The anti-diet movement is ensuring that weight loss does not define your relationship with food

While breaking up with the need to ‘burn off calories’ and ‘cut back carbs’ isn’t an overnight task, a new wave of anti-diet sentiment is willing to put in the work

For Anjan Sachar, a 27-year-old beauty editor and event curator, making the transition to a healthier lifestyle was always on the cards; it was just a matter of waiting for the stars to align. “I have so many weddings on the calendar and crucial events coming up. What is the point of going on a diet if I won’t be able to follow it?” she recalls, shrugging off the thought of making the switch until an initial chat with a nutritionist prised off the lid and made her realise that she wasn’t happy with the way she was feeling in her body. 

The struggle is real 

Sachar’s story is one that might ring true for anybody who has looked at a billboard and found a niftily retouched image of perfection staring back at her. When compounded through the lens of runways, celebrity culture and the cesspool of unverified opinions on Instagram, it comes as little surprise that ‘diet culture’ has bastardised our relationship with food in nearly every way imaginable, from championing starvation (juice cleanses that promise to banish a bloated tummy) to glorifying over-eating (cheat meals bearing semblance to disordered eating sans the psychological distress) and triggering food anxiety (restrictive clean eating diktats fostering a fear of certain food groups).

With summer on the horizon and #bikinibod primed to dial the chorus to a crescendo, it does not require much fortitude of character to start believing that our bodies are little more than puffed-up sacks carrying the burden of every poor eating choice—that last spoon of chocolate mousse that you snuck off your partner’s dessert plate or the loaded nachos you definitely shouldn’t have scarfed down at brunch—and that it can be punctured, chiseled and sculpted into submission with restrictive diets. It is a myopic view that fails to view our eating choices as the larger coalescence of economic, environmental and social factors. Instead, it chooses to preach that anyone can fast-track their lives to the gleaming future of the before-and-after pictures if they simply possess enough willpower to deprive themselves of ‘bad’ eating choices. 

The anti-diet movement has thus emerged to dismantle the moral policing of our food choices, to reclaim the narrative that views certain foods as ‘good’ and ‘bad’. It makes us feel bad for wanting them, perhaps offering a PR makeover to the word ‘diet’ altogether. Samreedhi Goel, a Mumbai-based nutritionist, says, “It is essential to note that the anti-diet movement hasn’t taken up arms against the word ‘diet’ specifically but rather, restrictive diets that glorify starvation.” In the 23 years of her practice, Goel’s clinic has played witness to an endless carousel of requests of wanting to drop a certain amount of weight or wanting to fit into a particular lehenga for a wedding. “However, I have found that I can help people achieve their nutritional goals without starving anyone yet.”

Goel’s words speak of a universal truth that actress Mindy Kaling has affirmed as well. “I used to be this person that would be like, 'Okay, I have a big event coming up, the pressure's on. I have six weeks to just like, stop eating, juice cleanse, do the boot camps and whatever’. And I have completely let go of that because it never worked for me. It wasn't healthy and I was in a state of deprivation," she acknowledged in an interview. 

Making better choices 

Closer home, Sachar concedes to a similar thread of apprehension when she had embarked on a healthier eating plan with Goel. “When I walked in, I remember having this niggle of worry in the back of my head that going on a diet would mean having to give up everything that I loved. My work involves eating out often—from food tastings at restaurants to events. But I found I can simply inform her of the nights that I will be eating out during our weekly consultation and she will give me the kind of options that I can try at these places. I was not told to eat at home before leaving or to not have a social life, but to simply make smarter choices,” she shares.

This kind of an inclusive approach to dieting—Sachar was surprised to find that indulgent foods like pizzas and stir-fried noodles were included in her diet plan on weeks when she wasn’t going out often—not only kept her tastebuds alive but also motivated her to carry the same principles forward after her consultation with Goel ended. “December is a month of debauchery for everyone. However, despite all the parties and weddings, I found I hadn’t gained any weight during this month because I carried those learnings with me and kept making smarter choices whenever I could,” she recounts. 

 Identifying your body’s signals

When armed with a more intuitive outlook on food, Sachar today finds that she can confidently order a brownie to satisfy her cravings during PMS but can stop at half once she identifies her body’s hunger cues, realising how much she needs to satiate her tastebuds without going overboard. Weight loss eventually fell to the wayside as she became more habituated with fulfilling her body’s nutritional needs. “Yes, the external validation and all those ‘how did you do it?’ messages in your DMs after you have had a major transformation are gratifying, but you need to start looking at a nutritional plan as a gateway into a healthier lifestyle. If your diet plan is restrictive and not what your regular meals would look like, then you might lose weight for that wedding or holiday but you will fall back into the same eating patterns afterwards,” she cautions.

The impact of weight loss serving as a by-product rather than the ultimate goal of one’s eating habits doesn’t end there—Sachar was pleasantly surprised to find that she could recalibrate her relationship with food. “You never realise how you have been secretly fearing certain foods until that burden is taken off your brain. I no longer have to worry that I will breathe next to a pizza and it will show up on my waistline the next morning. Comprehending my body’s hunger cues, knowing how to consume indulgent foods in moderation and following the basic principles of nutrition has been like a breath of fresh air—and a soul-affirming reminder that diet culture hasn’t won yet,” she concludes

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