In an online poll I took earlier this summer, I had an overwhelming request for me to speak more about ditching dieting. It’s taken me quite some time to put my thoughts together regarding the matter. It’s a messy topic, considering how prevalent diet culture has become in our society. But Lauren, what even is diet culture?!
Christy Harrison defines diet culture as a system of beliefs that…
Worships thinness and equates it to health and moral virtue, which means you can spend your whole life thinking you’re irreparably broken just because you don’t look like the impossibly thin “ideal.”
Promotes weight loss as a means of attaining higher status, which means you feel compelled to spend a massive amount of time, energy, and money trying to shrink your body, even though the research is very clear that almost no one can sustain intentional weight loss for more than a few years.
Demonizes certain ways of eating while elevating others, which means you’re forced to be hyper-vigilant about your eating, ashamed of making certain food choices, and distracted from your pleasure, your purpose, and your power.
Messaging about new diet trends, weight loss, “toned” bodies, and fitness studios are everywhere we turn. We see calorie counts on menus and activity trackers on wrists… None of these things are not inherently bad but, for many, the constant exposure can make chronic dieting, weight loss, and manipulating our input/output seem standard or necessary to achieve a state of health, well-being, and “enoughness.” The effort to keep up can be exhausting! And, for the most part, completely unnecessary.
While the word diet has been a fairy stable term used for hundreds of years, the trend line for the term “dieting” didn’t see a rise until the mid-1900s. Merriam Webster definitions of both words highlight their differences:
Diet (noun): the kind of food a person, animal, or community habitually eats.
Dieting (verb): to eat and drink sparingly or according to prescribed rules
Now, I’m no historian, but I do know healthy people lived, survived, and thrived LONG before the mid 1900s without dieting. Yes, they had diets, guided by seasons, activity, family rituals and emotions. But dieting, guided by rigid rules with the purpose of changing our external appearance, was widely unheard of. How about them 🍎🍏🍎🍏?
A Different Approach
Rising Rooted Health Coaching focuses on getting back to the roots of health— no unnecessary dieting, no rigid rules, no detoxes or cleanses. During my private coaching sessions, we focus on mindset, intentions, and primary food—which is everything that ISN’T actually food that nourishes our well-being (such as relationships, our exercise patterns, and career choices). From there, we notice how these elements influence our secondary food (otherwise known as our actual diets).
The Journaling Guide
As a way to spread awareness about diet culture and to reach so many more of you ladies than I could through 1:1 coaching, I’ve decided to create a Rising Rooted Journal Guide. I’m so excited to announce this new offering to support those of you who wish to cut the confusion regarding messages we hear, and find your unique rise toward your healthiest, happiest you!
No more “diet starts Monday” mentality.
No more running ourselves ragged.
No more indecisiveness and questions about what is truly best for us.
This journal will support you in uprooting your limiting beliefs about your health, plant the seeds of new growth, and develop daily rituals for radiance (mind, body, and spirit).
The guide includes…
— my personal story regarding dieting, body image, and holistic healing
— journaling prompts for each phase of Rising Rooted
— strategies for improving self-awareness and “turning down the volume” of diet culture messages we encounter each day (in our relationships, on social media, and with the way we approach taking care of ourselves)
Grab your copy of the guide today!