There’s no such thing as a perfect diet.

There is, however, an overwhelming amount of recommendations, diets, information and health advice at our fingertips. I don’t blame us for being so confused about what to eat, how to eat or when to eat. I don’t believe there’s the one perfect diet that when applied to us all, will grant us longevity, disease-free living and optimal health as we have all been created with different biology, genetics, cultural backgrounds, tastes & preferences. But I do believe for the most part that getting back to basics and eating real wholesome foods as close to their natural state, then we can live a life as vital and as liberated as possible

The information that’s out there through social media, magazines, health media platforms and television networks continues to keep us feeling at a loss, bearing in mind that their ultimate goal is to sell and gain consistently high ratings. Headlines are becoming more of these far-fetched, unrealistic goals like “Hard muscle fast”, “Hot body now”, “Get her abs!” or “Lose 5lbs now”. Oh yes, these are all legitimate magazine covers, covers of health magazines mind you, and they set this expectation that health, weight loss, and getting your perfect body can happen overnight with a quick fix, a pill, or the latest exotic ‘superfood’.

Advertising to the masses that health is a long-term lifestyle shift that includes eating everyday real foods that are minimally processed (like vegetables), whilst moving your body, managing sleep, and stress levels, and reducing toxic load might not sell out like a heading promising a “Bikini body in 2 weeks!”.

Food should not instill fear. Food is a means for connection, for enjoyment, for nourishment, for healing, and for comfort. It is not as simple as categorising foods as either ‘good’ or ‘bad’. It’s taking a step back and looking at everything in context. Pasta is not necessarily a ‘bad’ food.

It’s the mindset you have around eating and your approach to your food that counts. Healthy bodies come in all shapes and sizes and what I had to learn the hard way, through years of disordered eating, is that your weight is not your worth. The end goal should not be weight-loss, but rather, health. Health as a whole takes into account not just food but your mental state, movement, lifestyle, sleep, culture, spirituality, and more. Weight loss can still be a part of the process of course, and healthy weight loss should take time while being sustainable. Not through deprivation, angst, and misery. 

“Chasing superficial body ideals will come at a cost of your own physical, mental and emotional health”

The mental energy of worrying about appearance, weight, body shape, and size was debilitating in the end, the physical toll it took on my body to starve it and deprive it of nourishment ruined a good decade of my life, years I’ll never get back. How much more are we now putting thoughts and energy towards unhealthy trains of thought, while being sapped of joy because of this? How much more could we achieve if we were to live content with our body image and not consumed by the aspects of ourselves that we don’t like? I know in every single one of us, there are hidden desires, dreams and ideas waiting to be birthed, but we are distracted.

It’s time to take a new approach to ‘health’, one that isn’t focused on body image or the numbers on the scale. A healthy body comes in all shapes and sizes and this obsession with appearance and weight is depriving us of a life well lived and well fed.