Anti-Diet: Reclaim Your Time, Money, Well-Being and Happiness Through Intuitive Eating

by Christy Harrison

When it comes to recovering from diet culture, your body and brain are like that stray cat. You might need a long time to work up the courage to stop dieting, then even longer to adjust to life without diet rules. You might feel like a scared baby animal that’s gone through a lot of trauma, because that’s what it is. “Diet culture is trauma in and of itself,” explains Lilia Graue, a marriage and family therapist and medical doctor who specializes in recovery from disordered eating. “It threatens our most basic need, which is the need to belong. You’re bombarded by messages of ‘Your body is wrong,’ ‘Your body doesn’t belong,’ ‘Your body doesn’t conform to what we think is worthy or lovable or acceptable.’ How can you not be traumatized by that?”