Does anyone eat normally anymore?
It seems more people today are dieting or worried about their food, than eating for physical hunger and satisfaction.
Whenever I ask my clients if they know someone who eats “normally”, by this I mean not caught up in diet culture, the most common response I get is “I don’t think I know anyone who eats normally.”
I’ve had many clients tell me how almost everyone (usually women) at their workplace watches their food intake, whether it’s portions, sugar, fat or ensuring they get their “superfoods”. And there is so much diet talk to the point you feel ostracised if you’re not dieting.
It seems food is less a source of fuel, nutrition, pleasure and connection and more a method to control how one’s body looks or to stave off cancer or some other disease.
Whatever happened to eating for hunger, pleasure and satisfaction. I wrote about this in more detail here lovewhatyoueat.com.au/earth-eating-well-get-complicated/
So has distorted eating become the “normal” way of eating?
What do I mean by distorted eating?
- Constantly worrying about the fat, carbs or calories of food
- Feeling guilty for eating sweets or fatty food
- Having forbidden foods that you think you shouldn’t eat
- Feeling like you have to make up for eating something with exercise or food restriction
- Thinking you have to exercise and burn calories in order to deserve eating something
- Thinking about food in terms of “good”, “bad” or “naughty”
- Getting mad at yourself for eating something “unhealthy”
- Convinced that eating a certain way will prevent you from getting cancer, diabetes or any other disease
I’d love to hear your experience with this, what’s your workplace like and has our obsession with food gone too far?
