Feed Your Spark

Happy Registered Dietitian Day! I'm a proud Health At Every Size dietitian...ensuring equal care for ALL bodies; fighting weight stigma & fat-phobia; trying to slow the tide of disordered eating/eating disorders & putting a stop to the harms of diet culture. Health is more than simply food; nutrition + health is incredibly complex and goes far beyond "eat this, not that." I'm here for holistic care and body respect. ... #allbodiesaregoodbodies #mentalhealthmatters #haesdietitian #dietitian #registereddietitianday

It's National Eating Disorders Awareness Week. As a dietitian who helps individuals form a healthier relationship with food, and as someone who used to personally struggle very much with body dissatisfaction and disordered food behaviors, I think it is important to talk about our relationships with food and body. Suffering often occurs in silence and secrecy. I want to bring light to the fact that our medical profession (and society) needs more education on the serious harms... of weight stigma and fat-phobia. We need to talk about the very serious, even deadly harms of diet culture. We need to talk about the fact that individuals suffering with eating disorders/disordered eating do not at all have the stereotypical "look" that is often perpetuated by the media and within the medical field. I could go on and on but I will get off my soapbox now and just say this: if you have been dieting most of your life, if you feel ashamed or frustrated because you can't "control" yourself with food or your weight, if you find yourself consumed with negative food/body image thoughts or behaviors -- please, get support from a licensed, registered dietitian, who preferably has specialized training in the treatment of disordered eating or practices from a Health at Every Size approach. "People feel like they have no idea what to eat anymore," Al Bochi said. "They've been listening to all these different food rules -- don't eat carbs, don't eat after seven, eat this to increase your metabolism -- and intuitive eating helps you unlearn that unhealthy relationship with food and bring enjoyment back to the act of eating."

PSA: restrictive, non-medically indicated diets that cut out food groups unnecessarily have a big list of side effects and often aren’t sustainable long-term. You don’t have to extremely restrict carbs, do a bunch of mental gymnastics every time you eat, or miss out on your favorite foods. If you are tired of jumping from one diet to the next or are curious about a more sustainable approach to pursuing your health goals, check out the books Anti-Diet by Christy Harrison or Intuitive Eating (3rd ed), by Tribole & Resch.