In this post, you will learn what the diet mentality is, what diet culture is, how they may be affecting you, and what you can do to start changing your relationship with food.
Take a deep breath and start with an open mind
If you agree with any of these statements above you may be noticing some symptoms such as binge eating, overeating, and emotional eating. You may also notice tons of thinking about food and cravings all day long.
This, my friend, is your diet mentality showing up for you in real-time.
You may have heard the phrase Diet Mentality before and today, I want to go into detail about what the diet mentality is, how it is affecting you directly, and what you can do to begin letting go of the diet mentality
There are a few fundamental steps to healing your relationship and breaking the binge eating cycle. One is learning to trust your body again around food.
The one we are talking about today though is the ability to notice and choose to reject the diet mentality in the moment when it truly makes a difference.
Diet Mentality Defined
Well, to put it simply, a diet mentality is a set of learned beliefs. That is it. When you believe these learned beliefs, you often take a specific action that keeps you stuck in what most call “self-sabotage mode.
As you may know firsthand, most diets are hard to stick to and thus, don’t last very long. That by the way, is NOT your fault.
Even though it isn’t your fault, you are still suffering the consequences. The diet mentality often leads to unnecessary physical, emotional, and mental suffering. It can also leave a significant imprint on your brain that can lead to unhealthy eating habits, low self-esteem, and overexercising.
The diet mentality is created from a few things. There are your own dieting beliefs, thoughts, and perceptions. These are often taken from past dieting experiences. Then there are also dieting beliefs that are reinforced by diet culture.
The current definition of Diet culture is “the glorification of losing weight at all costs.” (Nutrition, 2021)
It creates the belief that to be accepted or loved, you need to be skinny. It labels food good vs bad and reinforces the diet mentality you may have learned from past diet experiences.
Let’s think of these two as inside and outside. Your diet mentality is your inner reality, your inner world, more within your control than you may realize.
Diet culture is the outside world, not within your control but still there and possibly affecting you. Your brain is a sponge and whether you like it or not, it is bombarded with messaging all day long.
For example, have you ever:
- Seen a magazine headline stating you can “lose 50lbs in 14 days!”
- Had a relative, friend, or doctor tell you to better control your eating habits
- Overheard conversations of others trying diets and their results
- Scrolled social media (need I say more, yup, I need to) Scrolled through social media seeing before and after pictures, powders, and weight loss ads making it seem like happiness and skinniness go hand-in-hand.
In life, you may not be able to avoid any of this diet culture, all you can do is be aware of it and do your best to slow down and question what you hear and read.
Your diet mentality, on the other hand, is unique to you in that it is an accumulation of everything you have learned and stored as a belief when it comes to dieting, weight loss, nutrition, exercise, and your body. Remember that pop quiz at the beginning.
Here are some more thoughts, beliefs, and feelings you may notice that point to a diet mentality.
- Believing that carbs are bad and off-limits
- Feeling guilt or shame whenever you eat
- Cutting out food groups to lose weight
- Skipping meals or hoarding calories to lose weight
- Feeling like you are less than for being overweight or heavier than others
- The thought that this is your last chance to eat a specific food
- The thought that you already screwed up so might as well indulge and start fresh tomorrow
- The fear of how you will handle food and what you will eat at an upcoming event
- Telling yourself that if the scale didn’t go down, that’s it, you give up
- The thought to go exercise because you ate something or to exercise to get away with eating something later on
- Feeling guilt and shame for eating something that is considered fattening.
The diet mentality often shows up as a story.
You may begin to bring awareness to two types of thinking which are:
- All or nothing thinking is where you have two opposing thoughts and those are the only two options. You can’t have your cake and eat it too, you have to decide. Either you’re on a diet or you’re off the diet. Either you can eat cake or you can’t eat cake.
- Catastrophizing – Jumping in with both feet to the worst-case scenario. I just ate a donut, oh no, I am never going to be able to stay on this diet, what’s the point, I might as well stop trying now, I always fail.
All of these stories, ways of perceiving your life, and the messaging within society all get in the way of healing your relationship with food and changing your eating habits. They perpetuate feelings of worry, anxiety, guilt, shame, and fear. While you really do feel these feelings, what you are feeling is your thinking in the moment and your thinking isn’t a reality until you make it so.
Don’t believe me: Have you ever been really sad and then had a moment of laughter, only to feel sad again? What changes in that situation other than thought?
The diet mentality can become severe and lead to overthinking every food choice, counting every calorie, ruminating on, and beating yourself up for things you ate, just to name a few things. It can lead to eating behaviors such as binge eating, emotional eating, overeating, anorexia, and bulimia.
If any of this resonates with you, if you are suffering from problematic eating habits or body shame, just know you aren’t alone and there is hope.
If any of this resonates with you, if you are suffering from problematic eating habits or body shame, just know you aren’t alone and there is hope.
What can you do to help let go of the diet mentality?
Well, high five! Learning what the diet mentality is and what diet culture is, was the first step.
Now it is all about you doing what I call “experimenting and experiencing” and observing without judgment, your own diet mentality and how it is showing up in your life
No one stops binge eating or other eating disorders by continuing to cut out food groups and hyper focusing on weight loss. It is done by learning to trust yourself again around all food, see that all food is abundant, and begin to allow them back into your life. All while learning to eat intuitively, noticing your diet mentality, and letting go of it when it shows up.
It is that simple AND usually easier said than done simply because you may have a lot of dieting beliefs that are hard to not believe, especially after years of dieting.
Here are a few steps to get you started on Ditching the Diet Mentality:
- Realize that there is an entire diet culture out there that is affecting you
- Understand what the diet mentality is and begin to notice yours as it shows up for you
- Take note of your food beliefs and eating habits
- Reflect on these notes and see if they fall into any 2 storylines above.
- If you notice your diet mentality slow down and try to reject it vs not agree with it and empower it further
- Experiment and experience what it feels like to slow down around food, notice your feelings/thinking, and do your best to reject your diet mentality when you are aware of it.
- Get accountability!
Awareness like this is always the first step but it may not be enough to stop the action of overeating. Remember, you still have to actively make the choice in the moment to trust yourself and not your diet mentality. That is why self-love and acceptance, no matter the circumstance, can be your greatest asset while healing your eating habits.
For help ditching the diet mentality, you can sign up for my free training on “How to Break The Binge Eating Cycle” or join the membership today if you want immediate support and accountability.
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Citations:
What is diet culture? Behavioral Nutrition. (2021, October 25). Retrieved May 8, 2022, from https://behavioralnutrition.org/what-is-diet-culture/?msclkid=dfdf0d0ecef311ecb21e6c17ed663397