Let's Put the Diet Industry Out of Business!
Hello again from Mallorca! Still here enjoying the rocky beaches, 3 euro glasses of wine, and fresh off the tree oranges. Today I've got another guest post lined up for you from another dietetic intern I admire, Natasha Ngindi, who is on instagram as @thethicknutritionist. She's a South African-Canadian and currently a practicum student in the Nutrition program at the University of Saskatchewan. I found her account a few months back, and I love how she speaks with such honesty and relatability about her personal journey with body acceptance. Her passion for health at every size, intuitive eating, and body positivity shines through everything she writes, and it is her ultimate career goal to share these messages with people who struggle with dieting and body image. Go follow her on instagram and facebook!
I remember back in the day, renting DVDs used to be extremely popular. This quickly changed when people realized they could have access to thousands of DVDs in just a few clicks for a much lower price; hence why there are no more DVD rental stores. This goes to show just how businesses are driven by what consumers want. If there is no demand for a product, there is no need for a supply because no one will buy it!
We pay for diets and products that promise to give us fast weight loss, and when we inevitably fail a diet and gain all the weight back - plus more, we blame ourselves. We are led to believe that we failed because ‘we didn’t try hard enough’ and we think that next time will be different. The guilt cycle continues as we move onto the next diet and we keep buying more and more miracle weight loss products – from shakes to meal replacements, weight loss pills, cleanses, waist trainers, body creams, body wraps, and even sauna suits. All the while, the diet industry is making a huge profit from our consistent failure. The industry doesn’t care about anyone’s health, they just want to make money.
The next time you are contemplating whether you should try a new diet, ask yourself if it's worth your money and possibly harming your body in the long run. The long term benefits of eating intuitively far outweighs the short term benefits of dieting.
There is power in numbers, so if we can all decide to ditch diets and dieting products, the diet industry will have to go extinct because no one will buy into it. Then we can forget the food rules we've internalized all of our lives, and we can get back to the basics and re-learn how to eat intuitively. Intuitive eating focuses on honoring your hunger using your innate hunger cues, eating for pleasure, and respecting your fullness. Unlike dieting, it doesn't cost you a thing and it helps you let go of any negative feelings and ideas you have around food. All of this is included with a bonus of increased self respect and a healthy more enjoyable lifestyle!