The Joy of Fullness

Even when we think we’ve rejected diet culture, sneaky food rules can cause us to restrict. For many people born into “normal weight” or thin bodies (I include myself in this group), much of society assumes you’re “healthy.” But, many of us feel stuck in a “Restrict, restrict...or else phase.” I remember a therapist I saw in my twenties saying, “You’re starving yourself, just a little bit.”

The idea of not being thin is scary since body size and what we eat have become moral issues. We’re “good” for being thin and “bad” if we’re not. Dieting and restricting are so widespread that many people considered “normal weight” or thin are compelled to comply in the name of “health” and “wellness.”

In my last blog post, you learned how diets aren’t just hard to follow and unsuccessful 95% of the time, but that they can cause physical and mental harm. 

By ignoring external cues from diet culture and tuning into our internal cues, we can relearn to trust our bodies. Here’s how: 

When we feel biological hunger, we eat!

When we eat, we choose foods that sound good to us.

We eat an amount that satisfies our hunger :) 

We notice how our food choices make us feel.

And, sometimes we tune out and mess up,

        so we learn as we go without judgement or guilt.

My client Sasha recognized that her afternoon fatigue was actually hunger. Now she eats a snack that she calls her “brain food” since it allows her to focus on important tasks at the end of the day. 

Another client says that one of the best parts about her current relationship to food is how flexible it is. She has learned that one meal or one day of “not eating great” isn’t going to cure or kill her. These days, instead of asking herself, “What “healthy” food should I eat?” she asks, “What do I want to eat?”