Diet and Detox.  These words can be destructive. They suggest that you need to lose weight, that you have been doing things wrong, that you are not good enough, that your body is full of toxins, that you need to change the way you look. I see a lot of broken people with broken thoughts about their bodies and eating. 

Diet:

a special course of food to which a person restricts themselves, either to lose weight or for medical reasons.

restrict oneself to small amounts or special kinds of food in order to lose weight.

Detox:

a process or period of time in which one abstains from or rids the body of toxic or unhealthy substances; detoxification.

So it’s all about restriction, abstaining and getting rid of the bad stuff.  NO! Thinking like this will lead to negative thoughts about yourself, lowered self esteem, negative body image and the feeling that you are not good.

Now I’m not saying that there aren’t changes that people need to be making to their eating and their lifestyles. Some people need to gain weight for health reasons and others need to lose weight, some people need to have a healthier balance of foods in their days, others may need to be more active. What concerns me is the mindset and thought patterns around why these changes are made. Approaching it from a “I’m a bad person and need to change” mindset is not going to give long lasting positive results unless those thoughts are challenged along the way.

Use a Positive Mindset:

Have a longer term approach. What are your long term goals? Where do you want to be in 1 year and in 5 years? Think about how your health and body need to be in order to achieve those goals.

To be a nurse I need to be strong, fit and have a healthy relationship with food so I can eat around my shift patterns.

To have children I need to be a healthy weight for fertility, I need to be a healthy role model with my lifestyle and I need to be able to cook a good range of meals.

From here write yourself out a list of positive changes you can make to your eating and lifestyle. These are some of mine:

To eat an extra portion of vegetables every day.

To get outside in the fresh air for some form of exercise 5 days a week.

To cook a new recipe once a week.

To switch off technology, read more and get to bed early once a week.

To make healthy snacks ahead of time so I stay away from the biscuits.

It’s not about having a strict diet plan and then beating yourself up when you can’t stick to it.  It is about having a plan that is achievable and flexible. 

It’s not about cutting out food groups and thinking foods are bad. It is about moderation and balance.

It’s not about only making change for a few weeks. It is about the long term.

Be kind to you. Be achievable. Be true to you.