Weight-Inclusive Nourishment
In order for the body to get all essential nutrients needed, it is important to know what it needs and to act accordingly. Many people take that to mean that they need to memorize food labels, count calories, track carbohydrate intake, or follow a strict diet. However, all of that is not necessary when nourishing the body completely. In order to meet the needs of the human body there are three characteristics to keep in mind; adequacy, variety, and balance.
Nourishment is about addressing the needs of the body, not just to survive but to thrive as well. And the needs of the body and mind need to be honored in a way that centers hunger cues and satisfaction. Nutrition is (well, it should be) about nourishing the body and mind with what is needed and not about doing unnecessary calorie tracking or following a strict diet plan just to change appearances in order to fit into western aesthetic expectations which have been driven by centuries of white supremacy, patriarchy, and capitalism.
Humans eat and need food in order to provide cells and organs with the energy and nutrients they need. We eat as a form of socialization, in order to connect with our community, and we also eat for satisfaction and to honor our cravings. However, modern day diets and diet culture advocates would rather have everyone believe that eating is about losing weight, punishment, and self-control. Those ideas cause more harm than good, they corrupt the relationship with food that humans are born with and instead create a culture around food that prioritizes restriction rather than meeting human needs and finding satisfaction.
It is important to combat these ideas, perpetuated by anti-fatness, that are prevalent in the current diet and wellness culture. People adhere to strict diets and habits because they believe it is necessary to lose weight, to be thin, and to be healthy. Unfortunately those actions have the opposite effect intended, they actually cause harm, physical and psychological, rather than help in any way. In order to fully nourish our bodies and to break away from diet and wellness culture that causes harm, it is vital to understand that it is not needed to adhere to those disordered eating behaviors. To nourish the body, it is more helpful to do away with those behaviors, as contradictory as that sounds to many, and instead take a more relaxed, albeit informed, approach to eating and nourishment.
Adequacy, variety, and balance are three key components of nutrition. First, there needs to be access to an adequate amount of food. Without meeting intake requirements, cells and organs are not receiving all the nutrients they need and this can have serious effects. It is important to not restrict, but rather allow ourselves to eat when we are hungry, because our body needs it. Next, there needs to be variety in the foods that people are eating in order to increase the chances of obtaining essential nutrients. Different foods have different essential nutrients and by eating a wide variety of foods more nutrients are introduced to the body for utilization where needed. The last key component of nutrition is balance. It is important that all three macronutrients, carbohydrates, proteins, and fats, are considered when building meals. Incorporating all three macronutrients, and not just one or two, allows the body to be fully nourished.
Many of these ideas, such as eating enough and not discarding certain macronutrients, may seem outlandish to people who have only heard the opposite from all angles their entire life. The global issue of anti-fatness has caused the media, healthcare professionals, health coaches, fitness instructors, and many more to spread lies about fatness and about gaining weight that have nothing to do with health. It has been time that we move past these incorrect notions of anti-fatness that are rooted in white supremacy. A better approach is available to us, a weight-inclusive approach where thinness is not the ideal.
