I remember a young person I was working with a few years ago who was sharing with me how she felt she was caught up in the land of social media. Specifically comparing themselves, how they looked, what they were doing and had done with their lives etc with random strangers on Instagram. This is really common for the people I work with and not just the young people either to compare themselves to people they know and people they don’t know. And surprise, surprise find themselves lacking or not good enough in comparison.
This particular person was feeling pressured, ashamed and ultimately confused by their unwanted obsession with comparing their life to the lives of others on Instagram (or at least the lives she imagined they were living from the very little and very curated version they were showing on Instagram). And of course, living with an eating disorder one of the things she was most caught up in was how and what other people were eating or not eating.
What I found interesting is that she thought this was entirely a “her problem” thing.
Whose Problem is it Really?…
They believed it was ok for these other people to do these random things with food, but it was not ok for them because they was trying to recover from an eating disorder.
They was telling themself that they just needed to get over it and let these other people who did not have an eating disorder (or once again at least they weren’t sharing it on Instagram if they did) live their lives how they chose to live their lives.
Which is true. I am all for letting people live their lives how they want to live their lives. In fact that is the entire premise of the work I do. But having done the work I do for seven years now I also know a different and deeper take on this story.
Working as an eating disorder dietitian for the past seven years and during that time being privy to the inner workings of thousands of people’s minds and not to mention prior to that having lived with anorexia nervosa for fifteen years I can tell you that formal eating disorder diagnosis or not these types of restrictive diets I would recommend to no one within the “general population” (There is some evidence to say the keto diet can help people who have epilepsy that isn’t responding well to medications control this. This does not mean it is a healthy diet for the rest of the population or you as a unique individual).
I would also argue when people are caught up in the keto diet, the carnivore diet or intermittent fasting or any other diet they’re not really living their life how they’d like to be living their life.
My Take
I don’t believe that anyone makes these choices to highly limit their food choices, intake, timing or other because it makes life easier, more fun or even that they came to this decision off their own bat.
I believe they’re doing it how they have been brainwashed to believe they should be doing it.
And yes, I understand “brainwashed” is a strong term to use here but it is a relatively accurate word for what happens. I’ve seen the marketing that goes into selling these diets. I’ve seen the YouTube videos, I’ve read the books and listened to the Podcasts of people talking so passionately about these things. I too used to once be enticed by it all. I too used to once think it was information I could and should be using. I too used to think that it mattered.
I don’t now.
Because it doesn’t matter.
At least it doesn’t matter in the way they sell it. Like it’s the most important thing in the world.
For the most part it is just noise.
And it’s not innocent noise.
It’s Not Harmless
It’s not only not useful but it’s also for the majority it’s also not harmless.
It’s not only not harmless it’s also for the majority harmful.
Eating disorder diagnosis or not aside and the reality of the harmful health implications of these diets aside (it’s too much to go into here) the truth is the more time you spend stressing over and obsessing over what and how you eat the less time you have to live your life.
The less time you have to do the things that actually bring you joy, meaning and paradoxically the very thing you intended to achieve by doing them – health.
So yeah, this stuff may come across as innocuous or ok for people who don’t have an eating disorder or a history of an eating disorder to get involved in but I’m really asking you to reconsider.
For two main reasons.
The first being you actually don’t know how following a restrictive diet will impact you. There is no way to predict whether or not you will develop an eating disorder. An eating disorder that will consume you, control your life, destroy your health and statistically speaking even kill you. And if you think it won’t happen to you just consider that out of the thousands of people I’ve worked with not one has told me they planned to develop an eating disorder. Some have even told me they remember thinking they loved food so much they could never develop an eating disorder. You don’t know what you don’t know and how “easy” it is to develop an eating disorder is not something I would ever mess around with.
Secondly, even if you don’t develop an eating disorder from this enticingly restrictive diet you get caught up in do you really want a controlled and precise way of eating to dictate your days? Your precious days that soon turn into the weeks, months and years of your life?
Is this really where you want to spend your time and energy of your one precious life?…
Time and energy that I assure you as one of the highest nutritionally trained people on the planet is wasted in comparison to how you could be spending it.
I’d encourage you to reconsider.
No, I’d implore you to reconsider.
What do I do Then?
So, you’re interested in health. You’re interested in living a healthy and happy life. Awesome.
Instead of getting caught up in the next energy and life sapping fad diet that someone concocts, I’d encourage you to do something we don’t always take the time to do and that is to get clear on what it is you actually want from your life.
Get clear on who it is you want to be and how it is and with who and what you want to spend your time and your energy.
Then see if the restrictive diet supports that and I mean really supports that.
It’s unlikely you’re going to find that any type of restrictive diet will enhance the life you want.
It’s very likely any type of restrictive diet is going to diminish, dampen or extinguish that entirely.
It is however very likely a full, vast, varied and flexible diet is going to support the life you want.
Choose carefully.
Summary
I implore you to be one of the ones that just doesn’t.
I implore you to be one of the ones who just says no to all the bs “nutrition” and “health” information out there and follows the useful data that we do have on healthy eating (and see a dietitian so it is customised to you).
I implore you to be one of the awesome human beings who gets to just live their life and as such inspire countless others to just live their lives also.
It’s not about not being interested in your health, improving your health and living a healthful life. Be interested in your health. You should be. It is your most meaningful asset.
It is about doing the actions that truly support your health.
Remember “well intentioned action on incorrect data is the surest way to fail”. And the endless stream of fad diets we’ve seen recently and throughout the history of time that human beings have been selling things to one another fall firmly within the “incorrect data” category.
Get clear on your health outcomes/goals and go and see a dietitian and create a customised plan that will truly allow you to reach and support those outcomes/goals.
In conclusion. Please don’t diet – sincerely, a dietitian who gives a damn about you (and also really, really, really just wants the world become a better place).
With all my heart I hope you found this information valuable.
Become Great. Live Great.
Bonnie.
