Twenty years ago I had a blog (different from the current blog you’re reading!). I started it during graduate school and it was a really great way for me to connect with others, share my thoughts on nutrition and health, post recipes, and be creative with my writing. It was much different back then, social media wasn’t as big as it is now, and blogs were the “it thing”. Blogs were the way people spread messages and had a voice. Back then my whole professional life revolved around weight loss and weight maintenence. I remember using the term “everything in moderation” quite often, and discussing with people/writing blogs about “the importance of limiting added sugars” and “only allowing a certain number of desserts each week” and “really planning out your meals before going to a retaurant”. These tips aren’t awful, per se, but when the underlying message is “weight loss”, things become tricky. I didn’t know it at the time, since I had very little experience in the field, but my messages weren’t really helpful, they were harmful. Here are some reasons why nutrition and health messages, with an underlying focus on weight loss and/or maintenence, are not useful (and even harmful);
- When we are focused on weight loss as a goal, we tend to lose sight of the other benefits of making healthy lifestyle changes, such as more energy, stamina, heart health, diabetes prevention or management, mental health and brain health, increased immunity, improved gut health, and the list goes on
- A focus on weight often exacerbates feelings of guilt and shame when our weight doesn’t budge
- A focus on weight can cause healthy behaviors to turn unhealthy, if weight loss isn’t happening fast enough
- When we are focused on weight, instead of actual behaviors, we are telling ourselves, daily, that our self-worth is based on the number on the scale
- When we are focused on weight, we treat food as a tool to manipulate our bodies, instead of a tool to nourish and bring joy to ourselves and our lives.
What can you add to this list?
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