Let me start with this: self-love is the biggest middle finger of all time.
As I write this, it’s only been six days into the new year
and already I have the words ‘detox’ ‘diet’ and ‘lose weight’ ringing in my
ears. Everywhere I go I am bombarded with adverts for gym memberships, slimming
world, detox teas (aka laxatives) and meal replacement tablets. I switch on the
news in the morning and they’re talking about putting a tax on pudding (God
forbid) and how children consume too much sugar. I scroll through Instagram and
I see Kim Kardashian promoting some flat tummy shake that will give her the
runs (no doubt that her bum hole will be the next thing needing surgery).
It’s 2019. When will we learn that diets are stupid?
Literally… stupid. There’s a difference from ‘being on a diet’ and ‘have a good
diet.’ But both are pretty annoying. Before I sound like a hypocrite by
advocating to ‘eat what you want’, when I myself have had a big FAT fear of
food for the past six years, I just want to say I’m doing this because I have
experienced and witnessed the damaging effect the diet industry can have. This
week, that Michael Mosley idiot has been back on our screens promoting the
utter ridiculous 5:2 diet. I THOUGHT THIS HAD DIED ITS PATHETIC DEATH 7 YEARS
AGO?!? Nope, apparently people are still buying into it. No surprise though,
because it’s everywhere. There is nothing healthy about fasting. Of course you
will see results on this diet; you’ll be losing so much water weight, because
you are basically starving yourself. But is this really a life long way to
live? Are any ‘diets’ a way to live? No. They make you lose weight and then you’re
back at square one – because you can’t sustain a life by living off of egg whites and
spinach for breakfast, lunch and dinner.
(Can you tell I’m angry?)
There’s nothing wrong with wanting to be a bit healthier, or
if you are overweight, making sensible changes. However, there are two messages
that are still being drilled into us, and which need addressing ASAP. These
being:
- Women (and men) should hate their bodies.
- Food is the enemy.
Imagine for a moment that we lived in a world where we all
loved our beautiful bodies, and we enjoyed food?! Wishful thinking.
Having an unhealthy relationship with both food and my body
has been hell for me. Fortunately, I have been able to begin to rationalise it
and not be too affected by adverts, social media and celebrities. Nonetheless,
it’s hard to escape the messages that we are being infiltrated with.
Scroll through the majority of female media influencers
photos’ on Instagram and nearly all of them will have photos of them on a white
sandy beach flaunting their ‘perfect’ flat stomachs and long thin legs. How do
they have such flat stomachs when they supposedly live their best life eating
at fancy restaurants and lazing on the beach all day? This is not reality.
With the diet industry capitalising on this fantasy body,
the tummy is an easy area to target. Stomachs change shape throughout the day;
you may wake up and it be somewhat deflated or ‘flat’ and come lunch time it’s
probably a little rounder as it is holding all the drinks and food you have so
far consumed that day. There seems to be some ideology that if your tummy is
flat then your life is complete; you have achieved what all women want to, you
will be satisfied and proud of your body. Now let me tell you, as somebody who
has once had a flat stomach… it really isn’t that great. In those days I was
unhappier than ever, knowing that I ‘had’ to work hard to maintain this shape.
Analysing everything that I consumed to ensure there was no way of adding any
fat to my stomach became my entire focus and it sooner or later spiralled out
of control – full blown eating disorder madness. Of course, this is an extreme
example and not all men and women will develop an eating disorder by dieting,
but the industry no doubt can tarnish anybody’s relationship with both food and
their body.
Was I happy when I had a flat stomach?
Did I love my body when I had a flat stomach?
Did I enjoy food when I had a flat stomach?
Was I confident when I had a flat stomach?
Did having a flat stomach get me the career I wanted?
Did having a flat stomach determine graduating from
university?
Did my boyfriend love me more for having a flat stomach?
How about, did I waste too much time obsessing over avoiding
food and staying skinny? Yes. Yes yes yes.
It is so life consuming that it really does overtake your
day to day life, your relationships and your entire being. The media is constantly telling us that we
are a ‘fat’ nation, they we consume too much fast food, that we don’t exercise
enough. But where are the reports on the millions of women who are victim of
low self-esteem and disgust at their own body? No doubt heightened by the constant
diet adverts that are everywhere, especially in January and the run up to
summer.
Christmas always used to be the worst day of the year for
me, fearful of food and any chance of over indulging or eating more than I used
to. However, now that my eating disorder is much more under control, it was
much easier than previous years because I knew that I wouldn’t be forced to eat
anything I didn’t want to. I am now strong enough to eat what I want to.
Nonetheless, this year, it was the post-Christmas period
that hit me like a tonne of lard. Everywhere I looked we were being told off
for what we had eaten. We were being told off for foods that the same companies
had been selling us.
Being in recovery from an eating disorder during this period
is excruciating. As we are learning to accept our new bodies, everywhere we
turn we are told that our body shapes are ‘not perfect.’ Your thighs aren’t meant
to touch, your stomach should never be round, your ribs are supposed to be visible.
It’s all such rubbish. Moreover, for those who have been in hospital or
received therapy will have fought through the understanding that food is not
the enemy, and that our bodies need a lot of fuel to run.
This whole ‘New Year, New Me’ ‘I’m Going to Lose Eight Stone
This Year’ thing is more often derived from the idea that food is bad. There
are good foods and bad foods… apparently. This is utter bull shite (unless you
have an allergy of course). Whether it be carbs or sugar, there is always a
trend of which food is going to be the devil this year. Sure, if you ate solely
a diet of Haribo Tangfastics for every meal, every day of the week, then we
have reason to be worried… but it’s like that with any food. If you eat the
same food, and lots of it, then sure – that’s not healthy. But it doesn’t have
to be loads of crisps to deem this an unhealthy lifestyle, I survived for a few
months on a diet of boiled cabbage – to some a ‘healthy’ food, but for me it
was what nearly killed me (and my bowels).
What I’m trying to say is, that it is so easy to demonise
food and become fearful of it, but cake isn’t going to kill you. (What a way to
die though!) As Cringey McCringe as it is, we only live once - and if I were to be hit by a bus tomorrow -
*touch wood* - I want to die knowing I hadn’t wasted years avoiding foods that
I actually enjoyed and loved my body just the way it was.
Right then diet industry, supermarkets, self-titled
nutritionists and Instagram influencers, do yourself a favour and shove your
diet fads up your bum and poo it out once those laxative detox do their dirty
work.
If you want to follow some more realistic, relatable but still wonderful Instagram accounts, I’d highly suggest:
·
@I_Weigh
·
@JameelaJamilOfficial (my hero)
·
@notoriouslydapper [body issues
aren’t just a women thing]
