So, what was the turning point for me? I stumbled across this concept called intuitive eating and after following a few certified dietitians on Instagram (such as Colleen Christensen and Bonnie Roney) trying to implement the intuitive eating principles, I knew that I had to dig deeper and find the founder of this concept and do it properly because dabbling in healing was not going to cut it this time. I found the book “Intuitive eating” by Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch and to say that it changed my life is the biggest understatement. After reading it, there was no going back. I decided to rebel against diet culture because I refused to be told how I should feel about my body and refused to keep putting my body through relentless, unnecessary challenges that not only ruined my metabolism, my enjoyment of life but also made what I love most, singing, more difficult and taxing. 

Making peace with food and with our body is probably one of the most crucial steps to a happy and fulfilling career. Without further ado, let me shed light on some of the principles of intuitive eating. First, how about we reject diet mentality and surrender to our bodies. It will be scary at first but I promise you it’s worth it. Secondly, please honour your hunger and eat enough, that way you can rebuild trust in your body, yourself and food. Remember that any form of restriction or obsession is going to backfire at some point in the future. Thoughts of restriction are enough to make our body and brain go into defence mode.

Next, you’ll have to make peace with food and give yourself unconditional permission to eat without restricting certain food groups (unless you’re allergic or intolerant obviously) because that will lead to feelings of deprivation that build into uncontrollable cravings and binges. Realise that your body can be trusted if you tune into your hunger and fulness cues (which at first might not be clear and after a history of dieting might seem completely foreign to you). Instead of someone telling you how much you’re allowed to eat and when, you’ll have to ask your body what and how much it needs. One of the most important principles is that you need to respect your body and understand that not all bodies are the same and all bodies deserve respect and dignity. Dreaming of some unrealistic body is just going to end up in a miserable life. Focus on the aspects of your body that you admire. Take the time to look in the mirror and focus on them. Beware that losing weight on purpose, especially quickly and a lot, will lead to vocal changes. You have to ask yourself a very simple and yet extremely deep question… What is more important to you, your voice and career or a smaller body? If your body is meant to be in a slimmer frame, it will get there once you make peace with food without you trying. If you’re going to move your body, you might as well find joy in doing it. I used to force myself to do things I disliked for the sake of burning calories and focusing only on looking good whereas now, I know exactly how I like moving my body and it’s pleasurable and joyful. For example, I go running for my mental health rather than to “exercise”. Movement has become a form of self-care instead of punishment. You also have to remember that you don’t have to eat perfectly to be healthy. Eating for satisfaction is just as important as eating for nutrition. Over time you will realise that the cookies and crisps you wanted all the time, turn into an ordinary food the moment you give yourself full permission to eat what you want and when you want it. You will realise that gentle nutrition will become the main aspect of your eating. You will naturally listen to your body and its needs by giving it a mix of mainly nutritious foods and some “play foods” because it is normal to eat for pleasure and not just as a means of fulfilling physical needs. Life is meant to be enjoyed!

Don’t sabotage your career in order to be your slimmest, your most toned or whatever it is that you think is your ideal because trust me, whatever you think your ideal is, isn’t where happiness is. You won’t be suddenly happy when you’ve reached that point because you will still need to address your thoughts and feelings of not feeling good enough and not loving yourself unconditionally. Those feelings of unacceptance will still linger until you resolve them and your body in actual fact, has nothing to do with it if you really dig deeper, it is just a victim of your projection. 

I truly urge you to become fierce at not letting people inside your head with their insensitive comments. Protect your mind and your body like a temple into which only loving and good energy can enter. The very people who will call you chubby will then call you too skinny. You can never win, trust me! I’ve had to deal with so many comments about my body since I’ve started my studies and my career. My body has changed and will change throughout my career and that’s normal. We need to normalise our bodies changing with age, with pregnancies, with life events. After finishing my degree, a woman told me “She’s (talking about a successful singer in the industry) so slim and nice to look at, you should really follow her example if you want to succeed. You’re on the chubbier side for this career”. When I had already made peace with my body, I heard comments like “You should eat more!”, “You look like you should play trouser roles because your upper body is so masculine” or my favourite “You don’t have big enough breasts to be singing this mature repertoire, it’s just not credible”. I’ve been shamed for eating chocolate whilst I was healing from disordered eating and focusing on reintroducing “forbidden foods” and I was told “You eat like a teenager, only you eat such processed foods out of everyone I know!”. You never know where a person is on their body image journey so refrain from commenting on body size changes even to compliment people. You might be complimenting an eating disorder or a disease. 

Dear reader, friend, I call you to the other side, to the side of freedom and I know it will be scary, but you will be so proud of yourself. You will be able to sing and soar on stage like you have never before and you will find a new found love for life and for your beautiful body, your vessel that channels light from source. You are a beautiful soul in this temporary body and you have come to this planet to sing and express your emotions, not count calories. 

With so much love and understanding, 
Your diet culture rebel best friend xoxo