Health & Fitness
How do you continue to fight diet culture when someone in your family lives with diabetes? Is rejecting diets hurting them? Does this diagnosis mean food must now be managed rather than met with curiosity? Listen to the latest Love Food Podcast with guest expert Rachael Hartley, author of Gentle Nutrition. Subscribe and leave a review here in just seconds. This episode of The Love Food Podcast is brought to you by my PCOS + Food Peace Course. Grab the details at PCOSandFoodPeace.com Thank you for you supporting the Love Food Podcast! Dearest Food, I love you. You are delicious and I enjoy you. I also sometimes feel angry towards you and blame you for my problems. I’ve also felt scared of you and felt you were going to hurt me. However, I’ve done a lot of work around this. These days, I often feel neutral towards you. I feel we are getting into a groove and have a much better relationship. I’m so grateful for this. I even ate a tuna on raisin bread sandwich to celebrate--one of my newly discovered weird food combination loves. I’m so glad we can be playful together sometimes. Nevertheless, I still have hiccups in this journey that make me doubt all of it. Recently, a family member of mine, someone I love and cook for often, was diagnosed “prediabetic.” Honestly, I’m not sure what this means. I do know he has been told to be careful about carbs and sugars or he will become full on diabetic and this will ruin the rest of his life. This is not what was actually said of course, but this is the message that seems to underlie what was said. I am scared. Did my cooking do this? By embracing food, stressing less, and ditching diets, have I caused a health problem for someone I love so dearly? What about when I get pregnant and have my first child? What will I do then? How do I know that what I’m doing is best for those that will be dependent on me? Don’t they deserve the best chance at a healthy life? And what does that actually mean? It feels as if I am able to work out my individual relationship with you a bit, but when others are involved, I begin to feel the creeping in of doubt. I even googled diets for diabetes today. I had a sinking feeling when I did that. As if maybe I would have to break up with you. Maybe all our playful, fun, neutral times were over. Maybe we would have to go back to how things used to be. Maybe I was wrong all along? It’s been hard to know what is right for me and I still struggle to stay on course. When I start to feel my decisions may be impacting others I love deeply, the doubt becomes fiercer and I actually become afraid. I become afraid of you, food. Will you hurt my family? Love, Sad and scared Show Notes: Julie Dillon RD blog The PCOS + Food Peace Free Roadmap The PCOS + Food Peace Course Link to get latest Food Peace Syllabus. 6 Keys To Food Peace Gentle Nutrition book by Rachael Hartley RD www.rachaelhartleynutrition.com IG - @RachaelHartleyRD Twitter - @RHartleyRD Submit your Dear Food letter here or https://forms.gle/pepKRGPC8JbHLHHn8 Julie on Instagram: Instagram.com/FoodPeaceDietitian Find Eating Disorder Dietitians near you. Do you have a complicated relationship with food? I want to help! Send your Dear Food letter to LoveFoodPodcast@gmail.com. Click here to leave me a review in iTunes and subscribe. This type of kindness helps the show continue!