Step Off the Diet Rollercoaster.

I have an issue with diet culture (to be fair, I have an issue with much of the overculture, if you didn't gather that already.😉).

I don’t think anyone is meant to blindly conform to standards. Our very nature is inquisitive, but a lot of that gets overridden by our (stronger) need for belonging. It’s easier to stop questioning the standards & be accepted by the horde than it is to ask questions & risk being left on the fringes.

In few places is this more evident than when navigating the tumultuous terrain of body change. We decide we want our bodies to look or perform differently, & we’re faced with a veritable onslaught of advice, some well-meaning, some notsomuch.

Friends share restrictive diets. Magazines promise one weird trick. We all know that story. One far more interesting to me is the part of the narrative at its very inception:

We decide to make a change that we haven’t yet implemented, and we hand over our power to society at large.

The moment we let advertising & its victims tell us what’s best for us is the watershed moment for many; what follows is a trickling stream – and eventual downpour – of shame. We're told that certain foods are bad, or that lifting heavy makes us bulky & that we shouldn’t want to “look like a man."

Hear me clearly: NO ONE knows what’s right for you better than you do.

Part of the work of self-discovery & standing firmly in your power is taking a stark look at commonly-accepted standards (of beauty, of behavior, of basically everything) & deciding which are for you (and, of course, which are not). In undertaking this process, many of us realize that perhaps the only thing that is unworthy of us in our fullness is the acceptance & normalization of shame.

Want to lose weight? It’s possible to do so without the demonization of carbs.

Want to gain muscle? It’s possible to do so while releasing the fear of losing your femininity – while creating your own definition that has little to do with the societal archetype.

Overculture tells us there is one way – and only one way – to do things optimally. Which is not wholly untrue, but the person who knows this ideal way? It's you.

xoxo,
Steph


PS- ready to get started uncovering your path? I have one-on-one coaching slots open this month! Click here to learn more.