Fight the Good Fight: Health Heroes vs. Diet Industry Villains
What makes a hero?
A hero could be someone who saves lives or protects society from evil (like Superman), and a hero could also take the form of the person you strive to be. Either way, a hero is someone who departs from society’s norms to accomplish a greater goal.
Diet Industry & Nutrition Misinformation "Villains"
We live in a fast-paced world where - sadly - diets have become the norm, and the focus has shifted to appearance and numbers (weight, BMI, calorie-counting, etc.) rather than overall health. We are accustomed to obtaining answers to our questions in a single Google search or a quick click on the Internet. Let's face it...our society prefers simple answers and fast results. Americans have spent billions of dollars supporting the diet industry that emphasizes quick weight loss rather than long-term health. The marketing of diets is alluring, but research suggests the diet industry promises way more than it can deliver in terms of lasting weight management and health.
In addition to easy answers and immediate results, our society takes great interest in food and nutrition; however, nutrition misinformation runs rampant in our culture. Since we're still going with the "hero" metaphor, you could say the diet industry and nutrition misinformation serve as “villains.” They perpetuate the destructive diet mentality. It seems most nutrition-related messages come from the media, friends, and family, but how often do they come from Registered Dietitians? Furthermore, how many nutrition messages come from nutrition experts who reject diets, instead advocating a real food, non-diet approach?
What would life look like if we became our own heroes, fighting and conquering these “villains” who shamelessly promote the diet mentality?
What if we moved away from focusing on numbers as measures of success and instead focused on health, self-care, and fueling well?
Sharaze Colley, a client, blogger at “Passing Pinwheels”, and certainly a hero in my book writes about her experiences in moving toward health and diet freedom. She states, “I haven't had to count calories or drastically change my diet. I don't stress. There's almost no real limits to what I am ‘allowed’ to eat. It's nice. And freeing.”
Rejecting diet industry villains does not have to be complicated. In fact, diets usually end up being more complicated than a real food, non-diet approach. Though this approach often takes longer and requires perseverance, it ultimately leads to a lifetime of better health, stronger metabolism, and peace with food.
Colley states, “And that's the amazing thing. I'm eating more. I'm not starving all the time. Fad dieting tells me the opposite should be happening, that the answer is always ‘eat less, exercise more.’ But that's not always the case…I'm starting to think it generally isn't that simple… something I know, but hard to actually live by because of all the messages I get all the time about food being the enemy.”
During the process of rejecting the diet mentality, remember…even Superman had his kryptonite. Likewise, sometimes the number on the scale or the nutrition label can become our kryptonite, blinding us to our progress toward health and peace with food.
Heroes are not immune to doubt, fears, and trials, but they ARE willing to face the things that scare them like moving away from diets and numbers in order to reach a greater goal. Don’t fall victim to the diet mentality another day! Become the hero who stands up to this villain and fights for overall health and peace with food.
*Note* This article was originally written for Good Health Magazine. I made some minor changes before posting here. Thank you for reading! If you enjoyed this post, you may also like: