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Julie: It’s time to name the neglect from typical food advice. Welcome to the Find Your Food Voice podcast, hosted by me, Julie Duffy Dillon. I’m a registered dietitian with 20 years of experience partnering with folks just like you on their food peace journey. What have we learned? Well, cookie cutter approaches exclude too many people, and you don’t need to be fixed. It’s not you. It’s not me. It’s all of us. Only together we can start a movement and fix diet culture. And we will. Let’s begin with now.

Julie: Hello there, Julie Duffy Dillon here and I am excited to chat with you to have a little new year new diet pep talk. And as we begin, just know that I am recording this into my iphone rather than my computer with my fancy mic sitting on my bed because well, I am wintering. This is the time of year that I slowed down a lot. I do this every winter. It was something I resisted for a long time. Yet, I’ve really embraced it and the Find Your Food Voice team and I have embraced it as a part of our culture as well. And if you’re like, what the heck is wintering? What are you talking about? I would encourage you to listen to last year’s episode on the subject with our previous production assistant, Yelli Cruz. Definitely check it out. But as I sit here, I’m going to hope to get through this with very little of an outline, hoping that Doug does not bark but alas, I mean, it’s just going to be imperfectly perfect. Right.

Julie: But like I said, we are going to be chatting about preparing for international dieting month. And this episode, I could also envision could be a resource for you before any big event, like a wedding or a reunion when diet seduction is real as fuck. Oh I mean, it’s always lurking, right? But I know there are some times where it just is so much more predictable and hardcore. So we’re going to take a quick break and I will be right back sharing some thoughts just to help you to navigate this very predictable seduction.

Julie: All right. Welcome back. So like I mentioned, I want this episode to be a handy resource for you before any time in your life where you know, you are really at high risk for being seduced by diet culture. And when I use that word seduced, I don’t know if you’ve heard that before. It may sound weird all sexual and everything. But the seduction by diets is very manipulative and predictable and that word just really lands for me because I think there’s a lot of luring and also promises of you being more attractive and popular. And also in reality, like having more access and safety. So the diet culture kind of dance or the messages that you get, whether they’re direct or indirect, they are very, very convincing and they’re very successful at convincing you and I that we need to fix ourselves. But here’s something I wish you knew your body is not the problem. It has never been the problem no matter what you have eaten today, no matter your body size, no matter how your body changed during COVID, no matter what your abilities are, how much energy you have. It doesn’t matter if you have chronic illnesses or not, whether you’re pursuing health or not, like you are not the problem. You and your body, your eating habits, they don’t need to be fixed, something I also know to be true is the very seductive lens. Part of why it is so seductive that this lens that we get die culture from was birthed from white supremacy. And if that’s a new concept for you, I’m so glad to give you this information. But I also appreciate that. It seems maybe sometimes people say, oh that’s, that’s a stretch Julie, oh my God. Just spend a few more minutes with me or someone else and we can really help you peel back the layers to understand how racism is, how we are in this place with diet culture, white supremacy is like, I always think of it as like the grandfather of all of the systems of oppression. So name them, they all come from that. And if you again are new to this concept, while this will be really hard work, it’ll be good work. That quote. By the way, “this is hard work and good work” is from Anne White who was my first kind of clinical supervisor when I worked at a children’s hospice. That was a place where it was hard work and good work. That was something she said to me many times. Um But connecting to the pursuit of weight loss or you’re craving to change your body, connecting it to your own racism that is really uncomfortable. Um And I do see it as a vital foundation for finding your food voice. You know, that’s like what this podcast is always hoping for you to connect with is like, how do you want to connect to food?

Julie: What is best for you and appreciating how you are experiencing these systems of oppression, whether you are being harmed by them or you are someone who benefits from them. It’s really hard work and it’s good work. If you want to connect with folks who are the experts in how racism is the foundation for diet culture. Um I have some resources for you that we can put in the show notes for you. One is a book called Fearing The Black Body by Dr. Sabrina Strings. And this is a very, a thorough text on like basically a map through time of how this is all, um connected. And, um, I love audio books, especially when it comes to like text and nonfiction. So I highly recommend it that way. But I also have the paperback because I love to reference it all the time and it’s referenced in my book I’m writing right now. And then, um, let’s see, another one. Of course, let me think of the name. Um This happens when you do your podcast on the Fly Deshaun Harrison’s book, Belly of The Beast is another one that I think is really, really important. And um the last one that I kind of include is like, I don’t know, I guess the starter pack if you’re wanting to read about the racial origins of dieting is Sonya Renee Taylor’s book. The Body is Not an Apology. Um I find that Sonya Renee Taylor’s book is super accessible and a great first place for many people. And um, yet, if you’re like, no, I want to get into the weeds and learn all about this. Then, um Dr. String’s book is a really great place to start. Another one that I’ve also kind of added lately is Decolonizing Wellness by Dalia Kinsey. That’s a book that goes through more of the food and body experiences. You know, Dalia is a dietician. So, um using all of this information um talking about how um eating and um repairing a relationship with food, especially if you are someone who has been harmed by these systems of oppression.

Julie: So I hope this help help you as you were kind of navigating and, and before you even feel the pull of the diet culture seduction or maybe you’re just starting to feel it connecting to this truth, whether it’s through reading some of these things or seeking out content, like it is going to be really powerful because connecting to the reality and the truth, it’ll get you unhooked from that seduction.

Julie: All right. So something that I’ve been spending a lot of time of spending a lot of time on rather in my book is something called the Should Eat script. So this is a phrase that I’ve been using in kind of like different order. I’ve kind of like changed around the exact name for many years. But I’m landing on Should Eat script to describe the rules, whether it’s through dieting or family beliefs or eating disorder kind of thoughts. And um and rules, I think of them as these kind of seductive kind of narratives that we hold on to. And there are these scripts, like there are these things that are downloaded without our consent and we have to follow them and we don’t just any time we should we start shooting all over the place whenever we should. There then is shame So I mentioned this now because the seductive side of diet culture in all its different iterations, those are the should eat scripts. So as someone is preparing their New Year’s resolution, they may start to feel a burst of some lovely endorphins from hope. There’s a spark of hope. And if you just follow this really concrete, clean a rule book and maybe it’s only even a page long, it’s so simple. It’s not rocket science. Do you know how many times I’ve seen that? Um you know, healthy eating or whatever kind of description, someone’s saying healthy eating, it’s not rocket science. Not only am I offended by that as a dietician? Because I had to take so many darn science classes, but also because it’s inferring that if we are not weighing less, that means we’re stupid. Um No, these are these scripts that are basically lying, all these different rules that you have downloaded in your brain and they make it seem so exciting and hopeful and easy. And that first burst that hopeful spark. That’s the seduction. And if you’re not feeling it right now, you will over the next week or two, especially as we go into January and I encourage you whenever you feel that hopeful spark to just name it. Oh, there’s the hopeful spark. We know it’s bullshit. Right. You and I, I think we know that because we’ve tried it enough times we’ve heard from enough people. Diets don’t work why would this one be any different in the next episode? We’ll talk a little bit more about some next steps with that. But it can be really powerful for you to just as you feel that hopeful spark from a new diet, a new should eat script to name it as, ah, there it is. There’s the seduction and you know, naming it is again the first step. But there’s more and as you are navigating the diet talk, just be aware that some new sparks may be hitting you and do what you need to do. Um, one of the most powerful things that I think we can do for those of us who are naming themselves as anti diet or just not wanting to diet anymore is to rally together because again, it’s not your body, it’s not my body. We need to fix the world and just like I say, in the beginning of this podcast, it’s not you. It’s not me. It’s all of us and only together are we going to end diet culture? And we will, and it starts by connecting with two, connecting with why diets exist and then calling them out with every spark.

Julie: All right. I am amazed that we have not heard Doug bark at all. Let’s give him a round of applause and I’m going to go back to my wintering. So you do you, I hope you enjoy the rest of your day, whatever unfolds. If anything and I’ll be back next week as we start international dining month with just some more resources that I hope you feel just connected to your own innate wisdom and help you find your food voice. All right. I look forward to next time until then, take care.