It's the rant that started it all! Today Aimee shares a spontaneous rant she posted on social media in 2018, passionately addressing the shame and stigma surrounding weight loss for women, challenging the notion that body positivity and weight loss are mutually exclusive and urging listeners to let go of shame and embrace their desires. She also discusses the complexities of weight loss, including the impact of hormones, stress, and environmental factors. This empowering episode encourages women to prioritize self-care and pursue their health goals without judgment.
Notable Quotes:
Women should not feel ashamed for wanting to lose weight if it will improve their quality of life and overall health.
Body positivity and the desire to lose weight are not mutually exclusive.
Weight loss is influenced by various factors, including hormones, stress, and environmental toxins.
Shame can be more toxic than being overweight and can lead to emotional eating.
It is important to acknowledge and accept the societal pressures and messages that have shaped our beliefs about body size and worth.
Notable Quotes:
"You can be body positive and still want to lose weight."
"Your shame adds a layer of guilt that you don't need, period. And that layer of guilt, in and of itself, can lead to emotional eating, which is only going to exacerbate the problem."
"Your shame is more toxic than being overweight. Your shame is more toxic than that desire that you have to lose ten or 15 or 20 or 50 pounds."
"We straddle those two cultural narratives, and we, as women who were born during that time, we just get to carry that. We get to live in that dichotomy."
HOW TO RATE AND REVIEW BLASPHEMOUS NUTRITION Leaving a Review on Apple Podcasts Via iOS Device 1. Open Apple Podcast App (purple app icon that says Podcasts). 2. Go to the icons at the bottom of the screen and choose “search” 3. Search for “Blasphemous Nutrition” 4. Click on the SHOW, not the episode. 5. Scroll all the way down to “Ratings and Reviews” section 6. Click on “Write a Review” (if you don’t see that option, click on “See All” first) 7. Rate the show on a five-star scale (5 is highest rating) and write a review! 8. Bask in the glow of doing a good deed that makes a difference!
It's the rant that started it all! Today Aimee shares a spontaneous rant she posted on social media in 2018, passionately addressing the shame and stigma surrounding weight loss for women, challenging the notion that body positivity and weight loss are mutually exclusive and urging listeners to let go of shame and embrace their desires. She also discusses the complexities of weight loss, including the impact of hormones, stress, and environmental factors. This empowering episode encourages women to prioritize self-care and pursue their health goals without judgment.
Notable Quotes:
Women should not feel ashamed for wanting to lose weight if it will improve their quality of life and overall health.
Body positivity and the desire to lose weight are not mutually exclusive.
Weight loss is influenced by various factors, including hormones, stress, and environmental toxins.
Shame can be more toxic than being overweight and can lead to emotional eating.
It is important to acknowledge and accept the societal pressures and messages that have shaped our beliefs about body size and worth.
Notable Quotes:
"You can be body positive and still want to lose weight."
"Your shame adds a layer of guilt that you don't need, period. And that layer of guilt, in and of itself, can lead to emotional eating, which is only going to exacerbate the problem."
"Your shame is more toxic than being overweight. Your shame is more toxic than that desire that you have to lose ten or 15 or 20 or 50 pounds."
"We straddle those two cultural narratives, and we, as women who were born during that time, we just get to carry that. We get to live in that dichotomy."
HOW TO RATE AND REVIEW BLASPHEMOUS NUTRITION Leaving a Review on Apple Podcasts Via iOS Device 1. Open Apple Podcast App (purple app icon that says Podcasts). 2. Go to the icons at the bottom of the screen and choose “search” 3. Search for “Blasphemous Nutrition” 4. Click on the SHOW, not the episode. 5. Scroll all the way down to “Ratings and Reviews” section 6. Click on “Write a Review” (if you don’t see that option, click on “See All” first) 7. Rate the show on a five-star scale (5 is highest rating) and write a review! 8. Bask in the glow of doing a good deed that makes a difference!
Hey Rebels, welcome to Blasphemous Nutrition. Consider this podcast your pantry full of clarity, perspective, and the nuance needed to counter the superficial health advice so freely given on the internet. I'm Aimee, the unapologetically candid host of Blasphemous Nutrition and a double degreed nutritionist with 20 years experience. I'm here to share a more nuanced take. On living and eating well to sustain and recover your health. If you've found most health advice to be so generic as to be meaningless, We're so extreme that it's unrealistic, and you don't mind the occasional F bomb. You've come to the right place. From dissecting the latest nutrition trends to breaking down published research and sharing my own clinical experiences, I'm on a mission to foster clarity amidst all the confusion and empower you to have the health you need to live a life you love. Now let's get started.
Aimee:
This folks. Is the weight loss rant. That started at all. I posted this on Facebook live in November of 2018 and shortly thereafter decided I probably needed to start a podcast, but let's just say it took me some time to build up the chops to push record on a regular basis. This rant is as true today as it was five years ago. So I'm posting here to share with you to help you break free of yet another layer of bullshit shame that you might be carrying. This is my rally cry for you, to be honest with yourself and others and go for what you need to feel your best.
You Hey everyone, it's Amy I want to talk, about something that I am seeing, pretty commonly now in my office that's just showed up in the last year and a half. And, once I saw it and recognized it for what it is, it really pissed me off. Like, I'm seriously angry about this. What I'm seeing is, you know, I, I work with women who are, Mostly over 35 and, they are trying to juggle the challenges between, being advanced in their career and having family and other obligations, aging parents, children, like just the enormity of what is on a woman's plate these days. And keep herself healthy as she ages because, she looks at her parents and She doesn't want to go down that trajectory, right? And she looks at her children and she wants to be there for them as long as possible And to be as healthy as possible so that she can show up for them In the way that she wants to as a mother, right? And so she'll step into my office and she'll say, you know, this is, this is what's going on in my life and it's kind of crazy. And, I know what I should be doing and I'm not able to do it. Or what I was doing in the past isn't working for me anymore. And, In asking, like, deeper questions about what is it, that you're seeking, what are you hoping that this will accomplish, she'll say, you know, I, I, I have these aches and pains in my body and they're really slowing me down. I'm not as fast and strong as I used to be. My energy is tanked. I'm getting brain fog in the afternoon. And I'm just, I'm feeling older and I'm not ready and then, and then at the very end, and literally sometimes this is after like an hour, almost an hour and a half of conversation, at the very end she'll say, and it would be okay if I lost a little bit of weight too. And what pisses me off is not that she wants to lose weight. What if it's okay to want to lose weight? What pisses me off is that she's feeling shameful about it. That she can't just walk in. Ten years ago, someone would walk into my office and they'd say, Listen, I feel like shit. I want to lose weight. I know if I lost weight, my knees wouldn't hurt and I'd be able to play with my kids, right? And now, like, a woman in this country can't feel that she can say that. And I think, I mean, near as I can tell, I think this is an unintended consequence of the body positive movement. And before you say that I'm dissing the body positive movement, because I am not, this has been an amazing thing to happen. It is absolutely, it needs to be celebrated. We need more of it. However, it is not, you can be body positive and still want to lose weight. Okay, and I think that what has happened in this extreme hyperpolarization that is occurring in our culture is there's a belief that you can't, right, that if you want to lose weight, that you are a victim of the patriarchy and, and you should be ashamed of that, right? Maybe, and maybe you want to play with your freakin kids. Maybe your blood work looks terrifying and you know, looking at your father and your mother, that heart disease and diabetes is down the road for you if you don't get that shit in gear. Okay? Pardon me. And that losing weight can help with that. That's okay. It's okay to want to lose weight when you know it's going to improve your quality of life. This isn't about getting into a freakin bikini for summertime. This is about aging like a badass. This is about being able to show up for your children at their games. to play with them outside, to be there when they get married, to be there for grandchildren that may come in the future, this is about doing, this is about making sure that your children don't have to change your diapers when they are change your diapers, when they're in their forties, like you might be doing with your parents right now. Okay. There's no shame in that. There is no shame in wanting to feel better. If you cannot connect with your partner at the end of the day because you're exhausted and you know that it's tied to the inflammatory response that's happening in your body and weight is, you know, a side effect of that, like, let's take care of it, okay? and without the shame. It's the shame that's pissing me off. Women in this country carry a shit ton of shame already. We don't need another layer on top of what we're already carrying around. Okay. So the body positive movement is awesome. And I think it's unintended side effect of that is that women are now feeling ashamed for wanting to lose weight and that's not okay. I want you to let go. It's like, if this is you, if this is totally speaking to you right now, um, one let me know. And. I want you to let go of the shame, okay? Let go of the shame for what you desire. Because that is a sign of the patriarchy, right? It isn't that you want to lose weight, but being shamed out of what you desire and want in this world, hmm, that sounds kind of familiar. That self denial thing, okay? your shame silences you. And when you are silenced, you cannot ask for the help that you need. And if you are letting yourself be silenced, for the love of all that is good in the world, please start speaking up. Because that's more important. Whatever you need to do to let go of that shame, let go of it, please. And use your voice and speak up and say what you want because it's okay to want. Your shame adds a layer of guilt that you don't need. Period. And that layer of guilt in and of itself can lead to emotional eating, which is only going to exacerbate the problem. So let's let go of that shame. Your shame is more toxic Than being overweight. Your shame is more toxic Than that desire that you have to lose 10 or 15 or 20 or 50 pounds. Okay Shame is toxic. One of the things that I think that needs to happen in this evolution of body positivity is this concept that you can absolutely love and honor your body and Want to make progress physically An athlete can love their body and still want to improve their race time, right? They can be like I am a strong badass and I want to shave 15 seconds off my mile. Can love and honor your body for growing your children and for helping you accomplish everything that you have accomplished in this world and Want to love it and care for it by losing weight These two things are not mutually exclusive and that is getting lost in this like love yourself No matter what kind of message that is being pushed on social media Research does show that being overweight or obese in and of itself is an inflammatory condition that can, exacerbate things like cardiovascular disease and diabetes and Alzheimer's disease and cancer. Okay, so it's not a benign condition. And no matter how much you love yourself and accept yourself, an inflammatory body is not a benign condition. And, Being overweight doesn't mean that you're inflamed, okay? It can, but doesn't always. And so again, we don't say that this equals that, because there is nuance in everything. There is nuance in everything, and nothing is absolute always, look for the nuance, because the devil is in the details. And when, when, when we want to ignore that, when we only, when we want things to be simple and clear cut, we get into trouble. The other thing that, just regarding weight, that has me bothered is this idea that it's just a simple equation of calories in versus calories out. Eat less, exercise more. I thought we had evolved past this but it's getting this resurgence like let's simplify it. Y'all are eating too much You just need to pull back on the calories. Yes, for the most part, that's true. Generally speaking across the United States we are over consuming calories and we are exposed to more pollutants than ever before that have been coined in the research as obesogens They disrupt our hormones that lead to obesity, diabetes, etc. Plastics are part of this problem. Okay, and plastic exposure is like all pesticides or another one So we are exposed to more of this than our parents and our grandparents were and this makes it harder to lose weight. It is harder for the person today To lose weight than it was for someone of that same age gender size 30 years ago. We have more stress which disrupts hormones. We're getting less sleep which disrupts hormones We've got more toxicants in our environment which disrupts hormones and hormones are a key factor to weight loss Calories matter and so do hormones. It's neither this nor that. It is this and that. Additionally, we do live in a culture that encourages overconsumption and Disconnection from oneself and that's a big piece too. Like if you're not connected to your appetite You're not connected to when you're hungry or full You're not connected to what you're feeling before you step into a meal how a meal makes you feel You're not connected to how your environment is making you feel and how that drives your appetites Yeah, that can contribute to the overall equation of both calories in, calories out, and a hormonal response to food. So these things have to be taken into consideration Even if you're never get back to your college weight, which most the women I work with they're not looking to get back to Fighting weight, right? They're not Wanting to be a size four like they understand that at this stage of life. That's not necessarily realistic However, they also want to feel better in their clothes. They want to have more energy They want their joints to stop aching They want to be able to bend over and tie their shoes without it being uncomfortable and weird and kind of gross You Like they want those things, and those are not unreasonable requests. We can address stress, and we can address hormones, and we can address endocrine disruptors, and we can address emotional eating, and an anti inflammatory diet that will help you feel so much better, and maybe you'll lose a little weight, too. And ultimately, that's what you're after, right? Not the weight loss. It's about what that weight loss will bring. The increased energy, the reduced aches and pains. And the reality is, women 30 and over grew up in a time when, as they used to say when I was a child, you can never be too rich or too thin. If that was the message that, like, that was the toxic stew that we were raised in, okay. Period. Like, that's just how it was. And if that was the messaging that I received before I was old enough to have a cognitive assessment of whether or not that was true or appropriate, it is so deeply embedded in my subconscious that it is always going to be there. This is, A demon that we just have to accept lives in the house, okay? And you can lock it in the closet, deny it's there, you can attack it with a butcher knife, but it'll come back. Like, you can do all these things, but it's not gonna go away. So what if instead, we acknowledged it, we accepted it, And we did what we could to do differently. And these are the conversations that I'm having with my women in the office, Like, because they are, there's this, with that shame is like, Oh, I shouldn't feel that way. Like I should be better than that. I should have outgrown this idea that, you know, that myself, my self confidence shouldn't be tied to my body size. You're right. It shouldn't. But if you grew up, when I grew up, it kind of is and completely eliminating that from your psyche. Yeah. Is a tall order, a big job and something that honestly, most of our generation is not going to be able to do. So like any other limiting belief you have about your worth or your value, you say, Hey, I see that's there. I know that's not true. And then you make the decision as to whether or not you're going to let it run your life. You're going to let it be your shame, or you're going to let it coexist and just be right. Just because something is there doesn't mean you have to act on it, doesn't mean that you have to deny it, doesn't, like, you can just be like, hey demon, hi grandma, thanks for that lesson about how my only value is, you know, being a size 26 inch waist, right, or whatever. And we laugh because it's freaking absurd! Yet we carry it in our minds, right? We carry it in our psyche. And it's shadowy and sneaky, and it's, but it's, it's just there. It's just there. It's okay. It is a byproduct of how we grew up. So we, we as Gen Xers and the younger boomers, we straddle this place in American cultural history where Gen Xers who grew up without the internet and then, You know started early adulthood in the internet, right? We also grew up with you can never be too rich or too thin and then transitioned into yeah You know what this whole shit about my worth being wrapped up in my body size is junk Okay, so we straddle those two we straddle those two cultural narratives And we, as women, who were born during that time, like, we just get to carry that. We get to live in that dichotomy. We get to live in those, those two opposing tension filled places. And do our duty. damnedest to make sure our children don't carry any of that into the next generation, That, that I think is our job. And also to teach our children that body positivity doesn't mean that you deny your body health in the name of acceptance. Because that is a slippery slope that can lead to misery. I think I'm done. I think I've said everything I need to say right now about this. It's something that's been sitting on my mind, on my heart heavily for a couple of months now. And basically, like, at the end of the day, my point is that I'm seeing this extra layer of shame that women are carrying that we don't fucking need. So in the wise words of Bob Newhart, stop it. Like it, it just, it, it, it makes me so angry because we don't need it. I want you to know that it is okay to want to lose weight. It's okay. It's okay to want to lose weight when you know, it's going to improve your quality of life. When you know it is going to help you get more of what you want with your children, with your partner, from your career, from your athletics. It's okay. I'm not gonna judge you, okay? This is, we are not gonna have judgment about that. Because I get it. I understand physiologically that carrying around an extra 20 pounds is rough on you. It doesn't feel good, right? And you want to feel good. Ultimately, that's what this is about. I also want you to know that you wanting to lose weight, if you want to lose weight to feel better, actually has nothing to do with the body positive movement. Okay? You wanting to lose weight and the body positive movement, two separate things. You want to feel better. And if losing weight is one of the ways that you feel pretty sure that's going to start to happen, great. I mean, if that's true for you, your weight loss is about self care. It's about self preservation so that you can be the strong woman your family needs you to be. So you can be there for your kids. So you can be the kind of partner that you want to be. So you can be the kind of professional in your career that you want to be. There's nothing wrong with that. All right, I'm done. I've ranted enough. Thank you. For those of you who stayed the whole time, I don't even know how long I've been ranting, but it's been a while. Thank you. And you know, like, comment below. Let me know what you think. Am I alone in this? Like, are you experiencing that shame yourself? Am I just seeing this in this little pocket, you know, of of the demographic that I work with? Or is this something that you're seeing as well? So shoot comments below. Let me know. And have an awesome day. Let go of the shame. Just stop it. You
Aimee:
As infuriating as I find the relevance of this topic today, it was. Rather fun to go back and hear my thoughts. I suspect that the editing software that I use for my podcast has successfully taken the quiver out of my voice. As I share my Frank opinions. And maybe you don't hear me slamming on the table and frustration now, but I think the strength of my convictions on this still comes through. If you want a safe space where you can share your struggles with weight and receive not just compassionate support, but sustainable strategies to have longterm success. Reach out to me in the show notes and let's set up a complimentary chat to discuss your needs. Life is too short to stay stuck and uncomfortable with your life trajectory. If it is not serving you. Thanks again for listening and I will be back in your ear next week.
If you have found some Nuggets of Wisdom, make sure to subscribe, rate, and share Blasphemous Nutrition with those you care about. As you navigate the labyrinth of health advice out there, remember, health is a journey, not a dietary dictatorship. Stay skeptical, stay daring, and challenge the norms that no longer serve you. If you've got burning questions or want to share your own flavor of rebellion, slide into my DMs. Your stories fuel me, and I love hearing them. Thanks again for tuning in to Blasphemous Nutrition. Until next time, this is Aimee signing off, reminding you that truth is nuanced, and any dish can be made better with a little bit of sass.