Anti-Diet: Reclaim Your Time, Money, Well-Being, and Happiness Through Intuitive Eating

I was introduced to intuitive eating by Melissa Wells, the author of The Goddess Revolution. I'm not endorsing the girl: following her (briefly) on Instagram, I saw how into "woo-woo" she was (astrology, chakras, conspiracy theories, etc.). Not my idol, let's say. But her book was the first step I took towards intuitive eating. I threw away my scale, and instead of looking at how much I weigh each morning, I ask myself how I feel.

Anti-Dietby Christy Harrison, is my second step. And not the least: while The Goddess Revolution was more inspiring than anything else, Anti-Diet is surprisingly rigorous. It is full of references to scientific articles and solid reasoning. If you want to make a lasting change in your outlook, this is the book to read.

Summary

Christy Harrison is a nutritionist and creator of the podcast Food Psych. She has also been a nutrition journalist for years. She knows what she is talking about.

In her book, she denounces the diet culture, which she defines as: "a belief system that promotes thinness, muscularity, and particular body shapes associated with health and moral virtue; a system that promotes weight loss and body contouring as a means of achieving higher status (moral, social, or health status); a system that demonizes certain foods or food groups and valorizes others; a system that oppresses those who do not fit this image of health that its promoters hold" (I quote from the podcast "Une rencontre avec Christy Harrison ("A meeting with Christy Harrison")", where I learned with pleasure that she speaks French).

She explains the origins of this diet culture, and makes us realize how pervasive it is in our society. It is no longer fashionable to diet, but it is definitely fashionable to adopt a "healthy" lifestyle. She explains that this so-called "healthy" lifestyle that is sold to us is only a diet in disguise. Like other diets, it associates a moral value to foods, encourages to ban some of them on non-existent or doubtful scientific bases and associates thinness and health.

Her main point is that the diet culture affects the mental health, and even the physical health, of the people who bathe and adhere to it. This diet culture claims to be concerned with health, but ignores mental health, which is of course a crucial aspect of overall health. The author also explains that the diet culture simply does not work. Nearly 98% of people who lose weight intentionally regain it after 5 years, and the majority end up even heavier than before. The dieting culture only robs us of time and energy. It steals our lives.

The solution: relearn how to eat intuitively, that is what you want, when you want, as much as you want. Questioning our beliefs about health and thinness, about "good" and "bad" foods. Trust our body to tell us what we need, and honor it.

Impressions

I've recently become very sensitive to this whole diet culture thing. The more I become aware of it, the angrier I get. I remember when eating was a big deal (and my struggle is not over). When I was constantly wondering what I was going to eat and how much, if I was eating too much or not enough, if what I was eating was good for me or not. I remember those evenings with friends where I wasn't mentally present because of this diet culture. And I see all the people around me who still fall victim to it, who are constantly criticizing their own and other people's bodies and are terrified of gaining weight. All that joy and intelligence wasted. Yes, it makes me angry.

It makes me even more angry now that I have read Anti-Diet and I learn that everything we've been told about weight is basically wrong. It's not true that if you put your mind to it, you can change it permanently. It's not true that food has such a big impact on our health. It's not true that "fat" people are less healthy. It is not true that they are "fat" because they eat "too much" or "poorly". Our very concept of "fat" is wrong. We have it all wrong. And it hurts us so much.

This is definitely a must read. I will never be able to see the world the same way. And I wish you the same.