30 Anti-Diet Practices to Try this Month
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If you’ve had thoughts about wanting to make changes to your eating or exercise behaviors this month– you’re not alone! The beginning of the year is prime time for businesses to market products, tools, memberships, and experiences geared towards helping people meet their new years goals or resolutions. As such, you may be seeing an increase in emails or ads on social media encouraging you to take steps to improve your health or to focus on prioritizing your wellbeing, by way of purchasing their products or participating in their programs. This is all fine and good, except when “health” and “wellbeing” gets boiled down to weight, and the goal is always weight loss. This is just diet culture being disguised as “wellness” and reinforces that our bodies are not good enough the way they are, and that weight is the main indicator of health, which it’s not.
The word “resolution” in the context of a new year’s resolution, means to “make a definite and serious decision to do something” according to the Merriam-Webster dictionary. If making your health a priority in 2022 is something you are resolved to do, we encourage you to think about all aspects of health, including your mental and emotional wellbeing, as these are so very important. How has dieting, or trying to control your weight, impacted these? If a good amount of your brain space is currently spent thinking about calories, macros, or points, consider what it would be like to not have to think about those things each time you ate. What would that feel like? Scary? Relieving? A mix of both? What if you didn’t need to feel guilty for eating foods you enjoy?
Our health is not dependent solely on how much we move and what we eat, although diet culture would like for us to believe that is the case. And, we know that yo-yo dieting and trying to manipulate weight can actually lead to worse health. For more about the impact of weight on health, read Dana’s blog post . Keeping these things in mind, we created a list of 30 anti-diet practices to try in the new year to support you in working towards, or in helping you to maintain, a peaceful relationship with food, weight, and movement.
Move calorie or movement tracking apps off your phone’s home screen, or your smartwatch face
Better yet, delete these tracking apps from your smart devices
Follow anti-diet dietitians on social media, here are some to get your started: @marcird @encouragingdietitian @dietitiananna @thenutritiontea @radlove.nutrition
If someone starts talking to you about their latest diet, change the subject to something unrelated to food or weight
Choose your next meal or snack based on what sounds good instead of the calories in the meal or snack you ate earlier that day
Skip your workout today and do another form of self-care instead
Don't genuinely enjoy that diet food or drink? Consider tossing it
Instead of complimenting someone on how they look, compliment something else about them (their laugh, smile, etc)
Pick a recipe to cook/bake if it sounds good to you, regardless of calories
Listen to an anti-diet podcast: Maintenance Phase, Food Psych, Food Heaven
Add a fun food to your grocery list this week
Have a snack if you want one
Order takeout
Skip weighing yourself today
Better yet, put your scale somewhere you don’t see it everyday, or throw it away altogether
List 3 things that your body does for you, no matter how big or small these actions may be
Follow Health at Every Size aligned health care providers on social media: @gaudianiclinic @theantidietplan @fatdoctoruk (and many, many more)
Unfollow unhelpful social media accounts
Give yourself permission to make decisions about what/when/how much to eat regardless of your amount of physical activity that day
Have any diet books or cookbooks around that you’re not using? Pack these up or toss them
Try to not label foods throughout the day as “healthy” or “unhealthy”, “good” or “bad”
Is there a food or drink you love but don’t have because it’s not “healthy”? Have it today
Treat yourself to a new book: Your Body is Not an Apology, Anti-Diet, Intuitive Eating, 4th Edition
Have clothes that don’t fit anymore but you’re saving them for motivation? Donate these or pack them away
Eat when your hungry
Identify 3 qualities you like about yourself that have nothing to do with your weight, body shape, or size
Do a form of movement you genuinely enjoy versus what is going to burn the most calories (and do it for only as long as you want to)
Have dessert if you want it (regardless of when you last had it)
Challenge a food rule
Put a sticky note on your mirror to remind yourself your worth is not defined by your body
Interested in finding food freedom and body trust for yourself? Join us for our Intuitive Eating Support Group and Book Club starting March 2, 2022! More information here.
Or, Contact us to schedule a FREE discovery call and see if working together is a good fit for you! We see clients in Vermont, Florida, and several other states. And, be sure to join our email list for more tips and support on your diet-free journey.