Diets teach us to view the body as a project. You can tinker with what you're eating and transform your body into something different.

Then fitness culture doubles down and provides the message that you can shape your body to be whatever you want it to be, you just have to put up with messages like no pain, no gain and a complete disconnection from your body, how it feels, and what resonates with it.

I know I spent years and years in this ping pong game of diets and body shaping. Then, saying F this, swinging the pendulum to the opposite side and eating everything I had deprived and barely moving my body, only to still feel horrible that I went crawling back to a diet again because I had no clue what else to do.

There is a lot that gets sacrificed seeing the body as a project and this realization often only occurs after months and years when you realize you don't know who you are anymore, how to exist in your body, or what it actually needs.

Yet, releasing the habitual relationship with the body as something to change and alter will also potentially change your relationships, the environments you've been interacting with, and the conversations you engage in. It isn't that easy when everyone around you is also in their own body project to say, "hey, ya know what, I'm done working on my body."

In this week's episode, I chat with Savala Nolan, writer, author, public speaker, and professor at UC Berkeley about:

The journey of recovering from diet culture
Understanding the language and psychological impact of dieting
Ending the body project and facing the fears and cost of body liberation
Questioning societal norms
Practical steps toward body liberation

You can also read the transcript to this week’s episode here: https://www.stephaniemara.com/blog/breaking-free-from-diet-culture

This was such a fantastic conversation. Savala describes exiting diet culture in a way that I've never heard someone capture what it is actually like and what a person may come to face in the process.

If you have any insights from this episode, let me know!

With Compassion and Empathy,

Stephanie Mara Fox

Keep in touch with Savala:

Website: https://savalanolan.com/

Substack: https://savala.substack.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/savalanolan/

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