m at rn.
I think you can label foods as more or less nutritious for an individual. This is a fact and is not inherently fatphobic or toxic. The foods that are maybe less helpful to our physical health are good for our mental health. This existence of nutritious and non-nutritious can be realized in addition to a belief that all bodies are beautiful.
I believe it’s capitalism that brings us to today where it very hard mentally to maintain a diet completely considered nutritious. Now we have to rationalize that it’s okay to find a balance between healthy and the surplus unhealthy foods that are a normalized part of our current diet thanks to capitalism. Maybe there’s a world where food production would be centered on necessity and societal wellbeing rather than profit. Highly processed foods, although taste great and are cheap and widely available, wouldn’t be a craving bc they wouldn’t exist. Also, there’d be a main focus on more ethical and local agriculture, meat and dairy production.
I guess I don’t think we should be mad at ourselves as we try our best to live in our current world. Instead, we should be mad at the system that has increasingly been focused on cranking out more and more profitable, non-nutritious foods for the sake of profit.
On a similar journey. I feel relatively far from where I used to be with my relationship with food (which was restrictive, the “good” vs “bad” food, calories in, calories out, etc) to where I am now. I eat whenever I’m hungry and whatever I want; turns out I often want what I would previously deem “healthy” and I also often want what I would previously deem as “unhealthy.” But even being here, I feel frustrated that I can still make that distinguish, that the little voice or part of me that I trained to say “shame on you for eating most of that pizza,” is still there. Like, I know now to quiet that voice, but will I have to do that forever?
Wow. This essay resonated so much with me. I’m on a similar journey and place with you in divesting from diet culture. It’s been a struggle (and a lot of flip-flopping) with being okay with eating what I want to eat, focusing on strength instead of being “skinny,” being body neutral, hating my body, and feeling guilt for eating “bad” foods. Thank you for writing this and I can’t wait to read your future essays.
What a gut punch: "I didn’t fathom it as a problem because I had lived a life constantly being reminded (by society, media, family, peers) that I could be smaller, and as long as one could be smaller, how could any pursuit of "health” (quotes genuine this time) be bad for you? Oof." Oof indeed!
Breaking free from diet culture can indeed be challenging, as I've experienced firsthand while crafting this week's essay. Reflecting on past writings, particularly my weekly dispatch for Healthyish/Bon Appétit, titled What’s Chaey Cooking?, revealed unsettling patterns of disordered eating and underlying anti-fat biases. It's a stark reminder of the pervasive influence of diet culture and the importance of confronting its harmful effects. Let's continue to challenge these norms and strive for a more inclusive, body-positive approach to food and wellness. I have written a similar post here and would love your opinion. Thanks
This absolutely resonates. I grew up with some pretty severe fatphobia in the house, and I'm honestly not sure I'll ever escape some of that thinking. Will I ever be ok with my body, will I ever have a normal relationship with food? I've spent a decade trying and failing, and now I mainline Maintenance Phase and hope that my inner gremlins will turn into inner Gordons and Hobbes with enough repeated listening.
Thank you so much for this! Definitely resonated with me and I feel I’m in this same journey taking similar steps. I love food, I love baking and I just turned 30yo in a different country where food and my rhythm of life are completely different resulting in gaining weight! I tried some things and my weight it’s still there, but I decided to not guilt and shame myself about this. A few months ago I felt the same, am I not going to enjoy the night out because of restricting myself? hell no. There is a lot of fatphobia in social media and in the world to bring that into my head! Why should I? I decided to exercise to the point where I feel comfortable and happy, and same with food!! As long as my body is happy, healthy and working, why shouldn’t I have a piece of the incredible cake I baked?? Love this Christina 🫶🏼 love to you!
Thank you for sharing this journey with us Christina. I’m a registered nutritionist specialising in intuitive eating and helping people heal from disordered eating and body shame. It means a lot to see food writers push back on diet culture and create safe spaces for all bodies to nourish themselves without guilt or shame. Looking forward to reading more of your writing on this!
I understand the level of sensitivity needed here, but I hope my response is not immediately flagged as insidious. I’m happy to be disproved in any way, just this is where I’m at rn.
I think you can label foods as more or less nutritious for an individual. This is a fact and is not inherently fatphobic or toxic. The foods that are maybe less helpful to our physical health are good for our mental health. This existence of nutritious and non-nutritious can be realized in addition to a belief that all bodies are beautiful.
I believe it’s capitalism that brings us to today where it very hard mentally to maintain a diet completely considered nutritious. Now we have to rationalize that it’s okay to find a balance between healthy and the surplus unhealthy foods that are a normalized part of our current diet thanks to capitalism. Maybe there’s a world where food production would be centered on necessity and societal wellbeing rather than profit. Highly processed foods, although taste great and are cheap and widely available, wouldn’t be a craving bc they wouldn’t exist. Also, there’d be a main focus on more ethical and local agriculture, meat and dairy production.
I guess I don’t think we should be mad at ourselves as we try our best to live in our current world. Instead, we should be mad at the system that has increasingly been focused on cranking out more and more profitable, non-nutritious foods for the sake of profit.
On a similar journey. I feel relatively far from where I used to be with my relationship with food (which was restrictive, the “good” vs “bad” food, calories in, calories out, etc) to where I am now. I eat whenever I’m hungry and whatever I want; turns out I often want what I would previously deem “healthy” and I also often want what I would previously deem as “unhealthy.” But even being here, I feel frustrated that I can still make that distinguish, that the little voice or part of me that I trained to say “shame on you for eating most of that pizza,” is still there. Like, I know now to quiet that voice, but will I have to do that forever?
Very thoughtful 🩵
Wow. This essay resonated so much with me. I’m on a similar journey and place with you in divesting from diet culture. It’s been a struggle (and a lot of flip-flopping) with being okay with eating what I want to eat, focusing on strength instead of being “skinny,” being body neutral, hating my body, and feeling guilt for eating “bad” foods. Thank you for writing this and I can’t wait to read your future essays.
What a gut punch: "I didn’t fathom it as a problem because I had lived a life constantly being reminded (by society, media, family, peers) that I could be smaller, and as long as one could be smaller, how could any pursuit of "health” (quotes genuine this time) be bad for you? Oof." Oof indeed!
Breaking free from diet culture can indeed be challenging, as I've experienced firsthand while crafting this week's essay. Reflecting on past writings, particularly my weekly dispatch for Healthyish/Bon Appétit, titled What’s Chaey Cooking?, revealed unsettling patterns of disordered eating and underlying anti-fat biases. It's a stark reminder of the pervasive influence of diet culture and the importance of confronting its harmful effects. Let's continue to challenge these norms and strive for a more inclusive, body-positive approach to food and wellness. I have written a similar post here and would love your opinion. Thanks
https://dailypublication.com/health/5-ways-to-boost-your-energy-levels/