Disclaimer: This information is written for educational and entertainment purposes only. I am not a dietician or nutritionist. Eating disorders are serious conditions that should be treated by a health professional.
With summer beginning, it is important to maintain a healthy relationship with food. It’s always around this season that the most pressure is put on us to be “fit,” and “healthy.” I put those in quotations because, too often, society measures these factors based on how we look.
Trying to meet the standard of “health,” that the media portrays leads many people to develop negative relationships with food. Diet culture pushes us to try new diets like trends. Most of these fad diets, however, are just ways to restrict ourselves.
To be your best self this summer, it’s crucial to focus on the actual aspects of your own, personal, wellbeing. Health is personal and unique to each of us! It cannot be accurately measured based on physical appearance. And, everyone’s dietary needs are different.
The issues with “wellness culture”
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Fad diets
Fad diets have existed since mainstream media was created, but in recent years the health industry has cultivated what is known as “wellness culture.” Wellness culture promotes all kinds of tips, tricks, and suggestions for things you should be doing to improve your health. Although these trends hide being claims of improving “wellness,” most all of them are centered around losing weight or staying thin.
- Juice cleanses are claimed to be great for weight loss and detoxing. Although you might lose weight in the short-term from only consuming juice for multiple days, there are health risks to this kind of restriction. In reality, eating a regular, balanced diet allows your body to detox itself just fine.
- The vegan diet has grown in popularity. There is no issue with choosing to go vegan, if you’re doing it for the right reasons, and being mindful of sustaining a balanced diet. The harm in the vegan diet comes from the restrictions it places on food options. For someone who already has disordered eating thoughts/behaviors, which are easy to be unaware of, diets like the vegan diet can prove to be a cover to further food avoidance.
- The keto diet works wonders for some to lose weight quickly. Which is no surprise, since the diet involves eating little to no carbohydrates. Again, this diet can work to lose weight in the short-term. However, it’s unsustainable for most people to only eat protein and fat forever, and there are many health risks.
- Intermittent fasting has also been widely promoted as of late. This approach does have proven weight-loss effects. Compared to other calorie-restrictive diets, though, intermittent fasting does not have any higher of an effect. Restricting the time period in which you allow yourself to eat can lead to eating fewer calories, in general, which will result in weight loss. The line between beneficial and restrictive is very thin for this trend.
The language
Along with the diet trends, wellness culture brings harmful language and terms regarding food behaviors. You’ve probably heard many people, or yourself, say “I ate really badly yesterday, so today I am going to eat extra clean.” Labeling foods as “good,” or “bad,” enforces unhealthy relationships with eating. In reality, there are no good or bad foods, there are just foods. Each food has a different nutritional value, sure, but dividing them into only two categories can be harmful.
Some unhealthy behaviors that can come out of these labels are guilt, anxiety, and obsession. We shouldn’t associate any of these feelings with eating. Unfortunately, because of toxic diet culture, a majority of people do. We feel that when we indulge in heavier foods, that we should be guilty and need to punish ourselves by restricting the next day. Or, we become so obsessed with eating “clean” foods, that we get anxious when sufficient options aren’t available.
These behaviors can impact our daily social lives. When we obsess over food, constantly planning our next meal, or feeling anxious when we eat something that we consider “bad,” we might find ourselves avoiding social situations. An enjoyable experience, like going out to eat with friends, can become stressful.
How to genuinely care for your health
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As a young girl, I definitely was a victim of the pressures that social media can cultivate. I was constantly comparing myself to images of other women, wondering how they looked the way they did, and knowing I would never. After years of struggling with disordered eating, I realized one day just how exhausted I was. I didn’t want to have to think so much about everything I put in my mouth, or worry over how I looked, sticking to a strict exercise routine, etc. It was a constant source of anxiety in my life.
As cliche as it sounds, what helped me realize the changes I needed to make was going abroad. While I was traveling, I was enjoying foods that I wouldn’t eat regularly at home, and I didn’t have time to workout really at all. Before leaving, I was stressed about these things. But once I was there, I never worried about it once. I was too busy enjoying myself! Taking a break from focusing on food and exercise is what I needed to change the way I think about eating and my body image.
Don’t worry, you don’t have to take a trip to Europe to be able to create a healthy relationship with food. It takes dedication to loving yourself and your body, even when society is telling you it’s not their definition of beautiful. It’s not always easy, but a commitment to loving yourself is the most beneficial thing you can do for your actual health. Here are some tips that help me:
- I stopped looking at foods as “good” or “bad.” Now I look at food just as food! I allow myself to eat all foods, instead of restricting what I used to consider “bad” foods. By doing that, and eating what I want when I want it, I no longer feel controlled by food. It also prevents binge eating habits that can come from restriction. When you allow yourself to eat intuitively, you can eat something “unhealthy” in moderation, since you know you can have it again whenever you want.
- I started really focusing on loving my body instead of hating it. I had to practice mindfulness to become aware of my thoughts, in order to change them. It’s not always easy or successful, but it will help. When I notice that I’m saying something negative about myself, I try to switch the thought pattern into something appreciative and loving.
- I focused on doing workouts that I actually enjoy. Before, I’d do intense training almost every day, and force myself to exercise even when I didn’t feel like it. While motivating yourself is good sometimes, resting when your body needs it is just as important. If I don’t feel like moving intensely one day, I just do gentle yoga. And, I take days off of exercising whenever I want. I also no longer stress about missing days in my workout routine. I always used to feel like I was working out to meet a goal that was unattainable, constantly working to change some aspect of my body. Now, I just move in ways I love because it feels good and clears my mind.
Conclusion
We are all our own worst critics. In the era of social media, it’s easy to pick yourself apart and constantly compare yourself to others. Think about how much energy you spend worrying about superficial things, and how that damages your overall well being. Half the time, we would never say the kinds of things we say about ourselves to other people. Why do we feel that it’s okay to speak to ourselves this way?
When you feel unworthy, turn to your creator. God made us uniquely, and with intention. Instead of tearing yourself down, use that energy to delve deeper into your faith. At the end of the day, what is going to add meaning into your life is not the number on the scale, but the loving connections you have to yourself, your God, and others.
Written by Grace Haass, blogger at Safe Harbor International Ministries. For more articles, check out our blog page at https://safeharborim.com/articles/
I am on my weight loss journey and I agree that combined exercise and a healthy diet is important.
It does not have to be 1000 steps or anything like that. Start with small things such as walking in the park. From there, build momentum and improve daily. Weight loss should be enjoyable and rewarding at the end. Also, small habits such as keeping fruit in the fridge and healthy snacks such as roasted almonds could give you a huge payoff in the long term.
One other thing that can help is starting a diet journey with a written plan and a journal. You want to come up with a system that you can follow and adjust based on your situation. I keep a list of exercises, progress and food recipes that help me with my diet.
I love tea! I keep a bunch of tea recipes in my journal. I benefited from the Red tea detox program. It has a bunch of ingredients that help to reduce hunger and production of stress hormones. It helps me to cut my binge eating habit that I have tried to get rid of since forever.
Personally I follow the all in one guide from fatlosshabbit.com, they have the best Red tea detox recipes plus all the exercises and diet plan necessary to give you results in just 14 days. I hope this helps you and good luck in your weight loss journey.