Category: Diet Culture
I took my daughter to see a plastic surgeon. That sounds like a shameful secret confession, but it’s not! She was six months old and was born with a few skin tags on her face that needed to be removed. We consulted with several different doctors about removal and a plastic surgeon was one of them. (They didn’t […]
Clarifying Truths about what Health At Every Size® Is and Isn’t. I’ve always found it so frustrating when people played an air flute backwards. It’s seriously not that confusing and the flute always goes to the right. I did my bachelors degree in music and I played the flute, so when someone does the air flute backwards […]
What is Weight Stigma
June 4th, 2019 by Sara Upson
Weight stigma is defined as negative thoughts, attitudes, devaluation and social rejection of a person because their body shape or size doesn’t comply with the cultural norms (from diet culture) about what a body “should” look like. Weight stigma also includes: stereotypes about people who live in larger bodies, bullying and teasing, nasty comments, being […]
Our culture (diet culture) makes food and eating so stressful! Diet culture has strict rules about what you should eat, but those rules are always changing. When you try to follow the rules from diet culture, it’s a guaranteed way to feel more stress, anxiety, guilt and shame around food. To truly feel at peace […]
Listening to the diet culture message about carbs? Here’s why you shouldn’t
March 15th, 2019 by Sara Upson
I’m not sure there’s a macronutrient with a worse reputation than carbs. Diet culture has labeled carbs as the root of all evil, the epitome of all illness, the thing that is going to make or break your health. Heck, even your life! The fear mongering around carbs is out of control! It’s unnecessary, and it couldn’t be […]
Over the weekend, a client emailed me a link to an article about intuitive eating (IE). It was one of those articles about IE that appears on a diet culture fitness page- where in reality it had very little to do with IE. The client was emailing it to me saying- “look someone I know […]
If candy’s haunting you, here’s what to do
October 22nd, 2018 by Sara Upson
I remember when I was 10 years old my 5thgrade English teacher was afraid of Halloween. She described it as the worst day of the year. I can vividly remember her saying that after school was over she’d rush home, hang up sheets over her windows and turn out all the lights so that no […]
Ending the Legacy of Dieting
October 8th, 2018 by Sara Upson
Several years ago I was at an eating disorder conference where one of the presenters showed a video clip from Oprah about a very young girl (I think 5 -6 years old) who had anorexia nervosa. They interviewed the mom in the video and she repeatedly stated that she had no idea where the daughter […]
The Legacy of Dieting
October 8th, 2018 by Sara Upson
Remember that part in the movie Forrest Gump where Lieutenant Dan is talking about how it’s a tradition in his family to die in combat? He describes how his father, and his father’s father, and his grandfather’s father (and on and on) were killed in war; that this is the legacy in his family. He […]
Sometimes people get really mad when I talk about orthorexia. Like shouting match loud and mad. “How can healthy eating be a problem? Next you’re going to say that it’s fine to eat fast food…” And the truth is- it’s fine to eat fast food. I’m not saying you should eat it every day […]
4 Truths About Binge Eating Disorder
April 23rd, 2018 by Sara Upson
Last month I attended the International Association of Eating Disorder Professionals Conference in Orlando, Florida. I had a great time learning more about new findings in the treatment of eating disorders and connecting with other clinicians. During the conference there is also an exhibit hall where treatment centers and businesses related to the care of […]
If there’s one thing I’m tired of hearing people say it’s “that food has no nutritional value.” {facepalm} I do get it. You’re saying that food doesn’t offer a lot of nutrition, it doesn’t have a lot of vitamins and minerals, it’s “empty calories.” BUT you don’t eat calories. You don’t eat vitamins and […]
Are you focusing on these 4 areas and unintentionally promoting disordered eating?
March 5th, 2018 by Sara Upson
I would hope that no one would intentionally promote an eating disorder or disordered eating. I know it happens, but I’d like to believe that it’s ignorance- that someone just doesn’t understand how normalized disordered eating is, how common eating disorders are, or how they’re the deadliest mental illness. I see this all the time […]
Why Relapse Isn’t A Bad Thing. Hint: It’s Part of The Eating Disorder Recovery Process
February 25th, 2018 by Sara Upson
Eating Disorder recovery is a journey. It’s a process that takes time. It’s up and down and certainly not linear. When you’re living it, it feels like it will take forever. Sometimes you have those moments of hope, but then when a behavior creeps in or returns, that hope is quickly overshadowed by the shame […]
Confused About What Exactly Is An ‘Eating Disorder Behavior?’ Blame Diet Culture
February 16th, 2018 by Sara Upson
Eating disorders are the deadliest mental illness. Per the National Institute on Mental Health, they have the highest mortality rate of all psychiatric illnesses. Sadly, the false beliefs about eating disorders are rampant and diet culture makes it more confusing by normalizing eating disorder behaviors. You could even go as far as calling diet culture […]
The Average Weight Watchers Member Has Signed Up Four Times & Now They’re Marketing To Teens.
February 12th, 2018 by Sara Upson
Have you seen Weight Watchers latest marketing gimmick in the news? If not, let me update you- weight watchers recently announced that they will offer free membership to teens over the summer. I know on the surface this may appear to be a kind and generous thing that they’re doing to help teens, but please don’t […]
The Normalization of Disorder
February 1st, 2018 by Sara Upson
There are two young fish swimming along and they happen to meet an older fish swimming the other way, who nods at them and says, morning boys, how’s the water? The two young fish swim on for a while and then eventually one of them looks over at the other and goes, what the heck […]
You Don’t Have To Diet
January 25th, 2018 by Sara Upson
Did you know that you don’t have to diet? It’s true, you don’t. You don’t have to diet* or restrict your eating. (And by diet I mean any type of restrictive eating pattern including paleo, keto, clean eating, whole 30, etc.) I can’t tell you how many times I’ve heard people say I had no […]
My daughter loves Curious George- she had a Curious George birthday party, was George for Halloween and loves the show. As a result I’ve seen every episode + movie multiple, multiple times. Sometimes he’s annoying, but that little monkey has a lot of wisdom to offer too…even when it comes to food, nutrition and diet […]
Did you know that car brakes have a failure rate of 5% or less? With that in mind, would you ever consider driving or riding in a car with a failure rate of 95-98%?! To think about that another way- would you ride in a car if you knew that only 2-5 times out of […]
