Diet-Free Living with Anti-Diet Nutritionist Meridith Oram

Diet-Free Living to Better Health

I use the term ‘diet-free living’ a lot. Because it represents freedom from the shackles of diet culture. And how much more fulfilling life is when you’re not restricting food. Or limiting your potential. Keep reading for a deeper explanation of what diet-free living means. And how you can reclaim self-trust and confidence by learning to live diet-free too.

What does ‘diet-free’ mean?

You may think it simply means not dieting. But it’s much more than that. And there are some important nuances that need to be addressed. Because diet-free living is someone who has (or is actively working on) a good relationship with food, fitness and body image.

First, let me explain what it doesn’t mean.

Some people assume ‘diet-free living’ includes someone who’s 500 lbs, immobile and constantly eating massive portions of highly processed food. But it doesn’t. Someone who finds themselves in this situation (or on the path to this lifestyle) has an unhealthy relationship with themselves. They’re not honoring their body. They’re likely trying to numb mental health issues and ignore other hurts going on in their life. Many times it’s suppressed trauma. While this person isn’t following a diet per se, they need help healing their relationship with food and with themselves. So they are not living diet-free.

This distinction is particularly important because internet trolls love to comment on anti-diet posts that our messaging promotes obesity. But the anti-diet movement is not anti-health. In fact, it’s quite the opposite! Being anti-diet is a call for putting our overall wellness far ahead of appearance. It’s a desire to help others have balanced wellness in their mind AND body. Health status cannot be determined by appearance or weight. Especially because mental health issues don’t have a “look.”

So then, here’s what I really mean when I say diet-free.

Being diet-free is someone who has said “no” to diet culture and is actively on a journey to heal their relationship with food, fitness and body image. They are unlearning the diet mentality through the principles of intuitive eating. Recognizing the damage dieting has on their mental, social and physical health. Learning to use intuition to create sustainable, healthy behaviors that serve their own body’s needs. And prioritizing balance in their overall wellness.

The diet-free journey can be taken by any person who struggles with food, fitness and/or self-esteem. From the one who intentionally micromanages their food and exercise in an effort to lose weight. To the person who realizes their only coping tool is eating and their health is compromised because of their behaviors. Both sides of the spectrum will benefit from deciding to heal and take control of their health!

Diet-free living swaps restriction for freedom

Diet-free living is a proactive approach to improving your health. Not a lifestyle that happens simply by canceling your subscription to your diet/lifestyle program. I particularly love using the word living because it reminds me of the freedom I now get to enjoy. ‘Living’ is the opposite of ‘restricting’ to me. And after 25 years of intentional restriction with my eating disorder, I never want to feel any form of restriction again!

Dieting restricts your body & mind.

I firmly believe that when you’re following rules around food, you set yourself up to fail. Your body has a built-in intelligence to let you know exactly what, when and how much it needs to eat. But when you follow someone else’s rules or meal plan, you silence your God-given cues. The more you do this, the more disconnected you become from yourself. Since your body’s main job is to stay alive, it tries to adjust to the restrictions you’ve given it. This includes lowering your metabolism, retaining fat, eating away at your muscles, etc. As well as causing you to overeat or binge at any opportunity to make up for the deficit in calories.

From a psychological standpoint, the constant feelings of failure, the guilt and shame with your food choices. And the constant war with your physiology and genetics. Creates a consistently negative inner dialogue that is self-critical and harmful. You begin to take these self-deprecating feelings and apply them to other areas of your life. Like in your parenting, job and/or marriage. You begin to believe you’ll never be enough.

Diet-free living unleashes your intuition & true potential.

While the diet mentality has a negative impact on your overall mindset. Diet-free living has the exact opposite—a positive impact on your overall mindset! Because when you start to find self-trust, intuition and confidence around food. You start to find self-trust, intuition and confidence in other areas of your life too! This allows you to find your purpose and live up to your true potential. You are no longer restricted to playing small. You actively seek opportunities to live your best life. Diet-free!

Begin your diet-free life today!

It is my mission to help others heal from years of dieting and reclaim their confidence and self-trust with diet-free living. I created a free resource to help you get started immediately. It’s a 34-page guide broken into 4 sections:

  • Awareness
    • Helping you recognize the role dieting & restriction is playing in your life
    • Includes several journal prompts to help you identify your true intentions for dieting
  • Interrupt
    • A step-by-step method for turning off the influences of diet culture and the nagging thoughts that keep you trapped in the diet mentality
  • Shift
    • A how-to for shifting away from diet culture to instead prioritize all 6 facets of your wellness
  • Reflect
    • Honoring your past experience and current journey so you can get the most out of diet-free living

Download Your Diet-Free Living Guide Here:


meridith
Meridith Oram is an anti-diet nutritionist at Love Yourself Towards Healthy where she helps chronic dieters heal their relationship with food, fitness and body image by ditching diet culture and finding freedom in their God-given intuition. Focusing on behavioral change and Intuitive Eating, Meridith helps her clients unlearn diet culture, stop negative self-talk and set wellness goals---not appearance goals. Follow Meridith at @loveyourself2healthy on all social channels.

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