International No Diet Day

Yesterday was “International No Diet Day,” which may sound like a made up thing, but I found it on the internet so it must be true. [That’s a little playful sarcasm I hope you come to recognize as these blogs continue. ;)] Personally, I consider every day to be No Diet Day and it is such a freeing way to live! Now, I know this sounds strange coming from a dietitian since we straight up have the word “DIET” in our profession’s name, but let me explain. There are roughly one million diets out there (ok maybe not quite that many but it’s close), and figuring out which one to follow can be very confusing. That’s where I come in with the spoiler: you don’t need to follow any of them.

Let me start by saying, if you have a serious medical condition or life-threatening food allergy, following your doctor’s prescribed diet is in your best interest. However, if you don’t fall into that category, you truly do not need to be following any particular diet. This includes “lifestyle changes,” “clean eating” or anything else that says it isn’t a diet but secretly is. If it looks like a diet and sounds like a diet, it’s a diet regardless of what it’s being called. I’m talking about anything that requires you to count your macros, calories, points, etc, requires you to eat certain portion sizes or eat from a specific food list, eat within a certain time frame or has any rules whatsoever.

If you’re currently on a diet, it’s not your fault that you’re on it. You’re probably just trying to be healthy, lose weight or better yourself in some way, and I understand the allure. Diets run rampant in our society and they make big promises; I’ve been on my fair share over the past decade too. But now that I’ve seen the (metaphorical) light, I’ve learned how to change my ways and my relationship to food has never been better. I no longer feel the need to adhere to food rules of any kind, and I don’t feel any guilt for the food I eat, because food doesn’t define morality, making us “good” or “bad.”

This food freedom I’m talking about stems from learning about Intuitive Eating (IE). I’ve mentioned IE briefly before, but today am going to delve in a little deeper. Firstly, IE is NOT a diet, and if you’ve ever seen it promoted as a means to weight loss, that is not true IE. It was created as a guide to help people learn how to discover the satisfaction of eating again, in a rule-free manner. If you’ve ever been on a diet and then quit it, you may understand what I’m talking about. You go from having rules and structure to not really knowing what to eat, and that’s very common! But you know who the true expert of your food needs is? Your body! It’s very smart and dare I say, intuitive, to what you need on any given day. We just stopped listening to our bodies somewhere along the way.

There are 10 steps to intuitive eating:

1. Reject the diet mentality

2. Honor your hunger

3. Make peace with food

4. Challenge the food police

5. Respect your fullness

6. Discover the satisfaction factor

7. Honor your feelings without using food

8. Respect your body

9. Exercise – feel the difference

10. Honor your health with gentle nutrition

These principles are outlined in great detail in the book “Intuitive Eating,” by Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch. If you struggle with your relationship with food and would like help working through these steps, please reach out to me! I would be happy to help you discover the freedom that comes through Intuitive Eating, so that No Diet Day can become your everyday too.

Until next time,

Dietitian Melissa

These views are reflective of Melissa personally and not of Hy-Vee, Inc. This advice is not meant to take the place of your primary care provider.