Diets are dangerous...

Diets. We probably all know someone that's been on one. Most of us have been on one ourselves. It's usually just an attempt to lose a few pounds. Diets seem healthy, harmless and sometimes like the best thing for someone to do. But they can be dangerous and they can lead to eating disorders. I understand that this is not always the case. I understand that some people need to go on diets for health reasons but a hell of a lot of people who put themselves on diets do not need to lose weight.

A lot of people who develop eating disorders say that it began when they tried to eat a bit more healthy. Perhaps they started eating more fruit and vegetables. But then it can spiral out of control. It's easy to enjoy the weight loss. It's easy to start eating less and enjoying losing more weight. It's nice to see the numbers on the scale drop. People start telling you how good you look. You tell them about this great diet you're on.

Well, this can get serious really quickly. You eat a bit less and you lose more weight and soon it is not enough so you start exercising too or skipping meals altogether. It starts pretty innocently but it becomes more sinister. You get thinner. You get sick. Soon, you are in the grips of an eating disorder and really mentally unwell.

It's the new year in a couple of months. That means people will be going crazy talking about their desperate need to lose a few pounds, there will be diets advertised everywhere and celebrity fitness DVD's. People will buy into it but I am urging you not to. I want to remind you that this diet culture we are in is dangerous for everyone. As someone in recovery from an eating disorder, I can say that hearing friends talk about diets and calories makes me feel like I should be. It damages my recovery and diets put them at risk of potentially developing eating disorders. Eating disorders kill people.

It makes me angry. Seeing constant adverts for new diet pills and diet companies. STOP IT. Stop making people think that they need to lose weight in order to be happy. Stop showing unhappy fat people and happy thin people, the world does not work like that. People are not that simple. Weight loss is not equal to happiness. Eating Special K every day will not make your life better, following weight watchers will not make you a good person. Diets sometimes help you lose weight but unless your doctor advises you to do so, you probably do not need to. These companies are making money off of your misery, low self esteem and desperation.

Most importantly, the diet industry wants you to feel bad about yourselves. It wants you to hate your body so you buy their products over and over again in a desperate attempt to fix things. However, this doesn't work. So you try more diets and low fat foods and gym classes. Losing weight is not how you learn to love yourself. It is not how you become happy. Looking after yourself, being kind to yourself is how you learn to love yourself. And you should love every part of you because if we all show ourselves a little bit of love, these awful diet companies will go out of business. Eating disorders may decrease in frequency.

Ignore the diet talk. Do not buy into this culture. You are more than your weight and you deserve to love yourself for who you are not because you lose weight on a diet.

Miss Representation

I recently watched 'Miss Representation,' a documentary about how the media portrayal of women impacts on the limited numbers of women in positions of power. I highly recommend watching it. Although it is focused on the US, it is a reflection of the media across the globe and is informative and thought provoking.

The documentary highlights the impact of the media and capitalism on how women are viewed in the world. Media shows us that women are bodies first and that these bodies will help you achieve if and only if they meet men's ideals. Well I can tell you that is bullshit. The media constantly belittles women in power or gives them no coverage at all. We often get shown female celebrities in very little clothing but rarely get to see female CEO's or politicians without sexist comments being made about them. It needs to stop. 

'Miss Representation' touches on the lack of censorship in media. Many people, including myself, would see this as a good thing because surely less censorship = more freedom. But what about when that freedom is being used to show women as objects and is influencing how young girls view themselves. It's contributing to the rise in eating disorders and low self esteem. There needs to be limits on the media in order to protect society. The media is so powerful but with no rules, it can show whatever it wants. It has no obligation to represent groups fairly. It should have. I'm not saying censorship is the answer. I'm saying that things like airbrushing need to be stopped, media coverage needs to be just as favourable to women and people of colour as it is to white men. I don't know how this can be achieved but there are small things we can do to make a difference:

• Stop buying tabloid magazines. Those ones which have a 'circle of shame' around 'fat' parts of women's bodies. They are fuelling the way men and women view women, they make it seem like looking good should be a priority. #NotBuyingIt to call out these outlets on their sexism.
• Do not watch tv shows or movies which objectify women. Stop watching those films that refuse to show women as strong characters and make them constantly rely on men for everything. They are not accurate portrayals and they're boring, we've seen it all before. 
• If you're a writer, write strong female characters into your stories. Show your readers that women are people to. They are not just props for male characters.
• #MediaWeLike for any media outlets which are positive for and empower women.

Remember that women are powerful, we can be powerful regardless of what the media  might tell us. Women can be leaders. Women can be successful. Women can change the world. And it will not only benefit women but everyone. If women are encouraged to enter politics then government's will be more representative. If the media starts to show that women are more than their bodies, women will start to believe it too.