In today's episode, we'll talk about Women Food and Power Women Food and Power is the emotional story of a woman on a journey away from diet culture back into her power... in the hope that it serves as an inspiration to others. My life was pretty good: I had food on the table, a home, a car, a great career that brought in enough money, cool friends, a supportive family. I thought of myself as an independent fierce woman.  But I also wondered, “… is that what life is really about?” I kept wondering if every other woman was as anxious as I was about how I looked. This was while by society standards I was doing all the right things. Were they as overwhelmed as me at the thought of not losing or worse gaining weight? Is it normal to feel this frustrated with food and not being able to eat like everyone else. Everyone around me reflected that it was all ok, but secretly, I knew something wasn’t right. So, I kept going making sure I was checking all the boxes:         My partner: Making sure he was happy, satisfied, that he felt loved.         My boss: I was delivering the results expected.          My social circle: Making sure I was there for them and was pleasant.         My parents: Striving to be #1, working hard and making money to ensure my safety.         Society: being a good girl and kept striving for the female beauty standards of thinness And then the forties came along It wasn’t one thing one moment… one day. It was a series of little things that collectively lead me to realize I was living the illusion of a happy life based on others’ beliefs.  That’s why I was eating...  I was years in the making. In fact, I was a pretty smart child and wasn’t afraid of speaking my mind. I played with boys as much as I played with girls. Certainly, a tough little girl.  But at 13, I was led to believe that I was too much. Too tall. Too big. That if I wanted to be a good girl from now on, I needed to be less. Smaller. Thinner and also quieter. To achieve this goal of being a good little girl, food was going to be the weapon of choice. Over the next few years, I learned to diet and that shrinking my body was the gateway for me to manage my “too muchness”.  By the end of my teenage years, I was fully indoctrinated into diet culture I learned that my power was food. I had learned that for society to accept women, she must conform to its standards. Unfortunately, I wasn’t born with a body & spirit that naturally conform to the norm so I had accepted that I would need to work hard at fitting in for the rest of my life. That’s exactly what I did for nearly 27 years until my forties came along. I started to read self-improvement books and questioning the beauty ideal imposed on women. Me Food and Power Up to then, my power was food (and the attempted control of weight) all to fulfill the illusion that being smaller would deliver better. I thought if I couldn’t control my height at least I could control my weight. Continue the story by listening to the podcast... What you'll learn listening to this episode: Why I believed that my power was food The indoctrination into diet culture Why our greatest enemy isn’t food but ourselves The power of choice How to overcome the fear Mentioned on the show: Conquer & Thrive Program The 4 Mindf*ck of Diet Brain Workshop “... but I need to lose weight” article Women Food and Mindfulness podcast