The Flu Tends to Remind Me of Why I Am Anti-Diet

Diet’s a funny word: it has nothing at all to do with what an eating disorder really is, yet many people define anorexia and bulimia as diets gone too far (something that I think needs some work in the media, but hey, that’s another story). In weightlifting terms (and since I spend time visiting them I know this), diet is simply what you put into your body: “what’s your diet” is pretty much the same question as “what do you eat each day, and what are its nutritional values?” When someone talks about adding a fat burner to their diet on those boards, someone chimes in “sure, you’ll lose weight - out of your wallet,” or “keep in mind, it’s a supplement; if you’re not doing the work, it’s not going to work, and even then, well, the results you see will be from the work you’re doing.”

And then there’s the rest of society, where diet seems to just be yet another four letter word.

Since I’ve been down with the flu for almost a week now, I’ve been watching a whole lot of TV - more than the “average person watches in a week” in those surveys that are meant to get people up off the couch and exercising. I’ve watched shows by talk show hosts who believe that size and body acceptance are necessary that are funded almost entirely by commercials that promise pure fat loss and lots of it and fitness equipment meant to get everyone toned in a matter of 5 minutes a day. I’ve watched infomercials for fitness programs too - mainly because, well, I’m jealous that I have no lung capacity whatsoever right now and that I’m exhausted simply by walking to the back of the apartment to use the bathroom.

Anyway. I’ve also had a lot of time to just kinda hang out and make nice with my laptop - especially because I spent a night home alone when my partner went to stay with her parents (and I have plenty of more stories now about family dysfunction if I need any to draw on) because of an out of town client meeting early the next morning. Too much time with my computer tends to lead to too much time surfing the web.

I admit it, I went to a few “diet sites” because I was curious about what they actually tell people. It disturbs me that there are diet sites and diets under investigation for the very low carb/calorie programs that they have; while the media targets them as fraud, there’s far less outrage about these sites than the so-called pro-anorexia sites out there. I actually found myself pondering this one question for a couple of hours the other day: why does it seem as though the media is in support of eating disorders like anorexia IF the person who’s developing the disease is starting out overweight? Why is it so impossible for people to understand that anorexia is like most every disease: you can sometimes see the symptoms, but not always? By the way, I welcome any comments on this, I haven’t had much luck figuring it out on my own. Truth be told, I just get angry and frustrated and lose track of what I’m thinking about.

My distraction is one thing that makes me hate having the flu. Of course, I believe that it stems from having absolutely no appetite whatsoever and haven’t been eating enough as a result.

That’s why having the flu reminds me of why I’m against diets: I can’t imagine why people think that serverely restricting their intake, popping pills and hoping for the best really works; truth be told, it makes you feel a lot like I feel - spaced out on cold medicine, shaky and cold and unable to get warm, tired and weak as hell.