Friday, January 01, 2010

Resolve Not to Resolve

It's that date when, every year, people resolve to go to the gym, lose weight, cut out nice food and starve in the pursuit of thinness.

The fact is that you really do not need to do this. You are allowed, as a woman, to take up as much space as you take up. You are allowed to resist the messages relentlessly bashing us over the head from the media which insist that we copy celebrities and hate every inch of our body which is not clinging unhealthily to bones.

95% of diets fail. Their whole philosophy is one of deprivation and undernourishment, which is not something that the vast majority of people can stick to for any length of time. The result being a cycle of miserable starving and bingeing, which feels endless.

The trick is to stop dieting at all. Start to love yourself and your body exactly as they are. By all means do your best to eat well, but banning foods will make them more tempting than ever, and punishing yourself via what you put in your mouth creates a horribly negative relationship with food, and food is something that we have to deal with every day of our lives if we are to survive.

(Cross-posted at The F Word)

3 comments:

mc said...

And anyway, starting dieting when the weather is at its coldest is just dumb.

Laura Cousins said...

I've got this idea in my head that if I could turn things like healthy eating and exercise (for example but not exclusively) into HABITUAL activities, rather than ROUTINES, then maybe I'd be better able to stick at them for any length of time.

Habits are things I do unconsciously, without needing to engage very much of my already over-stretched brain power, whereas routines are things that I rage and rant against, am fully aware of, and which bug the living crap out of me.

Hmm. Wish me luck. Mince pie, anyone?

Anonymous said...

Hello Hippie,
I agree that we should love and accept our bodies first, but we need to clarify that by eating well it means eating healthy food. I think that the message should be do not try looking like a thin celebrity but like a healthy person. We should spread a message of taking care and prevent diseases that come with the ageing process. For example, sticking to mediterranean diet is healthy and anti-dementia fish, vegetables, juices and red wine in moderation). Happy New Year!