You might want to sit down, I am going on a rant.

I have noticed lately that there are a lot of websites popping up promising weight loss with the “new raw food diet.” Honestly, this saddens me. Raw food for me is not just about weight loss, it is about health gain. It is about learning how to make better choices about the food we eat. It is about how our choices nourish our bodies. If we make good choices, we can have better health, bad choices can lead us to chronic disease, low energy, weight gain and poor health.

I abhor the word diet. The minute you say, “I need to lose weight”, you diminish yourself. You say, I am not what I should be. Personally, I do not have a skinny person’s genetics. But I am healthy. I exercise daily. Whether it be a 5 mile walk, or a power yoga vinyasa.  But do I look like Kate Moss? No.

Now here is where it gets interesting. I was having breakfast with a new friend last week. Someone who knew about my raw food business before they met me. When we met, I am guessing that I did not fit her “image” of what a raw food person should look like. Halfway through our meal, she looked at me and said, “If you are into raw food, why aren’t you skinny?”

Honestly, I didn’t quite know what to say. I am not skinny. Nor am I obese. I would describe myself as curvy and athletic. Skinny? No.

Unfortunately, this brought up a ton of issues for me. I have had times in my life when I gained weight. And truthfully, I have lost weight by eating raw. I still fluctuate. Even though this friend told me that I had a “beautiful face and great skin”, I drove home fighting all of the past insecurities that I have had for years, feeling like I must look awful.

If you are a woman, you know what I am talking about. Society tells us that we are supposed to look like the fashion models on the cover of magazines. It’s interesting that those models don’t  look like their pictures in real life. I have watched people starve themselves to fit a certain type. Is that healthy? No. You are still robbing your body of the essential nutrients it needs to be healthy. And if weight is your only concern, you are not going to be making good choices for your body.

At this meeting it was also suggested that I do a weight loss series on my blog. Take pictures of myself, post them and then show people how you can get skinny on raw food. Because, believe me, you can get skinny on raw food. Eat fruit, veggies and nothing else. You will get skinny. I actually considered it. For about 5 seconds.

Then the light turned on. I don’t believe in diets. I don’t believe in statements like, “oh, you cheated”, or “you can’t eat that”, or “is that on your diet?” I don’t believe in the negativity this creates around our bodies and what we eat. I think it sets you up for failure and self-loathing.

I believe in replacing the unhealthy food you are eating with healthy food. As you eat healthier, you will get healthier. If your body needs to, you will lose weight. Even with raw, it is not the wise choice to sustain yourself with raw Strawberry Cream Pie, raw cookies and raw ice cream. You still need to make balanced choices.

What happens if instead of saying, “I need to lose weight”, you replaced those words with, “I am making healthier choices about the food I eat.” One is negative and condemning, one is empowering. I am all about empowerment. It is a part of the whole process of being a healthy person. Healthy mind, healthy body, healthy attitude. Wanna join me in my  “anti-diet revolt” and join my “choose health” movement instead?