Just Another Fad Diet?
Today I received these comments online on a video in which I used the analogy from my last blog post about weight cycling and why you should not blame yourself for “failing” on diets. Here it is again:
“Imagine taking a hair loss medication that would grow back your hair for a few weeks but then causes severe to complete hair loss and damages the hair follicles permanently…. Imagine taking heart medication that would improve your heart’s ability to pump blood round your body for a few weeks but in ultimately causes severe heart failure and damages it… Imagine taking skin rash medication that would improve your skin’s appearance for few weeks but in the long run causes severe skin rashes and damages it permanently…
Would you then blame yourself for the medication not working and proceed to keep using it? Of course you wouldn’t! The same should go for dieting, no matter whether a health care professional prescribes it or not.”
So here is my transcribed response to this person in which I unpack their comments:
IE (Intuitive Eating) is not just another fad diet, because it’s not a diet at all, it’s actually an anti-diet approach that challenges the current diet culture status quo which:
Shames larger bodies & celebrates thinner ones
Labels foods as “good” and “bad”
Assumes that anyone who simply eats less and moves more would unequivocally reach what society deems “healthy” and aesthetically pleasing.
It’s that dieting mentality, that social construct that for many people leads to detrimental thoughts and habits that can promote disordered eating and warped ideologies.
When one says IE doesn’t “work for a lot of people” - well it depends what their definition of ‘work’ means. One example of a misconception around IE is that many people might think IE is about eating whatever you want, whenever you want and losing weight but again, that’s not the case.
It’s an evidence based weight-inclusive model with a validated assessment scale and over 140+ studies to date. It’s a self-care eating framework which integrates instinct, emotional and rational thought, it helps you regain trust with your body & it is applicable for every-BODY (shape, size, race and according to the founders of said movement every medical disease)!
It’s about tapping into and honouring your body’s natural ability to tell you when you’re hungry, satisfied and what food is going to serve you with the energy you need for that particular day, something a lot of us are numb to because of the effects of diet culture (our interoceptive awareness and responsiveness)
It’s shown unparalleled results in the quest for improved physical and mental health in the way we think about food/our bodies, how we eat and move, and how we feel holistically.
Although some people can experience weight loss and gain, it doesn’t condone nor promote the idea of needing to lose or gain weight so you can look a certain way. The idea is to help you focus on foods that work best for your particular overall physical and mental health.
Intuitive Eating has 10 Principles
1. Reject the Diet Mentality
2. Honour Your Hunger
3. Make Peace with Food
4. Challenge the Food Police
5. Discover the Satisfaction Factor
6. Feel Your Fullness
7. Cope with Your Emotions with Kindness
8. Respect Your Body
9. Movement—Feel the Difference
10. Honour Your Health—Gentle Nutrition
And lastly, the analogy is not in bad faith and the counter argument used is a false equivalency fallacy.
Firstly, the analogy is simply illustrating the notion that blaming yourself for an external catalyst’s failings (of which there is sound scientific evidence to prove this with dieting) before continuing to use it despite said shortcomings (aka going on diets to lose weight when diets more often than not cause the majority of people to regain lost weight plus extra) is illogical. So I use the analogy to encourage people not to shame or guilt themselves for “failing” on diets when it’s the diets that are failing them.
Secondly, the counter argument is a false equivalency fallacy because I’m not talking about cancer, I’m talking about intentional weight loss (the hair analogy was using a made up hair loss medication as a way of illustrating illogical behaviour) and the effects dieting has on our bodies.
I’m not a cancer expert and I have no personal experience nor professional education on the topic of cancer or the way in which cancer medications in particular work. So I would not give anyone this advice about cancer. I can only imaging that if a cancer treatment had the same effect as the fabricated hair loss example for the majority of people that it would not be used in cancer treatment. But again, I am not a cancer expert...
I am however an expert in binge eating and body image, if you would like help with either of these you can book a free no obligations consultation call with me by clicking on the button below - I look forward to meeting you!
