I was a tall lanky teenager (puberty didn’t set in til late), I loved fashion and drugstore makeup! By the time I was in highshool (circa 1980’s), I fell in love with Jane Fonda and her iconic leg warmers. Everyday after school when I came home, I would pop in one of her videos (a VHS to be exact) and turn our family room into my “exercise studio”.
It was around this same time, I started to eat “healthy”. As a “healthy conscious” teen, I literally ate up what the media fed to me! I gave up red meat and was into all of the healthy crazes. I can recall eating “oat bran” because it was supposed to lower my cholesterol (even though I never had a problem with my cholesterol!). I remember going to my best friend's house for dinner and having her mom’s cabbage soup. While it didn’t hold a candle to my grandma’s chicken noodle matzo ball soup, we needed cabbage soup to be a staple in my house too! Besides oat bran muffins and cabbage soup, our pantry became stocked with everything “fat-free” including those green boxes of “Snackwells” which were trendy and seemingly guilt-free.
Fast forward a few years to college in the 90’s and the health boom continued. I thought that I was prioritizing wellness, exercise and self-improvement. And now many years later, in my 50’s, when I can happily say that my life is full, I have worked hard to recognize that all the branding, labeling, and marketing was really a source of confusion and misguided relationships with food, health, exercise and wellness.
But, no matter how much I practice, day to day living still throws me a curve ball to test my agility. I was shopping at a locall market and I noticed a tray of “vegan bikini body muffins”. WAS THIS A JOKE? If I eat one every day would I be able to wear a bikini without thinking twice? And what about those younger than me, the young girls and boys who are so impressionable (as I once was)? Are they supposed to believe the label and think this way too? Clearly someone was trying to be funny when they labeled these muffins. But why? Why is a muffin a “bad food”? I took out my readers so I could see the fine print. All ingredients that I truly love (spelt flour, oat flour, fresh zucchini, carrots. and agave nectar). The labeling of these muffins as "bikini body" is not only misleading, but it also perpetuates the idea that our worth is determined by our appearance. This moment, caught off guard as I was shopping for food, opened the pantry door, leading me back for a moment in time, where I didn’t want to go. Should I or shouldn’t I buy the damn muffins and eat them? Did I want to support this ridiculous culture that we are still living in?
As an Intuituve Eating Coach, I have worked hard to not let myself get trapped by diet culture. I have learned to trust my body to make food choices that feel good to me, without judgement and without being influenced by diet culture. We all have the power to challenge diet culture. By being mindful of the messages we are exposed to, and by making conscious choices about the foods we eat, we can create a more positive relationship with food and our bodies.
And the muffins? Well, they are darn good!
If you are struggling with diet culture, there are resources available to help you. As a Psychotherapist as well as an Intuitive Eating Coach, I can provide support and guidance as you learn to trust your body and make food choices that are right for you.