Body Positive
Oh, The F Factor Diet…
Dieting and the pursuit of weight loss is harmful to women and our society as a whole. If we are so busy trying to shrink ourselves and obsess over “improving” our bodies, then we are less likely to have the brain space to focus on things that truly matter. Like Naomi Wolf so eloquently puts it, “Dieting is the most potent political sedative in women’s history.”
Dieting has been proven to fail in the long term for the vast majority. Not only don’t they work, but they often wreak havoc on our metabolisms, causing people to end up at higher weights than when they started. Along with that comes weight cycling as people “fall off the diet wagon” again and again and weight cycling is associated with hypertension, inflammation, increased risk of diabetes, and more (all the things people associate with fatness). Instead of people blaming diets, they blame themselves. “I just need more self control. I just need to try harder. I just need to try this diet instead. I just need to do low carb this time.” Sound familiar?
This post is for those of you who are interested in exploring the alternative to dieting but still might be struggling with the seductive nature of the trendy diets like F Factor. It is so normal to want to lose weight in the culture we live in; I mean, the diet industry is billions of dollars invested in you believing your body is a problem in need of fixing.
Let’s start with what what makes this F Factor diet so incredibly special (more…)
3 Mindful Eating Tips To Get You Through Chanukah
*My boss, Dr. Conason, wrote mindful eating posts for Halloween and Thanksgiving and I’ve adapted them for Chanukah with her permission. You can read the original posts here and here.*
Chanukah is almost here and personally, it’s always been my favorite holiday. Unfortunately, diet culture can put a damper on holiday spirit – by making us feel guilt and shame for eating doughnuts and latkes or having us worry about the calories and how it’ll impact our weight. It can feel especially frustrating when you want to be present and enjoy the time with people you love but food anxiety can overshadow everything! I know that for those of you that struggle with disordered eating or eating disorders, holiday time can be particularly challenging.
But I do think it’s possible to enjoy Chanukah, even in our crazy diet-obsessed world. Here are three tips to having a mindful and fun Chanukah: (more…)
Your Guide to Health At Every Size and Intuitive Eating
The diet industry is $70 billion dollars and counting and heavily invested in us believing our bodies are problems in need of fixing. We are constantly bombarded by messages that the only way to be worthy and acceptable is to be thin and of course it takes a toll on us. We’re human and our fatphobic world impacts everyone negatively; thin people are terrified of getting fat and fat people know that everyone is desperate not to look like them. It’s a no-win situation.
The body positivity movement has been growing and more people are realizing that body diversity exists but are struggling to shake off the messages that fat=unhealthy because it’s hard unlearning a lifetime of opposite messaging. So today I thought I’d share my list of podcasts, books, and resources for those interested in learning more about Health At Every Size, intuitive eating, and body positivity. Let me know if you think there’s something I’ve missed! (more…)
So… You Overate During The Holidays – Now What?
I’ve gotten quite a few messages from you guys sharing that you feel anxiety about overeating during the holidays and have been tempted to cut back this week to compensate.
First of all, take a deep breath and have some compassion for yourself please! Sukkot is 9 days long and challenging for so many people. Holidays can be hard whether you struggle with disordered eating/eating disorders or not. It’s a lot of family time, a lot of sitting around at hours long meals – so please try and be gentle with yourself.
Now, let’s talk about what cutting back over the next few days would look like. Because the thing is, dieting/restricting/cutting back pretty much guarantees that you’ll feel SO much more out of control when the second round of big holiday meals start up again. Because you’re going to be hungry AF and allllll the foods you didn’t let yourself have all week will be in front of you again. And what happens? You feel completely out of control around those foods and think you have no self control.
Naaaaa- the reality is that when you (more…)