The shocking truth about the diet industry exposed
Have you been on a tonne of diets, but nothing seems to work? Maybe you’re even heavier than you were before you started dieting. In this blog post I’ll explain exactly why I think the diet industry is toxic, and does you more harm than good in the long-term.
So what do I mean by the diet industry or diet culture?
Diet culture is absolutely everything that has led you to being obsessed about weight. It’s the adverts, articles, programmes and everything else that gives you the idea that weight equals happiness.
It’s logging onto social media and seeing the perfect bodies with toned legs and absolutely no cellulite. It’s the “drop a dress size in 10 days”, dangerous liquid fasts, diet pills, and fitness that only obsesses with your size or your weight.
So what’s so toxic about the diet industry?
Reason #1 – it normalises hating your body
And I spoke about this in my last blog post, so you can take a look there.
Reason #2 – most people can’t achieve the “perfect” body
Flick through pages of a magazine, scroll through social media or watch adverts and you are constantly bombarded with pictures of beautifully toned, gorgeous women with endless legs and perfect skin.
This beauty ideal is everywhere, but you are comparing yourself to a body that doesn’t exist.
First of all, not everyone is biologically built to be the “perfect size”, but more importantly, what you see is filtered and air brushed. Magazines and social media slim tummies, bums, legs. They create thigh gaps and give models flawless skin and chiselled stomachs.
What you’re aiming for is a digitally manipulated body. It doesn’t even exist!
Reason #3 - the diet industry keeps us small
And I’m definitely not talking about physically small… the diet industry keeps women down. As Megan Crabbe so beautifully puts it:
“we are hungry, preoccupied and so obsessed with our bodies that we don’t realise how much extraordinary potential we have”
How long have you spent on a diet? Did you know that the average woman spends 17 years on a diet – think of the hours spent counting and then burning calories!
Have we done enough steps? Is my bum big in this? Obsessing about wrinkles and cellulite, all the while trying to achieve a perfection that doesn’t exist.
The diet industry is controlling what you can be. You are so hungry and lacking energy that you can’t even fight for equality. It’s not just about body size but also about power and liberation.
Reason #4 - Diets sell the unattainable dream
When I lose weight, then I will be happy…
When I lose weight then I will…
go dating
get married
change jobs
move house
find the man of my dreams…
Ever said any of these before? When you lose weight you’ll finally be happy? Really? You are absolutely putting off living your life whilst you focus on losing the weight before you actually DO anything.
You know that weight loss isn’t going to solve all your problems or give you fulfilment?
And in any case, restricted diets don’t work, which I’ve spoken about before.
But what happens when that diet doesn’t work? You blame yourself right? Sound about right? Drop me a HELL YEAH in the comment below.
You tell yourself that your body is the problem, and then you end up yoyo dieting. But it’s not! Diet culture is the problem, not you!
Reason #5 - The diet industry makes money from making you feel sh*t
The diet industry - a multi-billion dollar industry that makes money when you feel awful about yourself.
It makes you think that you aren’t good enough the way you are – slimming clubs, diet pills, food products, celebrity diets and metabolism boosters.
A billion dollar brain wash – manipulating you every single day so you cry on weigh-in day if you don’t like what you see on the scales.
There’s a whole industry that profits when the thing that they are selling (diets) don’t work! You feel crap because you’re aspiring to a body you wish you could have, but isn’t actually real because it’s digitally manipulated, so you start a diet (spend a tonne of money), it works for a bit (you feel wonderful), then stops working (you feel like shit again), maybe you binge a bit because you’ve restricted for so long, you feel terrible again (diet starts tomorrow) and then it’s another failed diet (you feel like a failure).
See how the industry benefits from you feeling bad? And makes a tonne of money in the process?
But I hear you - you wanna know how to manage your weight, without buying into all this crap. You wanna feel good when you eat - sit down to meals with enjoyment, excitement and actually like your mirror reflection. Well, you’re in the right place - this course is for you. Improve your health mindset, manage your weight without the restrictive diets and punishing workouts and fall in love with your body again.