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

by Christy Harrison

Truly holistic health encompasses physical, mental, emotional, and social aspects—including freedom from stigma, reliable access to food and shelter, and sufficient resources for transportation, childcare, and medical care, as well as the right to pleasure and satisfaction in your life as a whole, including your food. Truly holistic health is about so much more than what you eat. Thus, making peace with all kinds of foods, even the formerly “forbidden” ones, supports your mental and emotional health as well as your physical well-being. Research has shown that intuitive eaters, who don’t have any “off-limits” foods or follow any diet-culture rules, have better health outcomes on an impressive array of measures: lower cardiovascular risk, decreased triglyceride levels, more-favorable levels of HDL cholesterol, lower rates of disordered eating, less likelihood of feeling out of control with food, less food-related anxiety, less internalization of the thin ideal, lower levels of body dissatisfaction and shame, greater enjoyment of food, increased body appreciation, less self-silencing behavior, higher sensitivity to their own internal states, higher levels of self-compassion, greater life satisfaction, more proactive coping skills, and better self-esteem.2 People don’t drop dead when they let go of diet culture’s rules, tune in to their bodies’ cues and desires, and figure out what they enjoy eating. On the contrary, they increase their chances of having positive health outcom...