Weight Loss Culture Is Dead

"Weight loss" An Old Dogma I No Longer Subscribe To Weight loss, a cultural manipulation tool to sell the idea of "beauty" and "happiness" to people who don't look the part.

There's an entire cultural notion that people need to "lose weight" and that their happiness & wellbeing depends on it. We're obsessed with reaching a standard ideal weight range, such as BMI. BMI, which was created by a mathematician who knows nothing about biology or health gas somehow become a standard to measure health.

This is constantly being super imposed on us with corporate visual images of bodies that are unrealistic and unattainable for the majority of humans. Pictures of bodies, mostly women, who have been stretched, airbrushed, enhanced in some areas, minimized and smoothed out in others. This leaves us with visuals that are supposed to represent ideal human bodies which have been so altered beyond recognition from what true human bodies look like. 

Not only are these images visually altered, our perceptions around them are heavily influenced by toxic narratives. Most "models" are paid to keep a specific body appearance and weight. Some of them have publicly spoken of the ridicule and broken contracts they face if they gain weight or dont follow a very specific and rigorous work out and eaying regiment.

Women who are a size zero are used to represent "normal sizes" (which go up to a size 12) and only women who are about a size 8 are used to represent "plus sizes." This heavily skews women's perceptions of what is a normal and adequate body size and what is not. Leaving women feeling uncomfortable, dissatisfied and alienated when it comes to their bodies, and especially when ever faced with shopping for clothing and figuring out clothing sizes. 

"Weight Loss" Culture Prays On People's Insecurities & Lowers Self-Esteem.

A lot of people still seem to be subscribing to this old paradigm, which is highly toxic. Also so many people are trying to "lose weight" who really don't need to be.

The concept of "weight loss"& diet culture are rooted in shame. Shame is the least sustainable model of motivation, yet it is the primary one used in everyday culture. The powerful gimmick of "weight loss"and dieting get a hold of us by making us feel bad, inadequate, unlovable, undesirable and repulsive. Once you are convinced and have allowed shame to infiltrate your psyche, you are susceptible to being convinced to spend your money. 

You start to spend it on all sorts of "solutions" ranging from pills, diets, shakes, gym memberships, funny exercise equipment, injections and even surgical procedures. Once you are hooked on shame, you are very likely to continue to be stuck in a self sabotaging cycle. 

The cycle looks like this: you spend money, time and effort trying to rectify that which you believe is wrong with you... Then you start feeling exhausted and tired because shame is an unsustainable motivator. So parts of you that are tired of the shame start to rebel by engaging in all the things you are "not allowed to do."

This pendulum swinging back and forth is very typical of people brainwashed into "weight loss" & "Dieting" cultures. In reality, medical professionals say this pattern, called the "yo-yo effect," is in fact much riskier business for you health tgan just staying at the weight you are.

Reclaiming "Fat" & Ending The "Anti Fat" War

I spend my time sharing information with people to help them reclaim the power of their "Fat." Yes you heard me right! FAT isn't as bad as this culture makes it to be. Fat is nutrition for your brain, joints, skin and thousands of metabolic functions. In Yogic & Auyervedic tradition fat represents nourishment, the feminine, the mother, love, comfort, kindness & softness. It makes you wonder why corporate culture is so anti-fat...

We've been programmed: low fat, fat free, burn ur fat, zero body fat, ugly & fat, fatso.... so many negative connotations about "fat." Yet, lack of fat is actually driving our culture completely hay wire... now I'm not promoting toxic fats or fat imbalances that lead to disease... but everyone's body has different needs and fat is a very important need for many. Some people can be perfectly healthy, active and energetic while carrying some fat on their bodies, these people are still shamed and made to think that a sculpted lean non fatty look is what represents health, while actually that look represents wealth, we'll get into that in another post. Low body fat and high muscle mass do not equate health! I know many highly unhealthy people with zero body fat that are gym enthusiats. What oir goal should be is to bring the body back to a healthy balanced state and then if THAT shrinks fat cells to a more normal level for their body composition and constitution then yay, but for others health may actually  require an increase in body fat,this concept is shocking to many.

A Much More Powerful Alternative To " Weight Loss" I would love to see us as a culture steer away from the corporate marketing image of what it is to be human by "losing weight" and "whipping yourself into shape" (who's shape?) & instead of all that, lets teach people how to create powerful physical, emotional and mental health that will lead our bodies to a more vital and healthy state naturally.

Let's stop focusing on what our bodies look like, as they will probably never look like the images we are bombarded with, unless we are spending half of our time working out, augmenting our bodies with plastic surgery and other procedures as well as hiring a photoshop specialist. Being healthy, radiant and vibrant can never be represented by a measurement or number. It's way more complex, diverse and holistic than that. People who are truly healthy on all levels radiate a beauty beyond physical characteristics. 

"Ripped arms" and "six packs" can not substitite for the glow of self confidence and self love which inexplicably mesmerize others. It is one's ability to show up to themselves and the world around them fully engaged and in alignment that is the definition of beauty, not their bra or pant size.

Check us out at: www.Nourishlove.com/academy For all our upcoming classes on Ayurveda, Nutrition, Health, Wellness, NLP, Body Positivity & much more