You must always cut something out—a certain ingredient, or meal, or an entire food group.
You usually have to ignore your hunger as you’re told not to eat at night, or to stick to a certain number of calories.
You usually have to ignore your cravings—whether that means skipping apple pie or an apple (because, you know, that’s a lot of sugar).
You’re taught to see food solely as fuel—rather than a source of enjoyment, excitement, comfort, and even a source of inspiration and fun. You’re taught to see food as an enemy: That ice cream will make you fat! Those slices of pizza will derail your diet! You’ll never be thin, healthy, desirable, beautiful if you eat THAT!
There are strict, very specific rules to follow—and if you don’t follow these rules, you’re somehow a failure. You somehow have zero willpower. You’re somehow a loser who clearly doesn’t want to lose weight or get “healthy” badly enough.
To dismantle the diet mentality, we need the opposite of restriction and rigidity. (We also need to let go of the idea that weight loss is inherently healthy and wonderful and some panacea, and that everyone can and should be thin. But that’s another story for another time, and one that I know is really hard to rewrite and relinquish.)
We need flexibility and variety. We need to put ourselves back in charge (which is very different from grasping for control).
To get started, here’s a range of questions to explore and experiment with, so you can slowly re-evaluate, readjust, and reframe your diet mindset.
- What if you let your cravings guide your next food choice?
- What if you eat past 8 p.m.?
- What if you ordered the fettuccine Alfredo instead of ordering a salad like everyone else at the table (because the Alfredo just sounds so good)?
- What if you tossed the diet books and cookbooks you’ve been hanging onto?
- What if you stopped following a food rule you typically follow? Just for a day or two?
- What if you didn’t let a meal’s calories determine whether you eat it?
- What if you eat something today solely because it excites you?
- What if you let food be fun—and eat something you loved as a child?
- What if you stop labeling food as “healthy” or “unhealthy” and yourself as “good” or “bad” because of what you do or do not eat?
- What if you give yourself unconditional permission to eat anything?
Diets are built on narrow choices, control, constant hyper-vigilance, and neglect (neglecting our cravings, our cues, our desires, our needs). Diets are built on berating ourselves and keeping ourselves in line. Diets are built on disconnection.
Full lives are built on the exact opposite. Full lives are built on flexibility and play and adventure. Full lives are built on curiosity and creativity.
Full lives are built on listening to ourselves, whether that’s listening to your body or listening to your heart.
What if you start doing that today?
Photo by Eaters Collective on Unsplash.
https://blogs.psychcentral.com/weightless/2019/09/another-way-to-dismantle-your-diet-mindset/
2019-09-30 02:34:47Z
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