Before you try your next diet, read this...

Hey there....it's been a while, to say the least...

Would you forgive me if I told you I had to take a break for the sake of my mental health? I know, not very specific and somewhat dodgy but I promise it's true! For students all around the world, perhaps you can relate to the sudden onset of stress during this time of the semester. Things have calmed down JUST A TAD, at least enough for me to make my grand return:

Today's episode of Redhead & Asian is one of my absolute favorites! I like all of our episodes (and hope we continue to produce content we are proud of and that makes an impact in your life) but this has got to be one of the top five! If you've been following Redhead & Asian since the beginning, you might have deduced that I struggle with disordered eating, among other mental health issues. While I might have experienced other factors and life events that contributed to my disordered eating, I also believe that the diet culture is a major driving force of my struggle. Even during my process of recovery, I find diet culture to one of the most challenging things to overcome. It has become such a norm that I think the principles of diet culture has become my instinct and habits. I think I have lost a sense of self. While I struggle, I also believe that I cannot be the ONLY ONE dealing with these issues! Hence, I told Steph, we NEED to talk about the diet culture and bring awareness to fight against this toxic culture!

If you're reading this, I highly encourage you to listen to the episode. I think we bring up details about diet culture to make you, our listeners, realize how subtle yet influential this culture is. Diet culture is rampant, even sometimes I succumb to it! I catch myself saying things like, "I feel fat" or "I should eat something healthy". Fat is not a feeling and healthy is not defined by a certain group of foods. Rather, I (or we) should be striving to say things such as "I feel sad" (NOTICE AN ACTUAL EMOTION) and "I will feed my body what it craves". Our bodies are smarter than we are. In fact, I think it is the mind that is twisted! So the next time you receive a hunger cue, like a grumble in your stomach or a mood swing, nourish yourself! Restriction (in any form) is never the answer.

I think I have ranted enough. If you made it to this part of the post, please let me know in the comments so I know I still have readers (haha). If you have not yet listened to the episode, go listen now (and then share with your friends to spread the word about the existence of diet culture). Diet culture is as bad as an infectious disease because if one person doubts their self-worth, others might also think twice about how they view themselves. We need more people to support and cheer each other on! We are beautiful, the way we are.

As always, stay cheeky,

Janelle

Check out the episode discussed in this post on your source of podcasts (ie. Spotify or Apple Podcasts) or the "Listen" page!