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She provides a warm and supportive therapeutic environment where she helps you examine relationships, perfectionism, depression, anxiety, and many other obstacles that get in the way of who you want to be.
Diet culture is insidious and great at covering its tracks. The good news is that once you learn to recognize it, you can’t unsee it! Here are 5 ways that diet culture hides in seemingly normal and everyday behaviors and ways of thinking that you can identify and start to eliminate:
Dichotomous Thinking.
It is so human to think of things as black or white or all or nothing. Diet culture likes to use some sneaky words that seem helpful at first but are anything but when you want your family to have a healthy relationship with food. Notice when you are labeling foods as healthy vs. unhealthy, clean vs. processed, nutrient-dense vs. fun. This or that thinking can cause the moralization of food which leads to harsh self-judgment and monitoring of food choices.
Media Consumption and Social Media.
Who is on your favorite TV shows? Which Influencers do you follow? Take a look through the media you consume and whether there is any body size diversity. When you watch a movie as a family does anyone make comments on how the actors look? How important is appearance being modeled in your home?
Self-Talk Role Modeling.
Have you ever said any of these: “Ugh I feel so gross from eating that!”
“Just looking at that food is clogging my arteries!” “I should have worked out – I’m so lazy!” If your family members, especially the young ones, are overhearing you being critical of your body, they’re going to think this is normal and do the same with their own bodies.
Food Rules.
What kind of rules do you keep for yourself and your family? You can’t eat dessert unless you finish your vegetables. Don’t drink your calories. Limit carbohydrates. Don’t eat anything with more than X grams of sugar. Food rules cause a lot of stress and can be extremely harmful.
Well Meaning “Experts.”
I have heard time and time again about a doctor or coach offhandedly or directly making comments about body size or weight, and/or math and health teachers telling their classes to track calories for a project. These can lead to obsessive preoccupation with “health” that can lead to a lot of dysfunctional behaviors around food and exercise.