Too often in my 16 plus years as a dietitian and chef, I have had the opportunity to listen, empathize and guide others in learning about the power of food and nutrition. Our experiences and relationships with food can provide pleasure, enjoyment, comfort, creativity, connection, socialization, nourishment, and emotional (both negative and positive) ties that begin in childhood and continue to shape and evolve as we become adults.
Whether on a train, plane, hanging with friends, at the grocery store, eating out, in the classroom, in the hallway, in a meeting, listening to something on tv…you fill in the blank, I am listening to the dialogue around food and nutrition. Often there are conversations or side conversations about food, nutrition, and exercise layered with excitement, questions, deprivation, lack of knowledge, weight, diet trends, labels, ingredients, lack of time, social media posts, you name it our world is a food, exercise, weight, and body image focused society.
In the last 16 years, many of these conversations and observations have changed. When I first started my career, social media was not present. Now everywhere you look for better or worse, someone is showing their online world what they ate (some of these pictures are gorgeous! and there is excitement around food), weight changes, the newest diet they are on, and the list goes on. There are some great articles and inspiration shared, there are some great things posted, however what social media and constant strolling does is allow us to compare our world to everyone’s highlight reel (this isn’t the first time you have heard this!). And this comparison lends itself to feeling not good enough, deprived, wishing we were this, that or the other. As well, a lot of this information is not based in science, is backed by an influencer (not a licensed health professional – such as a dietitian), and what works for one may not work for another.
So thus, a continuous cycle of not focusing on what you need, but what others may be doing and may not work for you. The same thing goes on in those above spaces I chatted about … the plane, train, meeting, classroom, etc. Consumers are not always knowing where to look for evidenced-based info that can help them. Remember one size does not fit all, so the answer or lifestyle approach for you may not be as clear as what is posted on social media or a billboard screaming “Hey, look at me!” The answer is in you somewhere and in being intentional and showing up for you and your health, you can discover the movement and nourishment that works best for you. In doing so, you can begin to build a healthier relationship with both!