Body Image

Welcome back to Rebuilding Trust With Your Body, I’m Katy Harvey your host. Today on the show we are going to talk about ways you can legitimately improve your health, without dieting. Diet culture has led us to believe that in order to get healthier we need to be cutting out certain foods, drinking a bunch of green smoothies, and always focusing on weight loss in order to improve our health. All of that is nonsense, and often backfires and damages health, so what are you supposed to do if you’ve decided you’re not dieting anymore, you’re not cutting out food groups, and you’re not fixating on weight loss?

Picture this: You’re at a charming little restaurant, savoring the most delectable pasta you’ve ever had. The sauce is tangy and rich, perfectly coating the noodles. Despite feeling full, you take a few more bites because it’s just so delicious. Now, you’re really full and facing a dilemma: stop eating to avoid feeling stuffed and miserable, or continue because it’s too good to waste, and reheating leftovers might not do it justice.

One of the things that makes this especially tricky is if it was kind of a big deal for you to give yourself permission to eat the pasta in the first place. Maybe in the past when you were doing low carb dieting, or when you were tracking your macros you would never order something like a decadent plate of pasta at a restaurant. So it felt really liberating and empowering (and maybe also a little scary) to order the pasta in the first place. And then it’s so delicious that you don’t want to stop eating it – which on some level also confirms your fears that you can’t trust yourself with these types of foods, and you start to wonder if you’ll ever make peace with food.