The entry stories into Diet-Culture are endless…

“I was 10-years-old when my mother dragged me into my first Weight Watchers meeting”

“My brother had cheese sandwiches and cookies for lunch, while I was given carrots and celery.”

“The doctor told my mother I needed to lose 20 pounds when I was 12.”

“I have always been ashamed of my body, so dieting is just what I do.”

Our beliefs about what we look like, our weight, size and shape start young.  The messages come from well-meaning parents, physician shaming and childhood nicknames . They are then followed by media messages from money hungry diet culture, media airbrushing and photo shopping and our own internal drive to fit in and belong with others.  These types of messages drive us to never feel quite good enough.

The beliefs that lead to Diet-Culture

For me, there were two distinct beliefs I grew up with:

One: I was bigger than the other kids, thus the size of my body was wrong.

Two: If I lost weight and looked like everyone else, I would be happy. My life would be better.

These beliefs drove me into decades of comparing, criticizing, and judging myself. Leading to  hundreds of diet attempts and hours and hours of exercise, all trying to change and alter my body into something it was not.

I was not alone.  As a matter of fact, eight out of ten 17-year-old girls are unhappy and feel shame around their bodies!  So, what do they do?  They search for a solution. One that will “fix” them ie: a diet to try and make them feel better about themselves.  And if the research also tells us that 91% of middle-aged women have “I hate my body” moments every day, that means we live decades beating ourselves up physically by dieting and emotionally by degrading self-talk.  I have clients in their 80’s who have been on an endless pursuit to lose weight and change the way they look for over 60 years. Isn’t it time to call a truce?

At war with our bodies

It seems as though we have been pitted in a war against ourselves and our bodies.  Diet culture, BMI recommendations and society’s thin ideal has surrounded and suffocated us. It is time for us to come up for air, take a new breath, think differently and change the trajectory of our next generation.

What would it have felt and been like if we were surrounded by women and men who embraced their bodies? People of all different sizes, shapes and weights, who were comfortable and confident in their bodies? Who accepted and embraced their differences and uniqueness?

I would love us to find out, because the way we have been living hasn’t been working out.  There is proof all around us by the amount of body shaming, bullying, weight stigmatization, disordered eating and eating disorders that are reported every day.

Time to be done with Diet-Culture!

My own decades of self-destruction has led me to say Enough is Enough!  It was time to step up and take a stand.  So, I have created The Body Joyful Revolution…a community of women who want to step up too.

At the Body Joyful Revolution, we empower women, regardless of weight, size and shape to feel comfortable and confident in their bodies; So that they can inspire other women and girls to do the same.  This is a community of women who have said ENOUGH, and are standing together to change diet culture, reject society’s thin idea, reduce body shaming, bullying, weight stigmatization, disordered eating and help prevent deadly eating disorders.

The goal is for our kids and grandkids, mothers, nephews, nieces, friends or colleagues to understand, embrace, and respect their individuality and uniqueness. When we feel good about ourselves, we feel confident to be ourselves.  This blesses the world with our own unique one-of-a-kind gifs and talents.

We can make a difference by embracing our differences, accepting ourselves and celebrating one another. If you are ready to step into yourself join the Body Joyful Revolution today, or schedule a free Body Joyful Breakthrough session here.