Avoiding Diet Culture And Taking Care of Yourself During The Festive Season
Diet culture is rife during the festive season and if you’ve been working on your relationship with food, movement and your body and hoping to break away from dieting and restriction this can be extremely challenging. Being surrounded by people who may not be on the same non-diet wavelength as you can be tricky to navigate but we’ve pulled together this guide to challenging diet culture during the festive season.
Challenging Diet Talk
Diet talk has been seen to decrease body satisfaction and the festive period seems to increase the number of comments about the way you or others look.
It can be really uncomfortable if you’ve been working on breaking free from diet culture and trying to have a more positive relationship with your body to constantly hear these comments, so what can we do when diet talk appears?
Challenge the diet talk. If you are in the right headspace and feeling like you want to take on diet culture then why not challenge the diet talk? You can explain the effect of diet talk on you and the impact of their words. You could discuss why dieting or weight loss isn’t a priority for you anymore. You never know, you may lead someone to improve their relationship with food, movement and their body too!
Change the subject. You may choose to divert the conversation to a more interesting, diet-culture free topic instead. This can help people get the message that you aren’t interested in weight loss, the latest fad diet or comparing body shapes and sizes.
Leave the conversation. Respect your boundaries and walk away from the conversation. We don’t have to be in an ‘activist state’ at all times - challenging diet culture can be exhausting!
Body Image During the Festive Season
Does your relationship with your body suffer during the festive season? You are not alone. Many people find this time of year especially hard when it comes to body image issues.
Body image is the way you see yourself when you look in the mirror or picture yourself. This can include how you physically see yourself and how you feel within yourself.
Christmas parties, family gatherings, diet talk about feeling “guilty” or “over-indulging” can all have an impact on the way we feel about our bodies. Check out these tips which may help you this festive season:
1) Spending time with people who make you feel good about yourself. Simples!
2) Wear clothes that make you feel good. Buying yourself clothes that fit comfortably and don't feel tight or uncomfortable is the best present you can give yourself!
3) Unfollowing negative social media accounts - this is true all year round, but during the holidays there tends to be a big focus on body commentary and pressure to look and dress a certain way for all those parties and gatherings.
4) Find your tribe and let them support you, even from afar. The holidays can feel isolating, even when we are with family, especially if they don’t know about or understand your struggles with your relationship with your body. Make sure you have someone to call when you experience negative thoughts or moments so you do not feel alone and are supported.
5) Discussing how you feel with your GP or therapist if you need more support.
6) Repeat affirmations about yourself such as "my weight doesn't determine my worth". Positive affirmations or even neutral affirmations help to reframe your thoughts from a negative place to a more positive perspective. They can be a powerful addition to the self-care tool-box!
If you are struggling with body image issues then please reach out and get some help.
How to Cope with ‘Overeating’ at Christmas
Diet culture tells us that if we have eaten past the point of comfortable fullness we have failed and should feel bad and aim to ‘compensate’ following it. Feelings of guilt and shame can feel overwhelming and upsetting at a time of year which is supposed to be filled with joy.
Firstly, take a deep breath and know it is okay to have eaten past comfortable fullness. Food is more than just fuel - it is celebration, family, love, community, tradition, memories, fun. This is part of being human. It is normal to want to enjoy food that tastes good and elicits positive emotions.
Let’s be kind to ourselves and remember that giving ourselves permission to enjoy all foods is honouring our hunger and our bodies desires. Challenge your inner critic and diet culture and try to move past this uncomfortable feeling.
