What is a “diet culture dropout?”
Coming from the world of nutrition and dietetics, a world I have spent over the last decade of my life learning about in the classroom, from the most intelligent professors to people in their regular lives, I have come to realize that everyone is vulnerable to the messages of diet culture. It Is frustrating looking back because I think of the thousands of dollars spent to earn my degree and I see the bias that was lectured to me. The bias about weight, the bias about “good foods” and “bad foods”, the bias about diets and energy balance, etc.
What is interesting is that in all the work I have done with my clients over the years, my most successful clients are the ones who are Diet Culture Dropouts.
Sure, it sounds cheesy, like a club of some sorts. What isn’t cheesy is that these individuals who have abandoned diet culture have higher self-esteem, a better relationship with food, more self-compassion and body appreciation and the cherry on top… they are no longer spending hundreds to thousands of dollars on phony marketing and diets.
These Diet Culture Dropouts are playing the long game.
You may be asking, “If they’re playing the long game, what game am I playing?”
The reason I say they are playing the long game is because diets are designed for you to play the short game. A quick fix, a short-term solution to get where you want. To make your body look how you want it.
In the long game, the strategy is to learn to accept your body now and grow to love it. It is to learn how to repair your relationship with food now and reject the diets and low-calorie sweeteners, and Just. Eat. Food! In the long game, you are less concerned with food, more excited about doing things with others and avoid the yo-yo diet and weight madness.
How do you become a Diet Culture Dropout (DCD)?
Well for starters, most DCD’s are so dang tired and frustrated from diets already that there’s not much convincing they need that a change is necessary! These individuals come to Bamboo Nutrition open and ready to play the long game.
In working with a dietitian at Bamboo Nutrition, we help you build skills, think long term game strategy, work through the most pressing and vulnerable hurdles. We think of ourselves as “food therapists” sometimes. We talk so much about food and the role it plays in your life from your mental health, fitness, relationships, upbringing, and more.
Seeing a dietitian is not a 100% necessary thing to do to be a DCD, but it can be a great tool to work through the turmoil the diet culture has left for you over the years. If you feel that you may be ready to see a dietitian and begin the Diet Culture Dropout journey, call us today! We cannot wait to get started with you!
Yours truly,
Isabelle Bouchard