Before you downvote or click away, this is NOT another "You can cure your disease with X diet".
I've been wanting to post here how discouraging and frustrating it is to see people pushing toxic diet culture onto those with autoimmune (and other) diseases. Sure, generally speaking, we all could all eat less red meat, refined sugar, and processed junk food. That's not what I want to address here.
I want to have an honest conversation about some of the harmful rhetoric touted in this sub and throughout the AS/Autoimmune Disease communities. Another post made me realize that there are a lot of people who are put off by the ways diet is pushed by some as a panacea.
These days instead of it being the Atkins Diet or South Beach Diet which focused on giving people a beach body, diets today are "holistically focused". Their claims are more that they'll "fix" your ailments. Instead of you needing to turn to pharmaceuticals, you can fix it with food. They tell you to eat organic, clean, farm-raised foods and you won't suffer from parasites, hormonal imbalance, or digestive issues. You don't need X medication, you can fix the disease with ✨food ✨.
I'm sure you can find studies on PubMed which support claims that X food is linked with autoimmune/rheumatoid/inflammatory diseases. Studies that claim X diet was linked with lighter disease burden in 10 patients.
But our bodies are more complex than that. Our lives are more complex than that.
Our bodies aren't bad. Food isn't bad.
Ankylosing Spondylitis and Axial Spondyloarthritis don't need to be fixed.
I really like Margaret Ruch's take on it,
"Our health is made up of so much more than just the food we eat, but especially more than just one meal, or one food."
I'd much rather live a life on medications that I know work for me than restrict myself by adhering to a militant diet that will likely make me fall back into unhealthy mental health spaces. As someone recovering from disordered eating, the strict diets and regimens people push in this sub and elsewhere are so similar to the ways I destroyed my body with anorexia and a restrictive diet.
If changing your diet works for you, great!
However, if a strict diet change would be more detrimental to your mental health, don't do it.
You are not better or worse than anyone else because of the way you choose to care for your body.
Before you downvote or click away, this is NOT another "You can cure your disease with X diet".I've been wanting to post here how discouraging and frustrating it is to see people pushing toxic diet culture onto those with autoimmune (and other) diseases. Sure, generally speaking, we all could all eat less red meat, refined sugar, and processed junk food. That's not what I want to address here.I want to have an honest conversation about some of the harmful rhetoric touted in this sub and throughout the AS/Autoimmune Disease communities. Another post made me realize that there are a lot of people who are put off by the ways diet is pushed by some as a panacea.These days instead of it being the Atkins Diet or South Beach Diet which focused on giving people a beach body, diets today are "holistically focused". Their claims are more that they'll "fix" your ailments. Instead of you needing to turn to pharmaceuticals, you can fix it with food. They tell you to eat organic, clean, farm-raised foods and you won't suffer from parasites, hormonal imbalance, or digestive issues. You don't need X medication, you can fix the disease with ✨food ✨.I'm sure you can find studies on PubMed which support claims that X food is linked with autoimmune/rheumatoid/inflammatory diseases. Studies that claim X diet was linked with lighter disease burden in 10 patients.But our bodies are more complex than that. Our lives are more complex than that.Our bodies aren't bad. Food isn't bad.Ankylosing Spondylitis and Axial Spondyloarthritis don't need to be fixed.I really like Margaret Ruch's take on it,"Our health is made up of so much more than just the food we eat, but especially more than just one meal, or one food."I'd much rather live a life on medications that I know work for me than restrict myself by adhering to a militant diet that will likely make me fall back into unhealthy mental health spaces. As someone recovering from disordered eating, the strict diets and regimens people push in this sub and elsewhere are so similar to the ways I destroyed my body with anorexia and a restrictive diet.If changing your diet works for you, great!However, if a strict diet change would be more detrimental to your mental health, don't do it.You are not better or worse than anyone else because of the way you choose to care for your body. https://ift.tt/eA8V8J https://ift.tt/3jt6BTq
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