DIEt

“I want to go on a diet for the new year”.

I froze. Please, no. Another girl lost to diet culture. A victim I hadn’t thought it would claim. But then, no one expected it to trap me either.

I shook my head, and looked at her, pleading. At least I was trying to look pleading, but I probably just looked strangely intense. “Why? If you want to share of course”, I tried to keep the emotion out of my voice, but it felt strained. I hoped it didn’t show. I wanted to reply “no!!!” but I appreciated that this would be unhelpful, unsolicited, and ignored.

“I dunno”, she replied.

“Okay,” I replied. We could talk this through. “If you want to change how or what you eat/drink to help yourself be a better athlete then awesome, but maybe talk to a nutritionist first. If you want to diet just because it feels like a thing you should do then please, don’t”. The rest of the conversation is between me and her, but it’s a sentence (okay, two sentences) that I sometimes wish I could scream from my roof.

I’m no nutritionist, I’m no expert, but I am an expert in myself. Diets have pushed me into terrifying places, places I wouldn’t wish on anyone. Given that services around the country are incredibly stretched, it’s really difficult for people to reach any sort of detailed education on the topic before they’re identified as a danger to themselves. Educating yourself is SO IMPORTANT, because the chances are, no one else is going to help you. In fact, there’s a multi-million £ industry trying to miseducate you. Unless you can afford a nutritionist or formal education in the subject, vast majority of “education” you receive around diets is probably not good, and can even be harmful. The good news – you can change this.

There are three definitions of “diet”:

1. (Noun) the kinds of food that a person, animal, or community habitually eats
2. (Noun) a special course of food to which a person restricts themselves, either to lose weight or for medical reasons
3. (Verb) restrict oneself to small amounts or special kinds of food in order to lose weight

The first definition makes sense. The second is interesting – “either to lose weight or for medical reasons” – lose weight OR medical reasons. Weight does NOT equal health. This is literally in the definition of the word “diet”. The third definition is what people in Western culture almost exclusively use the word “diet” to mean. It’s almost hard to believe that the first and third definition have the same stem word. One is a well-balanced meal, and the other is courgetti with veg stir fry (heavy on the leaves).

This blog is not me having a go at people who want to diet or lose weight. Frankly, what you do is between you and your medical or nutritional professional. HOWEVER, why are you doing it? If you can give a sensible answer to that question (meaning: stands up to your medical or nutritional professional) then good luck to you, I hope it goes well!

If you can’t answer that question then maybe you need to reassess. I’m not saying “never ever change your lifestyle”, I’m saying “if you change your lifestyle, do so in a considered way”. If you want to diet but can’t think why it is you’re trying to diet then some good goals could be:

• Eat more fruit and veggies
• Get more nutrients in your body
• Get outside every day for at least 30 minutes
• Hydrate
• De-caffienate
• Move
• Move more
• Move earlier
• Mobilise
• Meditate
• Create (draw, write, sing, colour)
• Socialise
• Sleep
• Go teetotal
• Unfollow accounts that make you feel bad

Sleep does wonders, as can getting more water, fruit and veg, and less caffeine, alcohol. Humans were made to be social, outdoors, on-the-move… our bodies and brains haven’t really adapted at the same speed, so you still need to pay attention to these things. You don’t owe anyone a follow on social media, no matter how long you’ve followed them or known them, no matter whether you think you should… If for ANY reason seeing them in your feed makes you feel jealous or inferior or not good enough, log off or unfollow.

Having a goal like this is a way of making a proactive change, rather than a radom change to your lifestyle. It could be a way to get all the things you think you want from a diet without dieting.

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Further reading/listening:

The Science on Weight and Health (blog article, well referenced)

Why Fatphobia is Racist (NPR podcast)

Dr Joshua Wolrich interview by Sofie Hagen (podcast)

Lucy Mountain – instagram