Power In Numbers! How an Anti-Diet Community Overcomes Diet Culture – Stress Series 5

Hola amigos! Welcome to One Small Bite!

The pressure and stigmatization from diet culture that many people endure can be very isolating. It can often cause some people to feel like they’re stuck on an island all alone. The research is compelling: Social isolation and loneliness is linked to various chronic illness and various physical and mental conditions such as high blood pressure, heart disease, a weakened immune system, anxiety, depression, cognitive decline, Alzheimer’s, and can even lead to death in some people. One of the best ways to beat the stressors of diet culture is to find people that can support one another, learn together, and make people feel like they belong and are important. We are going to explain how building and finding a community with the purpose of helping people build a positive a secure relationship with food and body so that they can feel good and live fully, is one of the best ways to beat this stress in life.

Highlights of this episode:

• Health risks associated with loneliness
• Getting Unstuck – how the community was formed
• How diet culture adds to the chronic stress
• The benefits of anti-diet approach to chopping diet culture
• How community overcomes stress
• Feeling good and living fully is belonging and community

Episode Show Notes: 

[04:11] Health risks associated with loneliness
So many people are burdened with the stress of dealing with their body that they think is not an accepted body in society. They feel ashamed, embarrassed, and frustrated so it’s much easier to crawl back into their life without seeking the support from people that have the same lived experience and can really help. Today we’re going to talk about the benefits and the importance of establishing, finding, and belonging to a community of likeminded people that have your back. We are going to explain the importance of connection and how this community can overcome the stress, the stigma, and the difficulty around diet culture. We are going to meet several group members from our Get Unstuck course that are going to share their experience and stories of diet culture, and how community has helped them navigate through the challenges.

[08:02] Getting Unstuck – how the community was formed
At OrozcoNutrition we created a cohort-based program back in Feb 2022 called Get Unstuck, which was based on a weight-inclusive approach to helping people get unstuck from diet culture traps and learn to build a positive and secure relationship with food and their body. It was a 5 week program where 11 participants met via Zoom weekly to discuss Intuitive Eating and Health At Every Size approaches that can help, but what quickly developed were some strong bonds. The people in the community started feeling like they belonged, like they were finally being heard, and more importantly listening to the same lived experience they were all having. As one member put it “I felt like people finally understood what was happening to me, and I was a part of something special.” This what an Anti-Diet community is really going to do. Provide people that don’t feel like they are being heard a way to connect to others that can support their journey to feeling good and living fully.

[17:33] How diet culture adds to the chronic stress
From diets to less obvious food rules, diet culture is constantly adding to the chronic stress. Dieting mentality may not be how most people see it. They may think “I don’t diet” but follow some type of rule or belief about a food that causes the to cut it out, avoid listening to their body’s needs, and avoid certain foods because they may be deemed dangerous or unhealthy. This only contributes to the constant emotional challenges in people’s lives. It adds more stress, not to mention the constant self-criticism that plays in someone’s head “I’m not worthy to eat that” “I should avoid that because it will make me fat” and so much more. This is not a good feeling, and not a way to live fully.

[26:08] The benefits of an anti-diet approach to chopping diet culture
An anti-diet approach means that people pay attention to their body’s needs and their emotional desires for food, without the guilt and shame that comes from diet culture. An anti-diet approach is based on the idea that all foods fit, and that there isn’t any one way of eating that will work for everyone. It’s a way of including people of all body shapes and sizes and believes that everyone is enough just the way they are. An anti-diet approach is about finding behaviors that maintains a person’s health without the weight-sigma and stress that comes from diet culture.

[[36:34] How community overcomes stress

• They have your back – Finding support from others that have lived through the same challenges of diet culture
• Feeling heard, respected, understood, and belonging to a group that lifts people up despite their body shape and size
• Provides a safe space to practice new habits, learn, and grow together
• Reduces the stress by dismantling diet culture
• Creates a common purpose of likeminded individuals with the same goals

[47:55] Feeling good and living fully is belonging and community
We are all deserving of belonging to a community that helps people build a positive relationship with food and not one that is critical, categorical, or othering. Feeling good means people can enjoy all foods and their body just the way it is.

Resources:

Get Your Copy of the book – One Small Bite: Anti-Diet Stories that Empower You To Build a Positive and Secure Relationship with Food

ON Community

A community of people just like you interested in building a positive relationship with food and body, to learn and practice new habits, grow together, so that people can feel good and live fully. Read about it here: ON Community

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Chop the diet mentality; Fuel Your Body; and Nourish Your Soul!