May 23, 2024 • 22 mins
It's the rant that started it all! Today Aimee shares a spontaneous rant she posted on social media in 2018, passionately addressing the shame and stigma surrounding weight loss for women, challenging the notion that body positivity and weight loss are mutually exclusive and urging listeners to let go of shame and embrace their desires. She also discusses the complexities of weight loss, including the impact of hormones, stress, and environmental factors. This empowering episode encourages women to prioritize self-care and pursue their health goals without judgment.
Notable Quotes:
- Women should not feel ashamed for wanting to lose weight if it will improve their quality of life and overall health.
- Body positivity and the desire to lose weight are not mutually exclusive.
- Weight loss is influenced by various factors, including hormones, stress, and environmental toxins.
- Shame can be more toxic than being overweight and can lead to emotional eating.
- It is important to acknowledge and accept the societal pressures and messages that have shaped our beliefs about body size and worth.
Notable Quotes:
- "You can be body positive and still want to lose weight."
- "Your shame adds a layer of guilt that you don't need, period. And that layer of guilt, in and of itself, can lead to emotional eating, which is only going to exacerbate the problem."
- "Your shame is more toxic than being overweight. Your shame is more toxic than that desire that you have to lose ten or 15 or 20 or 50 pounds."
- "We straddle those two cultural narratives, and we, as women who were born during that time, we just get to carry that. We get to live in that dichotomy."
Resources:
Photography by: Dai Ross Photography
Podcast Cover Art: Lilly Kate Creative
Blasphemous Nutrition on Substack
Work with Aimee
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
Hey Rebels, welcome toBlasphemous Nutrition.
Consider this podcast yourpantry full of clarity,
perspective, and the nuanceneeded to counter the
superficial health advice sofreely given on the internet.
I'm Aimee, the unapologeticallycandid host of Blasphemous
Nutrition and a double degreednutritionist with 20 years
experience.
(00:22):
I'm here to share a more nuancedtake.
On living and eating well tosustain and recover your health.
If you've found most healthadvice to be so generic as to be
meaningless, We're so extremethat it's unrealistic, and you
don't mind the occasional Fbomb.
You've come to the right place.
From dissecting the latestnutrition trends to breaking
(00:43):
down published research andsharing my own clinical
experiences, I'm on a mission tofoster clarity amidst all the
confusion and empower you tohave the health you need to live
a life you love.
Now let's get started.
Aimee (00:59):
This folks.
Is the weight loss rant.
That started at all.
I posted this on Facebook livein November of 2018 and shortly
thereafter decided I probablyneeded to start a podcast, but
let's just say it took me sometime to build up the chops to
(01:19):
push record on a regular basis.
This rant is as true today as itwas five years ago.
So I'm posting here to sharewith you to help you break free
of yet another layer of bullshitshame that you might be
carrying.
This is my rally cry for you, tobe honest with yourself and
others and go for what you needto feel your best.
(01:45):
You Hey everyone, it's Amy Iwant to talk, about something
that I am seeing, prettycommonly now in my office that's
just showed up in the last yearand a half.
And, once I saw it andrecognized it for what it is, it
really pissed me off.
Like, I'm seriously angry aboutthis.
(02:09):
What I'm seeing is, you know, I,I work with women who are,
Mostly over 35 and, they aretrying to juggle the challenges
between, being advanced in theircareer and having family and
other obligations, agingparents, children, like just the
enormity of what is on a woman'splate these days.
(02:31):
And keep herself healthy as sheages because, she looks at her
parents and She doesn't want togo down that trajectory, right?
And she looks at her childrenand she wants to be there for
them as long as possible And tobe as healthy as possible so
that she can show up for them Inthe way that she wants to as a
(02:53):
mother, right?
And so she'll step into myoffice and she'll say, you know,
this is, this is what's going onin my life and it's kind of
crazy.
And, I know what I should bedoing and I'm not able to do it.
Or what I was doing in the pastisn't working for me anymore.
And, In asking, like, deeperquestions about what is it, that
(03:14):
you're seeking, what are youhoping that this will
accomplish, she'll say, youknow, I, I, I have these aches
and pains in my body and they'rereally slowing me down.
I'm not as fast and strong as Iused to be.
My energy is tanked.
I'm getting brain fog in theafternoon.
And I'm just, I'm feeling olderand I'm not ready and then, and
(03:36):
then at the very end, andliterally sometimes this is
after like an hour, almost anhour and a half of conversation,
at the very end she'll say, andit would be okay if I lost a
little bit of weight too.
And what pisses me off is notthat she wants to lose weight.
What if it's okay to want tolose weight?
What pisses me off is that she'sfeeling shameful about it.
(03:59):
That she can't just walk in.
Ten years ago, someone wouldwalk into my office and they'd
say, Listen, I feel like shit.
I want to lose weight.
I know if I lost weight, myknees wouldn't hurt and I'd be
able to play with my kids,right?
And now, like, a woman in thiscountry can't feel that she can
say that.
And I think, I mean, near as Ican tell, I think this is an
unintended consequence of thebody positive movement.
(04:22):
And before you say that I'mdissing the body positive
movement, because I am not, thishas been an amazing thing to
happen.
It is absolutely, it needs to becelebrated.
We need more of it.
However, it is not, you can bebody positive and still want to
lose weight.
(04:43):
Okay, and I think that what hashappened in this extreme
hyperpolarization that isoccurring in our culture is
there's a belief that you can't,right, that if you want to lose
weight, that you are a victim ofthe patriarchy and, and you
should be ashamed of that,right?
(05:04):
Maybe, and maybe you want toplay with your freakin kids.
Maybe your blood work looksterrifying and you know, looking
at your father and your mother,that heart disease and diabetes
is down the road for you if youdon't get that shit in gear.
Okay?
Pardon me.
And that losing weight can helpwith that.
That's okay.
(05:25):
It's okay to want to lose weightwhen you know it's going to
improve your quality of life.
This isn't about getting into afreakin bikini for summertime.
This is about aging like abadass.
This is about being able to showup for your children at their
games.
to play with them outside, to bethere when they get married, to
be there for grandchildren thatmay come in the future, this is
(05:48):
about doing, this is aboutmaking sure that your children
don't have to change yourdiapers when they are change
your diapers, when they're intheir forties, like you might be
doing with your parents rightnow.
Okay.
There's no shame in that.
There is no shame in wanting tofeel better.
If you cannot connect with yourpartner at the end of the day
(06:09):
because you're exhausted and youknow that it's tied to the
inflammatory response that'shappening in your body and
weight is, you know, a sideeffect of that, like, let's take
care of it, okay?
and without the shame.
It's the shame that's pissing meoff.
Women in this country carry ashit ton of shame already.
We don't need another layer ontop of what we're already
(06:33):
carrying around.
Okay.
So the body positive movement isawesome.
And I think it's unintended sideeffect of that is that women are
now feeling ashamed for wantingto lose weight and that's not
okay.
I want you to let go.
It's like, if this is you, ifthis is totally speaking to you
(06:54):
right now, um, one let me know.
And.
I want you to let go of theshame, okay?
Let go of the shame for what youdesire.
Because that is a sign of thepatriarchy, right?
It isn't that you want to loseweight, but being shamed out of
what you desire and want in thisworld, hmm, that sounds kind of
(07:16):
familiar.
That self denial thing, okay?
your shame silences you.
And when you are silenced, youcannot ask for the help that you
need.
And if you are letting yourselfbe silenced, for the love of all
that is good in the world,please start speaking up.
Because that's more important.
(07:36):
Whatever you need to do to letgo of that shame, let go of it,
please.
And use your voice and speak upand say what you want because
it's okay to want.
Your shame adds a layer of guiltthat you don't need.
Period.
And that layer of guilt in andof itself can lead to emotional
(07:58):
eating, which is only going toexacerbate the problem.
So let's let go of that shame.
Your shame is more toxic Thanbeing overweight.
Your shame is more toxic Thanthat desire that you have to
lose 10 or 15 or 20 or 50pounds.
Okay Shame is toxic.
(08:20):
One of the things that I thinkthat needs to happen in this
evolution of body positivity isthis concept that you can
absolutely love and honor yourbody and Want to make progress
physically An athlete can lovetheir body and still want to
improve their race time, right?
(08:41):
They can be like I am a strongbadass and I want to shave 15
seconds off my mile.
Can love and honor your body forgrowing your children and for
helping you accomplisheverything that you have
accomplished in this world andWant to love it and care for it
by losing weight These twothings are not mutually
(09:04):
exclusive and that is gettinglost in this like love yourself
No matter what kind of messagethat is being pushed on social
media Research does show thatbeing overweight or obese in and
of itself is an inflammatorycondition that can, exacerbate
(09:24):
things like cardiovasculardisease and diabetes and
Alzheimer's disease and cancer.
Okay, so it's not a benigncondition.
And no matter how much you loveyourself and accept yourself, an
inflammatory body is not abenign condition.
And, Being overweight doesn'tmean that you're inflamed, okay?
(09:45):
It can, but doesn't always.
And so again, we don't say thatthis equals that, because there
is nuance in everything.
There is nuance in everything,and nothing is absolute always,
look for the nuance, because thedevil is in the details.
(10:06):
And when, when, when we want toignore that, when we only, when
we want things to be simple andclear cut, we get into trouble.
The other thing that, justregarding weight, that has me
bothered is this idea that it'sjust a simple equation of
calories in versus calories out.
(10:27):
Eat less, exercise more.
I thought we had evolved pastthis but it's getting this
resurgence like let's simplifyit.
Y'all are eating too much Youjust need to pull back on the
calories.
Yes, for the most part, that'strue.
Generally speaking across theUnited States we are over
consuming calories and we areexposed to more pollutants than
(10:47):
ever before that have beencoined in the research as
obesogens They disrupt ourhormones that lead to obesity,
diabetes, etc.
Plastics are part of thisproblem.
Okay, and plastic exposure islike all pesticides or another
one So we are exposed to more ofthis than our parents and our
(11:08):
grandparents were and this makesit harder to lose weight.
It is harder for the persontoday To lose weight than it was
for someone of that same agegender size 30 years ago.
We have more stress whichdisrupts hormones.
We're getting less sleep whichdisrupts hormones We've got more
toxicants in our environmentwhich disrupts hormones and
(11:29):
hormones are a key factor toweight loss Calories matter and
so do hormones.
It's neither this nor that.
It is this and that.
Additionally, we do live in aculture that encourages
overconsumption andDisconnection from oneself and
(11:50):
that's a big piece too.
Like if you're not connected toyour appetite You're not
connected to when you're hungryor full You're not connected to
what you're feeling before youstep into a meal how a meal
makes you feel You're notconnected to how your
environment is making you feeland how that drives your
appetites Yeah, that cancontribute to the overall
equation of both calories in,calories out, and a hormonal
(12:14):
response to food.
So these things have to be takeninto consideration Even if
you're never get back to yourcollege weight, which most the
women I work with they're notlooking to get back to Fighting
weight, right?
They're not Wanting to be a sizefour like they understand that
at this stage of life.
That's not necessarily realisticHowever, they also want to feel
(12:36):
better in their clothes.
They want to have more energyThey want their joints to stop
aching They want to be able tobend over and tie their shoes
without it being uncomfortableand weird and kind of gross You
Like they want those things, andthose are not unreasonable
requests.
We can address stress, and wecan address hormones, and we can
address endocrine disruptors,and we can address emotional
(12:56):
eating, and an anti inflammatorydiet that will help you feel so
much better, and maybe you'lllose a little weight, too.
And ultimately, that's whatyou're after, right?
Not the weight loss.
It's about what that weight losswill bring.
The increased energy, thereduced aches and pains.
(13:16):
And the reality is, women 30 andover grew up in a time when, as
they used to say when I was achild, you can never be too rich
or too thin.
If that was the message that,like, that was the toxic stew
that we were raised in, okay.
(13:39):
Period.
Like, that's just how it was.
And if that was the messagingthat I received before I was old
enough to have a cognitiveassessment of whether or not
that was true or appropriate, itis so deeply embedded in my
subconscious that it is alwaysgoing to be there.
(14:02):
This is, A demon that we justhave to accept lives in the
house, okay?
And you can lock it in thecloset, deny it's there, you can
attack it with a butcher knife,but it'll come back.
Like, you can do all thesethings, but it's not gonna go
away.
So what if instead, weacknowledged it, we accepted it,
(14:26):
And we did what we could to dodifferently.
And these are the conversationsthat I'm having with my women in
the office, Like, because theyare, there's this, with that
shame is like, Oh, I shouldn'tfeel that way.
Like I should be better thanthat.
I should have outgrown this ideathat, you know, that myself, my
(14:47):
self confidence shouldn't betied to my body size.
You're right.
It shouldn't.
But if you grew up, when I grewup, it kind of is and completely
eliminating that from yourpsyche.
Yeah.
Is a tall order, a big job andsomething that honestly, most of
(15:08):
our generation is not going tobe able to do.
So like any other limitingbelief you have about your worth
or your value, you say, Hey, Isee that's there.
I know that's not true.
And then you make the decisionas to whether or not you're
going to let it run your life.
(15:28):
You're going to let it be yourshame, or you're going to let it
coexist and just be right.
Just because something is theredoesn't mean you have to act on
it, doesn't mean that you haveto deny it, doesn't, like, you
can just be like, hey demon, higrandma, thanks for that lesson
about how my only value is, youknow, being a size 26 inch
(15:49):
waist, right, or whatever.
And we laugh because it'sfreaking absurd! Yet we carry it
in our minds, right?
We carry it in our psyche.
And it's shadowy and sneaky, andit's, but it's, it's just there.
It's just there.
It's okay.
It is a byproduct of how we grewup.
(16:12):
So we, we as Gen Xers and theyounger boomers, we straddle
this place in American culturalhistory where Gen Xers who grew
up without the internet andthen, You know started early
adulthood in the internet,right?
We also grew up with you cannever be too rich or too thin
(16:35):
and then transitioned into yeahYou know what this whole shit
about my worth being wrapped upin my body size is junk Okay, so
we straddle those two westraddle those two cultural
narratives And we, as women, whowere born during that time,
(16:58):
like, we just get to carry that.
We get to live in thatdichotomy.
We get to live in those, thosetwo opposing tension filled
places.
And do our duty.
damnedest to make sure ourchildren don't carry any of that
into the next generation, That,that I think is our job.
(17:21):
And also to teach our childrenthat body positivity doesn't
mean that you deny your bodyhealth in the name of
acceptance.
Because that is a slippery slopethat can lead to misery.
I think I'm done.
I think I've said everything Ineed to say right now about
(17:41):
this.
It's something that's beensitting on my mind, on my heart
heavily for a couple of monthsnow.
And basically, like, at the endof the day, my point is that I'm
seeing this extra layer of shamethat women are carrying that we
don't fucking need.
(18:01):
So in the wise words of BobNewhart, stop it.
Like it, it just, it, it, itmakes me so angry because we
don't need it.
I want you to know that it isokay to want to lose weight.
(18:22):
It's okay.
It's okay to want to lose weightwhen you know, it's going to
improve your quality of life.
When you know it is going tohelp you get more of what you
want with your children, withyour partner, from your career,
from your athletics.
It's okay.
I'm not gonna judge you, okay?
This is, we are not gonna havejudgment about that.
(18:46):
Because I get it.
I understand physiologicallythat carrying around an extra 20
pounds is rough on you.
It doesn't feel good, right?
And you want to feel good.
Ultimately, that's what this isabout.
I also want you to know that youwanting to lose weight, if you
want to lose weight to feelbetter, actually has nothing to
(19:07):
do with the body positivemovement.
Okay?
You wanting to lose weight andthe body positive movement, two
separate things.
You want to feel better.
And if losing weight is one ofthe ways that you feel pretty
sure that's going to start tohappen, great.
I mean, if that's true for you,your weight loss is about self
(19:27):
care.
It's about self preservation sothat you can be the strong woman
your family needs you to be.
So you can be there for yourkids.
So you can be the kind ofpartner that you want to be.
So you can be the kind ofprofessional in your career that
you want to be.
There's nothing wrong with that.
(19:50):
All right, I'm done.
I've ranted enough.
Thank you.
For those of you who stayed thewhole time, I don't even know
how long I've been ranting, butit's been a while.
Thank you.
And you know, like, commentbelow.
Let me know what you think.
Am I alone in this?
Like, are you experiencing thatshame yourself?
Am I just seeing this in thislittle pocket, you know, of of
(20:11):
the demographic that I workwith?
Or is this something that you'reseeing as well?
So shoot comments below.
Let me know.
And have an awesome day.
Let go of the shame.
Just stop it.
You
As infuriating as I find the relevance of this topic
today, it was.
(20:31):
Rather fun to go back and hearmy thoughts.
I suspect that the editingsoftware that I use for my
podcast has successfully takenthe quiver out of my voice.
As I share my Frank opinions.
And maybe you don't hear meslamming on the table and
frustration now, but I think thestrength of my convictions on
this still comes through.
(20:51):
If you want a safe space whereyou can share your struggles
with weight and receive not justcompassionate support, but
sustainable strategies to havelongterm success.
Reach out to me in the shownotes and let's set up a
complimentary chat to discussyour needs.
Life is too short to stay stuckand uncomfortable with your life
(21:12):
trajectory.
If it is not serving you.
Thanks again for listening and Iwill be back in your ear next
week.
If you have found some Nuggetsof Wisdom, make sure to
subscribe, rate, and shareBlasphemous Nutrition with those
you care about.
As you navigate the labyrinth ofhealth advice out there,
remember, health is a journey,not a dietary dictatorship.
(21:37):
Stay skeptical, stay daring, andchallenge the norms that no
longer serve you.
If you've got burning questionsor want to share your own flavor
of rebellion, slide into my DMs.
Your stories fuel me, and I lovehearing them.
Thanks again for tuning in toBlasphemous Nutrition.
Until next time, this is Aimeesigning off, reminding you that
(22:00):
truth is nuanced, and any dishcan be made better with a little
bit of sass.
Hey Rebels, welcome toBlasphemous Nutrition.
Consider this podcast yourpantry full of clarity,
perspective, and the nuanceneeded to counter the
superficial health advice sofreely given on the internet.
I'm Aimee, the unapologeticallycandid host of Blasphemous
Nutrition and a double degreednutritionist with 20 years
experience.
(00:22):
I'm here to share a more nuancedtake.
On living and eating well tosustain and recover your health.
If you've found most healthadvice to be so generic as to be
meaningless, We're so extremethat it's unrealistic, and you
don't mind the occasional Fbomb.
You've come to the right place.
From dissecting the latestnutrition trends to breaking
(00:43):
down published research andsharing my own clinical
experiences, I'm on a mission tofoster clarity amidst all the
confusion and empower you tohave the health you need to live
a life you love.
Now let's get started.
Aimee (00:59):
This folks.
Is the weight loss rant.
That started at all.
I posted this on Facebook livein November of 2018 and shortly
thereafter decided I probablyneeded to start a podcast, but
let's just say it took me sometime to build up the chops to
(01:19):
push record on a regular basis.
This rant is as true today as itwas five years ago.
So I'm posting here to sharewith you to help you break free
of yet another layer of bullshitshame that you might be
carrying.
This is my rally cry for you, tobe honest with yourself and
others and go for what you needto feel your best.
(01:45):
You Hey everyone, it's Amy Iwant to talk, about something
that I am seeing, prettycommonly now in my office that's
just showed up in the last yearand a half.
And, once I saw it andrecognized it for what it is, it
really pissed me off.
Like, I'm seriously angry aboutthis.
(02:09):
What I'm seeing is, you know, I,I work with women who are,
Mostly over 35 and, they aretrying to juggle the challenges
between, being advanced in theircareer and having family and
other obligations, agingparents, children, like just the
enormity of what is on a woman'splate these days.
(02:31):
And keep herself healthy as sheages because, she looks at her
parents and She doesn't want togo down that trajectory, right?
And she looks at her childrenand she wants to be there for
them as long as possible And tobe as healthy as possible so
that she can show up for them Inthe way that she wants to as a
(02:53):
mother, right?
And so she'll step into myoffice and she'll say, you know,
this is, this is what's going onin my life and it's kind of
crazy.
And, I know what I should bedoing and I'm not able to do it.
Or what I was doing in the pastisn't working for me anymore.
And, In asking, like, deeperquestions about what is it, that
(03:14):
you're seeking, what are youhoping that this will
accomplish, she'll say, youknow, I, I, I have these aches
and pains in my body and they'rereally slowing me down.
I'm not as fast and strong as Iused to be.
My energy is tanked.
I'm getting brain fog in theafternoon.
And I'm just, I'm feeling olderand I'm not ready and then, and
(03:36):
then at the very end, andliterally sometimes this is
after like an hour, almost anhour and a half of conversation,
at the very end she'll say, andit would be okay if I lost a
little bit of weight too.
And what pisses me off is notthat she wants to lose weight.
What if it's okay to want tolose weight?
What pisses me off is that she'sfeeling shameful about it.
(03:59):
That she can't just walk in.
Ten years ago, someone wouldwalk into my office and they'd
say, Listen, I feel like shit.
I want to lose weight.
I know if I lost weight, myknees wouldn't hurt and I'd be
able to play with my kids,right?
And now, like, a woman in thiscountry can't feel that she can
say that.
And I think, I mean, near as Ican tell, I think this is an
unintended consequence of thebody positive movement.
(04:22):
And before you say that I'mdissing the body positive
movement, because I am not, thishas been an amazing thing to
happen.
It is absolutely, it needs to becelebrated.
We need more of it.
However, it is not, you can bebody positive and still want to
lose weight.
(04:43):
Okay, and I think that what hashappened in this extreme
hyperpolarization that isoccurring in our culture is
there's a belief that you can't,right, that if you want to lose
weight, that you are a victim ofthe patriarchy and, and you
should be ashamed of that,right?
(05:04):
Maybe, and maybe you want toplay with your freakin kids.
Maybe your blood work looksterrifying and you know, looking
at your father and your mother,that heart disease and diabetes
is down the road for you if youdon't get that shit in gear.
Okay?
Pardon me.
And that losing weight can helpwith that.
That's okay.
(05:25):
It's okay to want to lose weightwhen you know it's going to
improve your quality of life.
This isn't about getting into afreakin bikini for summertime.
This is about aging like abadass.
This is about being able to showup for your children at their
games.
to play with them outside, to bethere when they get married, to
be there for grandchildren thatmay come in the future, this is
(05:48):
about doing, this is aboutmaking sure that your children
don't have to change yourdiapers when they are change
your diapers, when they're intheir forties, like you might be
doing with your parents rightnow.
Okay.
There's no shame in that.
There is no shame in wanting tofeel better.
If you cannot connect with yourpartner at the end of the day
(06:09):
because you're exhausted and youknow that it's tied to the
inflammatory response that'shappening in your body and
weight is, you know, a sideeffect of that, like, let's take
care of it, okay?
and without the shame.
It's the shame that's pissing meoff.
Women in this country carry ashit ton of shame already.
We don't need another layer ontop of what we're already
(06:33):
carrying around.
Okay.
So the body positive movement isawesome.
And I think it's unintended sideeffect of that is that women are
now feeling ashamed for wantingto lose weight and that's not
okay.
I want you to let go.
It's like, if this is you, ifthis is totally speaking to you
(06:54):
right now, um, one let me know.
And.
I want you to let go of theshame, okay?
Let go of the shame for what youdesire.
Because that is a sign of thepatriarchy, right?
It isn't that you want to loseweight, but being shamed out of
what you desire and want in thisworld, hmm, that sounds kind of
(07:16):
familiar.
That self denial thing, okay?
your shame silences you.
And when you are silenced, youcannot ask for the help that you
need.
And if you are letting yourselfbe silenced, for the love of all
that is good in the world,please start speaking up.
Because that's more important.
(07:36):
Whatever you need to do to letgo of that shame, let go of it,
please.
And use your voice and speak upand say what you want because
it's okay to want.
Your shame adds a layer of guiltthat you don't need.
Period.
And that layer of guilt in andof itself can lead to emotional
(07:58):
eating, which is only going toexacerbate the problem.
So let's let go of that shame.
Your shame is more toxic Thanbeing overweight.
Your shame is more toxic Thanthat desire that you have to
lose 10 or 15 or 20 or 50pounds.
Okay Shame is toxic.
(08:20):
One of the things that I thinkthat needs to happen in this
evolution of body positivity isthis concept that you can
absolutely love and honor yourbody and Want to make progress
physically An athlete can lovetheir body and still want to
improve their race time, right?
(08:41):
They can be like I am a strongbadass and I want to shave 15
seconds off my mile.
Can love and honor your body forgrowing your children and for
helping you accomplisheverything that you have
accomplished in this world andWant to love it and care for it
by losing weight These twothings are not mutually
(09:04):
exclusive and that is gettinglost in this like love yourself
No matter what kind of messagethat is being pushed on social
media Research does show thatbeing overweight or obese in and
of itself is an inflammatorycondition that can, exacerbate
(09:24):
things like cardiovasculardisease and diabetes and
Alzheimer's disease and cancer.
Okay, so it's not a benigncondition.
And no matter how much you loveyourself and accept yourself, an
inflammatory body is not abenign condition.
And, Being overweight doesn'tmean that you're inflamed, okay?
(09:45):
It can, but doesn't always.
And so again, we don't say thatthis equals that, because there
is nuance in everything.
There is nuance in everything,and nothing is absolute always,
look for the nuance, because thedevil is in the details.
(10:06):
And when, when, when we want toignore that, when we only, when
we want things to be simple andclear cut, we get into trouble.
The other thing that, justregarding weight, that has me
bothered is this idea that it'sjust a simple equation of
calories in versus calories out.
(10:27):
Eat less, exercise more.
I thought we had evolved pastthis but it's getting this
resurgence like let's simplifyit.
Y'all are eating too much Youjust need to pull back on the
calories.
Yes, for the most part, that'strue.
Generally speaking across theUnited States we are over
consuming calories and we areexposed to more pollutants than
(10:47):
ever before that have beencoined in the research as
obesogens They disrupt ourhormones that lead to obesity,
diabetes, etc.
Plastics are part of thisproblem.
Okay, and plastic exposure islike all pesticides or another
one So we are exposed to more ofthis than our parents and our
(11:08):
grandparents were and this makesit harder to lose weight.
It is harder for the persontoday To lose weight than it was
for someone of that same agegender size 30 years ago.
We have more stress whichdisrupts hormones.
We're getting less sleep whichdisrupts hormones We've got more
toxicants in our environmentwhich disrupts hormones and
(11:29):
hormones are a key factor toweight loss Calories matter and
so do hormones.
It's neither this nor that.
It is this and that.
Additionally, we do live in aculture that encourages
overconsumption andDisconnection from oneself and
(11:50):
that's a big piece too.
Like if you're not connected toyour appetite You're not
connected to when you're hungryor full You're not connected to
what you're feeling before youstep into a meal how a meal
makes you feel You're notconnected to how your
environment is making you feeland how that drives your
appetites Yeah, that cancontribute to the overall
equation of both calories in,calories out, and a hormonal
(12:14):
response to food.
So these things have to be takeninto consideration Even if
you're never get back to yourcollege weight, which most the
women I work with they're notlooking to get back to Fighting
weight, right?
They're not Wanting to be a sizefour like they understand that
at this stage of life.
That's not necessarily realisticHowever, they also want to feel
(12:36):
better in their clothes.
They want to have more energyThey want their joints to stop
aching They want to be able tobend over and tie their shoes
without it being uncomfortableand weird and kind of gross You
Like they want those things, andthose are not unreasonable
requests.
We can address stress, and wecan address hormones, and we can
address endocrine disruptors,and we can address emotional
(12:56):
eating, and an anti inflammatorydiet that will help you feel so
much better, and maybe you'lllose a little weight, too.
And ultimately, that's whatyou're after, right?
Not the weight loss.
It's about what that weight losswill bring.
The increased energy, thereduced aches and pains.
(13:16):
And the reality is, women 30 andover grew up in a time when, as
they used to say when I was achild, you can never be too rich
or too thin.
If that was the message that,like, that was the toxic stew
that we were raised in, okay.
(13:39):
Period.
Like, that's just how it was.
And if that was the messagingthat I received before I was old
enough to have a cognitiveassessment of whether or not
that was true or appropriate, itis so deeply embedded in my
subconscious that it is alwaysgoing to be there.
(14:02):
This is, A demon that we justhave to accept lives in the
house, okay?
And you can lock it in thecloset, deny it's there, you can
attack it with a butcher knife,but it'll come back.
Like, you can do all thesethings, but it's not gonna go
away.
So what if instead, weacknowledged it, we accepted it,
(14:26):
And we did what we could to dodifferently.
And these are the conversationsthat I'm having with my women in
the office, Like, because theyare, there's this, with that
shame is like, Oh, I shouldn'tfeel that way.
Like I should be better thanthat.
I should have outgrown this ideathat, you know, that myself, my
(14:47):
self confidence shouldn't betied to my body size.
You're right.
It shouldn't.
But if you grew up, when I grewup, it kind of is and completely
eliminating that from yourpsyche.
Yeah.
Is a tall order, a big job andsomething that honestly, most of
(15:08):
our generation is not going tobe able to do.
So like any other limitingbelief you have about your worth
or your value, you say, Hey, Isee that's there.
I know that's not true.
And then you make the decisionas to whether or not you're
going to let it run your life.
(15:28):
You're going to let it be yourshame, or you're going to let it
coexist and just be right.
Just because something is theredoesn't mean you have to act on
it, doesn't mean that you haveto deny it, doesn't, like, you
can just be like, hey demon, higrandma, thanks for that lesson
about how my only value is, youknow, being a size 26 inch
(15:49):
waist, right, or whatever.
And we laugh because it'sfreaking absurd! Yet we carry it
in our minds, right?
We carry it in our psyche.
And it's shadowy and sneaky, andit's, but it's, it's just there.
It's just there.
It's okay.
It is a byproduct of how we grewup.
(16:12):
So we, we as Gen Xers and theyounger boomers, we straddle
this place in American culturalhistory where Gen Xers who grew
up without the internet andthen, You know started early
adulthood in the internet,right?
We also grew up with you cannever be too rich or too thin
(16:35):
and then transitioned into yeahYou know what this whole shit
about my worth being wrapped upin my body size is junk Okay, so
we straddle those two westraddle those two cultural
narratives And we, as women, whowere born during that time,
(16:58):
like, we just get to carry that.
We get to live in thatdichotomy.
We get to live in those, thosetwo opposing tension filled
places.
And do our duty.
damnedest to make sure ourchildren don't carry any of that
into the next generation, That,that I think is our job.
(17:21):
And also to teach our childrenthat body positivity doesn't
mean that you deny your bodyhealth in the name of
acceptance.
Because that is a slippery slopethat can lead to misery.
I think I'm done.
I think I've said everything Ineed to say right now about
(17:41):
this.
It's something that's beensitting on my mind, on my heart
heavily for a couple of monthsnow.
And basically, like, at the endof the day, my point is that I'm
seeing this extra layer of shamethat women are carrying that we
don't fucking need.
(18:01):
So in the wise words of BobNewhart, stop it.
Like it, it just, it, it, itmakes me so angry because we
don't need it.
I want you to know that it isokay to want to lose weight.
(18:22):
It's okay.
It's okay to want to lose weightwhen you know, it's going to
improve your quality of life.
When you know it is going tohelp you get more of what you
want with your children, withyour partner, from your career,
from your athletics.
It's okay.
I'm not gonna judge you, okay?
This is, we are not gonna havejudgment about that.
(18:46):
Because I get it.
I understand physiologicallythat carrying around an extra 20
pounds is rough on you.
It doesn't feel good, right?
And you want to feel good.
Ultimately, that's what this isabout.
I also want you to know that youwanting to lose weight, if you
want to lose weight to feelbetter, actually has nothing to
(19:07):
do with the body positivemovement.
Okay?
You wanting to lose weight andthe body positive movement, two
separate things.
You want to feel better.
And if losing weight is one ofthe ways that you feel pretty
sure that's going to start tohappen, great.
I mean, if that's true for you,your weight loss is about self
(19:27):
care.
It's about self preservation sothat you can be the strong woman
your family needs you to be.
So you can be there for yourkids.
So you can be the kind ofpartner that you want to be.
So you can be the kind ofprofessional in your career that
you want to be.
There's nothing wrong with that.
(19:50):
All right, I'm done.
I've ranted enough.
Thank you.
For those of you who stayed thewhole time, I don't even know
how long I've been ranting, butit's been a while.
Thank you.
And you know, like, commentbelow.
Let me know what you think.
Am I alone in this?
Like, are you experiencing thatshame yourself?
Am I just seeing this in thislittle pocket, you know, of of
(20:11):
the demographic that I workwith?
Or is this something that you'reseeing as well?
So shoot comments below.
Let me know.
And have an awesome day.
Let go of the shame.
Just stop it.
You
As infuriating as I find the relevance of this topic
today, it was.
(20:31):
Rather fun to go back and hearmy thoughts.
I suspect that the editingsoftware that I use for my
podcast has successfully takenthe quiver out of my voice.
As I share my Frank opinions.
And maybe you don't hear meslamming on the table and
frustration now, but I think thestrength of my convictions on
this still comes through.
(20:51):
If you want a safe space whereyou can share your struggles
with weight and receive not justcompassionate support, but
sustainable strategies to havelongterm success.
Reach out to me in the shownotes and let's set up a
complimentary chat to discussyour needs.
Life is too short to stay stuckand uncomfortable with your life
(21:12):
trajectory.
If it is not serving you.
Thanks again for listening and Iwill be back in your ear next
week.
If you have found some Nuggetsof Wisdom, make sure to
subscribe, rate, and shareBlasphemous Nutrition with those
you care about.
As you navigate the labyrinth ofhealth advice out there,
remember, health is a journey,not a dietary dictatorship.
(21:37):
Stay skeptical, stay daring, andchallenge the norms that no
longer serve you.
If you've got burning questionsor want to share your own flavor
of rebellion, slide into my DMs.
Your stories fuel me, and I lovehearing them.
Thanks again for tuning in toBlasphemous Nutrition.
Until next time, this is Aimeesigning off, reminding you that
(22:00):
truth is nuanced, and any dishcan be made better with a little
bit of sass.
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