Dieting be damned. For one of the first times in history, or from what I can tell of it at least, women are focusing on how the food they eat makes them feel instead of worrying about the (nutritional) numbers associated with eating certain foods. Rather than fixating themselves on how much fat, or carbs, or protein or even calories are in their food, women are becoming more concerned with whether or not the food(s) they put into their body are making them feel amazing. In other words, women are starting to finally take care of their bodies.
I’ve read a lot of articles lately and watched a lot of documentaries on how dieting, in the traditional sense, often leads to disordered eating, weight gain, ultimately, unhappiness. Often, restrictive diets and weigh loss fads work for a short burst of time in ones life—but those moments in time are unmaintainable. And why is that the case? Because our bodies aren’t made to starve! They’re made to thrive and be well nourished. And women are realizing this more today than ever before—there’s a growing mentality that it’s all about what food can do for you so that strong and healthy bodies become “the new thin”.
Beginning of timeline of fad diets (1829-1977)
Throughout the past, women were too worried about fitting into certain clothes or reaching that idealized number on the scale—but in the end, no matter if they reached their goal, women were left feeling tired, sluggish, and really, above all else, just left wanting more. What do I mean by more? Food, of course—which is to be expected when we deprive ourselves. And it’s taken us this long to figure it out, but I really think we’re starting to get the hang of it—if we start listening to our bodies and how they respond to certain foods or drinks that we consume, we’ll start to realize what’s truly worth eating and what’s not. Food is not the enemy—over-eating or under-eating and our stigmatization of certain foods is.
Second half of timeline from above (1981-2010’s)
Diets are made and created in the hopes that eating a certain way, limiting and restricting some foods and binging on others, will work for all those who try it—but we aren’t cookie-cutter humans! We are each very unique and individual and so are the responses of our bodies to varying foods. So instead of worrying about the specific numbers on the labels of food or the numbers on the scale or the number on the tag of your pants, start worrying about how what you’re putting into your body makes you feel. If it isn’t making you feel your best, then, long story short, you’re not eating well enough. Don’t feel as if you need to limit your intake of anything—eat when you’re hungry and stop when you’re full. When you eat well in a way that suits you and your body, you give yourself the opportunity to find pleasure and vitality in all that life has to offer. Dieting is the opposite of living—thank goodness we’re starting to figure that out.
Images: 1, 2, 3 and 4 taken by author (from Self Magazine), 5
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