Something I Can't Stand

Since I’ve been more focused on fitness and nutrition a lot starting Aug. 2020, I’ve been thinking a lot about “diet” programs and how “getting healthy” is presented to us.

We do hear a lot of good things about how we can interpret our specific and unique needs. But we also hear what I think is a lot of shaming and blaming. Sometimes very directly (fear of death) and sometimes indirectly via social media influence/pressure of idealized images, or just general cultural ideas/ideals.

When we want change but can’t seem to make it happen we can become anxious/stress---even panicked and desperate for solutions. And sometimes those solutions aren’t healthy (only eat this food, eat a lot of this food but none of this one, stop eating so much, exercise for hours every day, etc.) The information is often confusing and overwhelming. And then we might start internalizing shame and begin to see ourselves as “bad”---we withdraw and feel guilty about ourselves. Or even feel like failures---broken.

But what if those solutions are not right for you or me? What if it’s the “diet”/”get healthy” program that has failed us?

It seems to me that we need programs that are sustainable-----something we can maintain. It seems to me that we need programs that are flexible--- our needs change over time and change in response to our environment. So shouldn’t the program do that as well? And it seems to me that we need programs that are realistic. So much of what has come out about being healthy is based on crazy expectations about the speed in which it “should” happen and what it “should” look like on us.

You and I are not the failures.