5 Steps To Deal With Diet Culture

Written by Jen Liam, LCSW and Certified Personal Trainer

Jen Liam, LCSW has a private therapy practice helping youth, adults and families heal from anxiety, depression, trauma, and grief. She is also a Certified Personal Trainer and focuses on total body wellness, combining movement and her knowledge of physical and brain health to support her clients.

Tired of feeling stuck in a fishbowl with the world critiquing your every bite? Weary of being bombarded with what, where, why, when and even how to eat? Many of us are drowning… yet simultaneously perpetuate these beliefs, consciously or not. Afterall, the diet industry became a billion dollar business somehow! In this brief article, we’ll look at 5 specific ways to cut diet culture out of your life and find joy in food instead.

1. Find fun foods

The first step in becoming a warrior against diet culture is to give yourself permission to find, prepare, eat, and, most importantly, enjoy food. How does one go about finding food that brings us joy when so often all we hear is : ‘all the good food is so bad for us!’?

With the judgment comes shame. With shame, joy goes out the window.

Try new restaurants

Humans love predictability. How often do you go to your favorite restaurant and order the same meal? Who knows, maybe your next favorite bite is something you’ve never had before!

Remember what you loved as a child

Did you lick ice cream from your forearm as your cone melted in the hot summer heat? Have you ever burned your tongue on a bite of grandmother’s grilled cheese because you could hardly stand to wait until it cooled off? What about sharing a bag of chips with your best friend and complaining that they were taking bigger handfuls than you? Food memories can be a great place to start when it comes to allowing yourself to truly enjoy food.

2. Scrap the scale

Understanding and accepting that a number on a scale does not equate to any personal value, meaning or worth is another important step in being a warrior against diet culture.

Remember

The number on the scale does not equate to overall health, muscle mass or even body fat percentage. Most importantly, the number on the scale does not equate to your worth.

3. Find fun food friends

In today's hustle and bustle it can be difficult to find a time to eat, let alone a time to eat with friends. Find friends who share your love for food… without the ‘guilty’ conversations that can so often hijack food enjoyment.

Be willing to change the topic

Because we live in a culture that is saturated with the topics of calorie, size and weight, it’s natural and common that conversation may take a turn in that direction. Feel comfortable and confident to change the topic to books, movies, artistic pursuits or even family affairs.

Be intentional with social media

See above. The conversations that we have with our real-live-people can be similar to those we follow and seek and choose to watch on our phones. Remember that those people also consume our precious time and mental energy... Choose wisely.

4. Make movement matter

As a therapist who works with people of all ages, I am continually enamored and entertained by the unequivocal love…need, even, children have to move their bodies. They flop, they try to fly, they... eventually try to do a Tic Tok dance. Movement is a joy for kids.

For most of us, walking on a treadmill for 30 minutes staring at a wall does not bring inherent joy.

Exercise is not a punishment

Running up and down the beach flying a kite likely sounds more appealing than completing a set of burpees. Of course, we can’t all run out and fly the proverbial kite every day, but maybe it’s worth taking some time to plan for some intrinsically fun and enjoyable movement. Remind yourself that exercise is not something we need to do to ‘make up for’ how we have chosen to nourish our bodies.

5. Think ‘two-tank’

Imagine that our relationship with food is partially dictated by two different ‘tanks’ in our abdomen. (The phrase ‘ trust your gut’ emphasizes this important fact.) One holds food, the other emotions. These two tanks can often become co-mingled and obstruct our clarity when dealing with food: ie, ‘Am I really hungry or just bored?’

Fuel tank

Our fuel tank literally keeps track of food entering our bodies. When was the last time we ate, how much did we consume, and when do we need to feed ourselves again given our activity level? Some people have a difficult time assessing the content of our food tank when our emotional tank ‘takes over’, so-to-speak.

Emotional tank

Our emotional tank is just that – one of the places in our bodies that ‘holds’ our feelings. Are you exhausted after a long day of meetings and want to eat a bag of chips? Do you feel nervous the morning of a big presentation and can’t eat breakfast? Both are classic examples of our ‘tanks’ confusing our own selves!

Invest in yourself

Taking the time to check-in with our own two tanks is another step in combating diet culture. By honest and diligent commitment to having an authentic connection with ourselves, we become more resolved to ward off what others may try to impart onto our bodies. By trusting what we want to eat and when and even how, we can combate diet culture and go forth cultivating food joy!

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Jen Liam, LCSW and Certified Personal Trainer

Jen Liam has been in private practice in the Atlanta area for over 25 years. She is well known and respected for her unique approach to wellness, focusing on total body/brain health and healing. She was a two-time American Ninja Warrior competitor and combined her passion for overcoming physical and emotional obstacles to best support her clients. Her approach to whole-self therapy offers clients the opportunity to work on both their emotional and physical self simultaneously.