I am not here to sell you a shiny object
If I have been on your radar for a while you will know that I always go on about how I don’t like people wanting to sell you stuff to lose weight, detox, cleanse, be healthier, etc. Whilst these things are appealing and sound sensible, the reason I am quite vocal about them being BS is because there often isn’t any evidence for their effectiveness and that the companies that are trying to sell their stuff are using our insecurities and anxieties to get to your money.
The clever marketing strategies make it all sound sexy, like you will finally have the solution to all your problems – but what they are actually doing is creating the problem for you as well, which basically tells you that you and your body need fixing.
You may notice that there is often a (spurious) scientific element to the claims these companies make, but this element is often inflated or misinterpreted. Many studies that are used to inform health and weight recommendations are rodent studies (you are NOT a rat..), are studies that have a lot of confounding variables (those are the things that can have an independent effect on the outcome of the study, so these variables mess up the results), are studies that show a small effect/outcome which might have been statistically significant but isn’t meaningful in real life, are studies that found a correlation (i.e. two things happening alongside each other) but are being misinterpreted as showing a causative relationship (i.e. one thing causes the other).
Many of the products or services you are being sold are also not getting any sustainable outcomes – you may find an initial effect, but how long does it last and what are the restrictions that you need to put on your life to maintain this effect? No one talks about THAT.
Given that there is rarely any good and reliable evidence to the claims and a real lack of long-term benefit, why do we still fall for these products?
1) Our anxieties and insecurities
We are bombarded from all sides with information about how we should look, eat and move. We are regularly shown what ‘an ideal’ and ‘healthy’ person should look like. And if we are not THAT, we feel we need to do something about it.
Health does not have a look, neither is it an obligation. Whilst we all want to feel well, it’s not always within our control to be healthy. Yet, the wellness industry makes us believe it is, and we are so anxious about getting sick or putting on weight that we soak up all the messages about how to ensure we don’t do either.
2) Marketing
As mentioned above, clever marketing is telling you what’s wrong with you (creating a problem for you) and then sells you the solution! The diet and wellness industry has mega-bucks and isn’t afraid to spend them on sexy adverts and marketing. We are sold a ‘shiny object’ and are like magpies flocking to get our hands on it.
3) Peer pressure
There is an expectation on people to ‘look after themselves’ and whenever anyone does anything that is deemed ‘healthy’, they get a round of applause and a pat on the back for being ‘good’. (notice the quotation marks here, indicating that I disagree with the narrative). If we don’t follow the latest diet or wellness trend but all our friends are doing it, if we don’t exercise 4x week but our partner does, if we eat the cake, but all our colleagues don’t, there is a significant amount of peer pressure that might make us want to fit in, to bond, to share an experience and hence we follow suit..
For all three points above it is important to understand that it isn’t your fault if you go along with it! Give yourself some compassion – we all live in the same weight- and wellness-focussed culture and it’s so hard to avoid getting sucked into it. In fact, it is rather easy as the promised outcomes are so alluring!
Now, the cynics amongst you (you are in good company here!) might think: hey, Ela, you are talking about people trying to sell you things, but you are a business, you are selling your services too!
Totally right, I am selling a service! Unfortunately what I am selling isn’t always very sexy, because it is less tangible and difficult to measure. It is easy to note the number on the scales, or clothes sizes, but how do you measure empowerment, satisfaction, confidence? What I am selling is harder to promote because it’s not a quick fix. It’s not a programme or a plan to follow.
What I am selling you with intuitive eating is
- a shift of attention so you can re-connect with your body
- food freedom so you can go out with your friends or family for a meal without worrying about what you order
- body acceptance so you can be present and not worry about how that outfit looks on you or whether you are the biggest person in the room
- brain space so you can focus on things that matter to you
- a way to trust yourself and your body again
- movement that feels good and allows you to play with your children or grandchildren
- self-compassion and self-acceptance in a world that is trying to tell you ‘you aren’t enough’ or ‘you are too much’
- liberation from diet culture so that you can be unapologetically you
- a deep knowledge of what feels good in your body and what keeps your body well and healthy
None of this is easy to measure, but all of this is liberating and affirming YOU as who you are. It is also sustainable (and there is actual scientific evidence that health markers, mental health and overall life satisfaction improve when people learn to eat and move more intuitively.
My business model is crap: I don’t want you to rely on my support forever, I want to help you get the skills and tools to live your life fully, with joy and with confidence. I don’t promise you that you will never want to lose weight again, or you never have a bad body image day again. But when you become an intuitive eater you will know how to weather the storms, how to sit with discomfort, how to see challenges as learning experiences, and how to become curious rather than judgmental.
