Boris's Fat Fight - be careful of the diet trap!
Boris Johnson, on the back of his own Coronavirus fright, is set to launch a renewed anti-obesity strategy.
We are living among a virus that is being widely reported to have the capacity to disproportionately harm people with a high BMI, so motivation to trim down will be high right now.
BUT, before everyone jumps on a restrictive weight loss diet, let’s be super clear: being thin doesn’t automatically make you healthy. And losing weight through a punishing fad or commercialised diet plan is NOT healthy for your body or mind.
My message to anyone considering diet and lifestyle change is always to CHASE HEALTH and VITALITY first and foremost, as opposed to chasing weight loss per se. This means focussing your attention on creating enjoyable positive habits that will stick. By doing so, your body will find its natural healthy size and shape along the way.
It’s a trap to chase weight loss in a bubble, a trap that can lead us into unsustainable regimes, distract us from what our bodies really need to be nourished and flourish, and is known to send many into a frenzied dieting cycle and disordered eating.
It’s also really important to note that we are yet to determine if the relationship between COVID-19 mortality risk and BMI is a correlation or causation.
So if you are in a bigger body right now, perhaps have tried and failed at multiple diets previously, and are worried about how best you go about taking better care of your body, it’s really important to look at the bigger picture of your health and wellbeing.
What are your health markers like? How’s your gut health? What areas of your diet and life might you be struggling with? What have you tried to do about your weight in your past and how has that worked out for you?
Multiple factors affect metabolic health which include thyroid health, hormone balance, gut health, genes, stress levels, nutrient status, movement, sleep patterns and access to healthy food.
If you don’t know where to start, get the help of a practitioner with the right experience who will help you work through this and discover how to take care of your body with a personalised, balanced and compassionate approach, whilst helping you maintain a balanced relationship with food.
Further reading: So, how do you find YOUR natural healthy weight?
Next steps
Do you struggle in your relationship to food and would you benefit a fresh approach to eating that puts your mind-body health and wellbeing first? Please check out my Reconnect programme here.
