Anti-Diet: What you need to know!
Anti-Diet:
Reclaim your Time, Money, Well-Being, and Happiness through Intuitive Eating. Like many of you, I have found myself falling victim to diet culture or “wellness” spaces (which are often just diet culture in disguise). I have lost track of the amount of time I spent worrying about my appearance, and my obsession with food was so severe I decided to make myself a career out of it, hence my current position as a dietetics student.
Christy Harrison’s book “Anti-Diet” has completely changed my outlook on health and my own body- something none of my undergraduate work or personal research has been able to do for me. Harrison is a registered dietitian with a master’s in public health. She has had her own experiences with disordered eating and has turned her life around to become a promoter of Health at Every Size (HAES), which will be discussed later.
Picture from CHP Berkshires
The Origins of Diet Culture
The book opens discussing the racist and sexist roots of diet culture, and the role colonization and industrialization play in the way we view larger bodies. In the past, larger bodies were seen as healthy and ideal. It indicated wealth and opulence and was therefore desirable. The main cultural shift began during the time of industrialization, when people feared immigrants taking their jobs, and needed a way to separate themselves to retain superiority. One of the main differences between the white working class and people coming from overseas was body shape, and the birth of the thin ideal was born. These ideas created a sizeist and fatphobic society predating any studies on size in relation to health. In the beginning doctors resisted prescribing any form of weight loss, a stark contrast from the way healthcare is run today. This change happened due to shifting cultural values and pressure from patients, not emerging research. The truth about size if you have been taught that being in a larger body is inherently unhealthy, you are not alone. Diet-industry and insurance funded studies have solidified this viewpoint to push products and make a profit. Being considered overweight has been found to reduce health problems and all cause mortality. Studies linking higher weights to chronic health problems are correlational, meaning these factors are related, but one does not cause the other.
There are many other factors that play a role in the link between “ob**ity” and chronic health problems. Many individuals in larger bodies do not receive adequate healthcare. Previous negative experiences with providers can lead people to avoid seeking care, and it can be hard to advocate for yourself while being shamed or embarrassed by a doctor. Additionally, many interventions given to people medically considered “overwh**t” include weight loss, rather than a real solution. This creates a disparity in the quality of healthcare received between them and their thin counterparts because when an intervention is performed later, rates of chronic illness and mortality increase. Stress and weight-cycling are two other factors that play a role in the contraction of chronic illness, even when controlled for BMI. People in larger bodies experience many distressing situations whether they are criticized by those around them, or simply live life in a society that does not accommodate them. Not being able to find clothes in the store or not being able to fit into chairs is a problem that people who have size privilege do not even have to think about. These cause constant stress which takes a toll on the body.
Weight-cycling is a phenomenon that happens when people go on a diet. Periods of weight loss followed by weight regain puts lots of pressure on your internal organs and contributes to chronic illness. Studies have also shown that people who diet and intuitive eaters consume similar amounts of sugar and other ultra-processed foods, and intuitive eaters eat a wider variety of foods which increases nutritional intake and promotes positive health outcomes. At this point, some of you may be asking, if people in larger bodies experience stigma which causes negative health outcomes, why not lose weight? To put it simply, diets don’t work. Weight loss is not an evidence-based practice, and most dieters regain weight by the five-year mark. If weight loss was simple, it wouldn’t be a million-dollar industry. If you are struggling to lose weight, it is not your fault. Your body puts in place compensatory mechanisms to prevent you from doing so. Your body has a weight range where it feels most comfortable called your set point. When you diet, your body will decrease the amount of fullness hormones, and increase the amount of hunger hormones and the reward value of food. It will also decrease your energy output and reduce the activity of your thyroid and sympathetic nervous system which help regulate metabolism.
In addition, your body will increase your set point to protect itself from further starvation which causes people to gain more weight than they had originally lost. Dieting causes extreme feelings of deprivation that may also cause people to binge on the foods they restrict themselves from eating. Permitting yourself to eat food without assigning moral value will allow you to eat that food while listening to internal body cues and end the binge-restrict cycle.
The Life Thief
In addition to physical changes, weight loss has heavy emotional consequences. Harrison aptly calls diet culture “the Life Thief.” How many of you have skipped that beach trip with friends or didn’t enjoy a party because you were worried about your appearance or the amount of food that you would have to consume? Even in social situations where you are physically present, an obsessive focus on weight and food takes us out of the moment and removes the enjoyment from the event. People who don’t subscribe to diet culture are found to have higher rates of satisfaction for this reason.
The Life Thief also steals our money. Millions of dollars are spent on products such as sketchy weight loss pills and diet programs designed to fail. Food products marketed as healthy versions of food we love are consumed en mass only to promote binges later on. Eating the diet version leaves people feeling unsatisfied, causing them to eat much more to try to fill that craving. There is no evidence to support many of the diet programs influencers andcelebrities are trying to sell you. Gluten-free diets only help those with celiac disease, and raw milk is a great way to pay to get a foodborne illness. Harrison goes over these diets and many more in great detail, one of the reasons I highly recommend this book.
Breaking Free of Diet Culture
Now that you know the reasons why diet culture is wrong, what steps can you take to break free of it? The first step is recognizing your hunger and fullness cues. If you have been dieting for a long time, you may have learned to ignore these cues, or you may no longer feel them at all. A grumbling stomach isn’t the only sign of hunger. Irritability, fatigue, headaches, and nausea are all subtle signs. Some people worry if they honor their hunger and cravings, that they will never be able to stop eating. Harrison likens dieting to a pendulum, when you restrict yourself, you are on one side of the extreme, when you first break free of diet culture, you may swing to the other side; however, the pendulum will eventually settle in the center, and you will be able to eat what you like without binging. I have gone through this process myself and can testify to this story. In the beginning I felt guilty for allowing myself to eat the foods that I craved, but now I can say that it has never been so freeing, and I no longer feel the urge to eat past satisfaction.
The next step is to find peace with your body. I have found body acceptance to be the easiest for me to adopt. Body acceptance is what it sounds like, accepting your body for how it is without criticism. It can be hard to jump immediately from disliking yourself to body positivity, which is why I believe that this is a happy medium. You can appreciate your body for the things it does for you. Harrison recognizes that for individuals who are disabled or transgender, this concept might be more difficult. Body acceptance for transgender folks might mean coming to terms with the idea that their body doesn’t match their assigned gender identity, and they will need surgery in order to feel comfortable.
Building a community
Harrison mentions that one of the most important aspects of healing from diet culture is a sense of community. She talks about how diet culture often creates spaces of female bonding, and it may become jarring to lose this. Additionally, hearing people constantly promote thin ideals may set people back in their own progress. Talking to the people in your life about intuitive eating and the harms of diet culture is one way to create that support, though they may not be at the same spot in their journey. Educating people may take time, and you are free to walk away from conversations that do not help you heal. Online spaces are another great way to build community. You may join groups that promote safe spaces free from diet culture where people can share ideas and stories. These spaces aid in recovery and help you feel less alone on your journey.
Another important aspect is to find healthcare providers who practice HAES. Harrison describes HAES as “a weight inclusive, anti-diet approach to healthcare that is designed to help you take care of your body rather than shrink it.” Request not to be weighed at the doctor unless medically necessary such as dosing for medication or anesthesia, and inform the team not to share your weight with you. Partitioners should focus on evidence-based approaches to healthcare, not weight loss, and promote ideas that support your mental and emotional wellbeing in addition to physical health. In eating disorder recovery, health at every size does not mean your current size is healthy. HAES focuses on behaviors rather than size, meaning weight doesn’t matter if your eating patterns are disordered. People of all sizes can have eating disorders, and putting a focus on weight takes away from the root cause of the behavior.
Incorporating HAES
HAES can be simply described as “self-care not self-control.” This may look like packing a snack when you are busy or in eating disorder recovery, eating because you know you should. It means eating for your mental health and emotional well-being, free from restriction. Many people use exercise to control their body or to “make up” for food that was eaten days before. Harrison recommends focusing on movement, a much less rigid term that involves any type of physical activity done in the day. If you enjoy running, go for a run, but if you don’t, you don’t have to force yourself. Anything from vacuuming your room to taking a yoga class can count as movement. Many people in recovery don’t have a healthy relationship with exercise, and I am here to tell you that it is okay to take a break. You are not more or less worthy due to the amount of movement you get in a day. If you have been compulsively exercising, the thing you need most right now may be nothing at all.
You can check your relationship with movement with one simple test. If you met your athletic goals, and your body stayed completely the same, would you be okay with that? If the answer is no, you may need to reevaluate your goals and relationship with movement. One of the hardest parts of HAES as a victim of diet culture is coming to terms with your own weight. It is important to note that if the only way you can sustain your weight is through restrictive or disordered methods, it is not the weight your body wants to be. Harrison recommends throwing away or smashing the scale and getting bigger clothes as a start.
The path to a healthy relationship with food isn’t an easy one. It is okay to feel angry with diet culture or mourn your lost years. Take things slow and if needed, work with a HAES dietitian and therapist for support. For more information I’d recommend reading Harrison’s book Anti Diet and podcasts Rethinking Wellness and Food Psych or checking out my other blog posts on disordered eating and hunger and fullness cues.
Remember, you are worthy of food, and you are not alone.
References:
1. Harrison C. Anti-Diet: Reclaim Your Time, Money, Well-Being and Happiness
through
Intuitive Eating. Yellow Kite; 2022.
Written By: Jenna Wray, HAES Intern and Dietetic Student