Dieting vs. Lifestyle Changes.

Burger, pizza, fries, chips, ice-cream, cookies...

Fruit salads and/or vege bowls...

If the first list of foods flipped a "bad foods" switch in you, while you thought the second list was better - you might be tightly gripped by toxic notions of diet culture.

With moderation you can enjoy both types of foods, guilt-free!

It just happens that all the delicious foods in both lists are my favorite and I'm probably going to find fitting alternatives when I go vegetarian some time soon. Until then, I get to consciously decide what goes into my eating plans and with moderation I enjoy happy eating guilt-free.

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DIET CULTURE IS DEAD!

Okay, maybe not dead-dead but I mean, why are we not killing it? She isn't cute, at all. Diet culture is the structure that focuses on "bad" foods and "good" foods, the entire notion being set on valuing certain body types and giving no damn about emotional, mental and physical wellbeing. While I am not a qualified dietitian, there are countless impacts of diet culture which I consider adverse!

Why are we valuing how bodies look when we know very well that no two bodies can ever look the same? Frankly, not even one body looks the same at two points of a single day. I could delve deeper into the trend of a "hot body" and how it changes every year or two, but I will not because 1. I don't want this to be about me ranting about societal body expectations and 2. I'm here to ask you, respectfully, to promote the adoption of gradual lifestyle changes over diet hopping every month

Making lifestyle changes that prioritize meal planning sounds sweet but it requires full commitment off the bat.

Making lifestyle changes means modifying little things (that have significant impact) which one has control over. So, a great example of an eating plan modification would be implementing more water intake daily, or cutting down on foods with high sugar levels. A good example of a good fitness change would be to go for walks atleast once a day instead of staying in bed for an extra 30 minutes.

These little things are the fine line between passive living and being present; staying in bed 30 extra minutes is probably easier than the alternative, but being intentional about how you move shifts your living.

While these changes might not seem significant at first, with consistency they become noticeable in how you function overall.

A diet on the other hand, is rigid in nature so it forces the fun and the independence out the picture. Unfortunately also, diets tend to lead to guilt, binging, unhealthy appetites and even unhealthier approaches to mindful eating. Obviously though, diets do not usually come with a disclaimer of these cons, so it becomes ones responsibility to trial and err, while risking abovementioned side effects.

Making lifestyle changes allows you the freedom to manage your habits - with patience, honesty, accountability and consistency the principles you use to form eating plans can multiply into many other facets of your life.

If you have read this far, thank you and happy eating.

With love,

A Luxe Ledi.