What Even Is Healthy Living?

Be paleo, be vegan, be gluten free, be fat free, be ‘bikini ready’, care, don’t care. Does it ever end?

Is anyone else just really overwhelmed by the dieting culture we live in?

Everywhere we look diets are being pushed onto us, advertisements, magazine articles, TV shows etc. All these things under the title of ‘healthy living’ we cannot seem to escape from the idea that in order to be happy and too be fulfilled we need to have the ‘perfect’ body.

We have become obsessed with what goes into our bodies and how many hours we spend at the gym; we allow those things to define us.

We need to begin challenging the dieting culture and just enjoy our every day. You should eat when you’re hungry and stop when you are full, it should be simple but we have made it so complicated. Try to not eat too much junk food and enjoy fruit and vegetables but stop worrying. It’s all about balance; some days we may eat too much and some days eat a little less but we should never be controlled by our diet, unless for medical reasons and in that case seek help from professionals.

At the age of 12 I struggled in school so began emotionally eating and relied on large portions of junk food to pull me through my every day. I gained an unhealthy amount of weight and this led to a battle which actually massively shaped my adolescent years and even now has an impact.

At the age of around 13/14 I began to try every single diet I possibly could in order to shed the weight I was gaining; I tried EVERYTHING. I did slimming world, paleo, the 5:2 diet or just starving myself.

However, the obsession meant I was so fixated on food that I would always just end up overeating because it was constantly on my mind. I had an unhealthy relationship with food; it was almost like a drug to me.

As an older teenager I grasped hold of control over my diet and ended up battling an eating disorder which was absolutely horrible. Through the grace of God I have managed to overcome this battle but my metabolism is still suffering and I have to majorly take care of my thoughts.

I see far too many girls attempting to diet at such a young age without understanding the effects it may have; not just on their body but their mind.

We need to build a society of young girls who step away from the dieting culture and just love on their bodies. Take care of yourself but enjoy food! Food is amazing. It brings community and gives us moments out of our day to be thankful. Do not overeat but equally never under eat.

Let’s be nice to ourselves for once. Eat that cupcake. Don’t indulge in unhealthy videos, insta feeds and articles which tell you to starve yourselves. Understand what healthy living actually means for you as an individual.

You are amazing as you are right now; take a stand and be YOU.