Diet

As a Plus-Size Woman, Here’s How I Protect My Mental Health From Diet Culture

anti diet special report bug

Hi there.

Welcome to my diary, friend.

No, you won’t hear a peep about my sex life. You won’t be entering a catalogue of my weird, petty obsessions. You will, however, find something that might make you feel a lot better as you move through the world. My name is Virgie, and I’ve worked in body positivity as a plus-size woman for almost a decade, helping to educate people on the harmful long-term effects of weight-based discrimination and to recover from body shame. I’ve written books and essays, and I host a podcast and lecture all over the country on these topics.

As you may know without expert-me telling you, living in our diet-obsessed culture can be brutal if you’re fat (also if you’re not, but it’s way worse if you’re fat, a woman, and especially a BIPOC woman, as I am). The world (everyone from “experts” on TV to random Internet trolls) feels free to criticize my body, treat me like a tax liability, make presumptions about how I eat and live and refuse me medical care because of bias about my weight. But I learned many years ago that my body is not a problem and I am 100% done feeling sorry for taking up space.

Now that we’re better acquainted, back to my diary. At the request of Good Housekeeping, I documented two weeks worth of pro-diet or anti-fat messaging and moments I was made to feel like crap about my body, and I

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Amanda Holden’s impressive pescatarian diet: Holden Girls star’s daily meals revealed







The paleo diet, as the name suggests is a dietary plan which includes eating foods that are similar to what people might be eating during the Palaeolithic era, which was around 2.5 million years ago.

The diet typically includes eating fish, lean meats, fruits, vegetables, seeds and nuts. These are the foods that could be obtained in the past by hunting and gathering. The diet limits the foods that became common when farming emerged about 10,000 years ago. The foods include dairy products, grains and legumes.

Studies suggest that the diet can lead to significant weight loss and improve your health without even cutting back on calories.

Other common names for the Paleo diet include the Paleolithic diet, stone age diet, caveman diet and the hunter-gatherer diet.

The aim of the diet


The diet aims at returning to the way of eating what humans in ancient times ate. The diet’s reasoning is that the human body is genetically mismatched to the modern diet that emerged with farming practices, an idea known as the discordance hypothesis.

Farming has changed what people ate and added dairy, grains and legumes as staples to the diet. This rapidly changed the diet and according to the hypothesis, outplaced the body’s ability to adapt. This mismatch is believed to be a contributing factor for increasing obesity, diabetes and heart disease in today’s life.

Here are some foods to eat and avoid while following the Paleo diet.


Foods to eat on a Paleo diet


Meat: Lamb, chicken,

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8 Potential Side Effects of Consuming Too Much Diet Soda

Free of calories, carbs, and sugar, diet soda may seem like a healthy and refreshing alternative to sugary soft drinks.

However, this bubbly beverage may not be quite as harmless as it seems, especially if you’re drinking several servings per day.

In fact, drinking too much diet soda may be linked to several side effects and affect both long- and short-term health.

Here are 8 possible side effects of diet soda, plus some easy ways to reduce your intake.

Some research suggests that the artificial sweeteners found in diet soda might negatively affect your gut microbiome, which is the community of beneficial bacteria in your digestive tract.

The gut microbiome plays a key role in many aspects of health, including immune function, nutrient absorption, heart health, and more (1).

One small study including 7 people found that the artificial sweetener saccharin impaired blood sugar management and caused imbalances in gut bacteria among 57% of participants (2).

Another animal study showed that acesulfame K (Ace-K), another type of artificial sweetener in some types of diet soda, negatively affected the makeup of the gut microbiome in mice (3).

On the other hand, some other studies in humans and animals have turned up conflicting results (4, 5).

Aspartame is one of the most common nonnutritive sweeteners in diet soda. Many studies have investigated its safety, but few have looked into its effects on the human microbiome (6).

However, we do know that

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Nutrition and Diet | MUSC

Introduction

Food and nutrition play a crucial role in health promotion and chronic disease prevention. Healthy eating patterns (along with regular physical activity) can help people achieve and maintain good health.

Below are a few resources to assist in finding the healthiest eating patterns that work for you.

Build a Healthy Eating Style with help from the USDA’s MyPlate series of resources.

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Evaluate Your Nutrition and Diet Habits – Complete Survey for a Chance to Win a MUSC Promotional Prize 

Share your story with us on what you already do that contributes to your nutritional well-being and why it is beneficial to you. At the end of each month, we will draw from the submissions and award multiple MUSC Promotional Prizes (e.g. water bottle, beach towel, yoga mat)!

QR code. Takes user to Redcap promotional survey about evaluating their financial wellness.

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Useful Resources

Content below extracted from: www.myplate.gov

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  • Focus on making healthy food and beverage choices from all five food groups including fruits, vegetables, grains, protein foods, and dairy to get the nutrients you need.
  • Eat the right amount of calories for you based on your age, sex, height, weight, and physical activity level. Get started, click on the link above, then click the “start” button to begin entering your information into the calculator.
  • Exploring additional key topics can help you avoid overweight and obesity and reduce your risk of diseases such as heart disease, diabetes, and cancer.

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