For so many women, diet culture never looked like a diet. It looked like discipline, like being "the healthy one," like a body image built around control. You made food rules without ever writing them down, and the food guilt that followed felt normal.

In this episode we unpack diet mentality: what it is, the hidden ways it shows up, and how it keeps running in the background even when you've never technically been on a diet. Elizabeth shares her own years as a vegetarian who told everyone it was about health, the rush back to the gym within days of each of her babies, and the pride of being the disciplined one. Tara and Maria bring the versions they've lived and the ones they see in the women they work with.

We also get into why diet mentality intensifies for women in perimenopause and midlife women navigating a changing body, and why intuitive eating works as an antidote to years of restriction, plus:

• Why body control feels like being healthy and disciplined from the inside
• What food rules sound like when they're dressed up as virtue
• Why food guilt shows up even when you're eating exactly what you planned to eat
• The question that tells you what diet mentality is actually costing you
• What changes during perimenopause and midlife that make old patterns louder
• How the wellness rabbit hole leads to disordered eating without weight ever being the goal
• The write-it-down exercise Elizabeth gives clients to surface every hidden food rule
• Why intuitive eating gives you a real way to challenge those rules and let them go

Letting go of diet mentality doesn't require an overnight transformation, and this episode shows exactly where to start.

Let's rebrand wellness together!

Elizabeth, Tara & Maria

Experience Wellness Rebranded in real life! Join Elizabeth, Maria, and Tara on October 3rd for Inhale, a one-day fall retreat with movement, nature walks, nourishing food, and conversations that go deeper. Reserve your spot here.

The Ultimate Self Care Planner: https://elizabethharrisnutrition.ck.page/9e817ab37e

Connect with us!

Elizabeth Harris, MS, RDN, LDN

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ElizabethHarrisNutrition

Take the free quiz, What Type of Eater Are You?: https://elizabethharrisnutrition.com/quiz

Join The Nourished Table, Elizabeth's monthly recipe club, for $20 a month: https://elizabethharrisnutrition.com/recipe-club

Tara De Leon, Master Personal Trainer

Email: FitnessTrainer19@hotmail.com

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tara_de_leon_fitness

Join Tara’s Newsletter: www.taradeleonfitness.com/connect

Maria Winters, LCPC, NCC

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/coaching_therapist/

FB: https://www.facebook.com/MWcoachingtherapy

Website: www.thecoachingtherapist.com

Episodes Mentioned

If this episode resonated, go back and listen to Episode 105: The Myth of Short-Term Diet Success: The False Promises of Diet Culture, where we dig into the false promises of diet culture.

If you want to start a podcast or grow your existing one, visit julianabarbati.com and let them know we sent you!