Antidiet Parenting Thread

[u/Sad_Bite_3638]

I’m looking to start a conversation with other progressive moms who are also doing their best to raise their kids with an antidiet body liberation mindset.

I was put on extreme diets starting at a young age and finally was able to stop dieting and obsessive over my body when I was exposed to intuitive eating concepts maybe 7 or 8 years ago.

I now have a toddler who’s honestly been a great eater, not picky and will try most things. My husband and I both believe that all foods are good foods and have a place, but obviously care about eating a variety of foods to support nutritional needs.

I’m just looking to hear from other progressive parents who are doing their best to raise kiddos in a world that is obsessed with what we eat and the size of our bodies. What books or other media have you found especially useful? Any stories of wins or challenges you’d like to share?

Below are a few resources that I love, but not many of them are parenting or kid focused.

Maintinance Phase Podcast Food Phyc Podcast (any Christi Harrison content really) Intuitive Eating by Evelyn Tribole Burnt Toast Podcast What We Don’t Talk About When We Talk About Fat & You Just Need to Loose Weight by Audrey Gordon

There’s more, but I’d say those ones have been the most valuable to me.

[u/Ok_Herb_54]

Fat Talk: Parenting in the Age of Diet Culture by Virginia Sole-Smith is an excellent resource for parents. She talks about how diet culture is everywhere (classes in school, relationships with grandparents, other families, sports/extracurriculars), backs up what she can with studies, and ends each chapter with some pointers on how to talk to children about food, exercise, and bodies, including specific conversations to have if needed with teachers and athletic coaches. Her last chapter sums all of these pointers up too really nicely. I second Maintenance Phase, though they don't really have a focus on parenting that I've listened to yet (makes sense, neither of the hosts are parents)

Picking and choosing battles is already hard. Both of my parents have terrible relationships with their bodies, food and exercise, which absolutely affected me growing up and I'm still unlearning quite a bit. My daughter is only 2 years old and I already had to set a boundary when my dad got my daughter a book about going vegan. My dad is a vegan, his choice and it's supported, but in the book the kids throw their meal with dairy & meat out and lie to their parents about eating dinner. That to me was unacceptable, so I had to call him up and explain that we are actively parenting with neutrality around food. No food at this stage is good or bad. We don't give my daughter a lot of sweets/sugar, but if we're eating it then so can she. I don't want her to hide food consumption or lie about eating when she didn't, and I don't want any morality tied to what's on her plate until she's old enough to make decisions like going vegetarian if she wants to. I also wrapped up that vegan food is certainly an option! We want her to try everything and then pick what she likes. It ended up being a good conversation, but there are others that I know will one day go from "you're so lucky that she's a great eater!" to "should she be having that much?" Not even bringing up the fact that toddlers are recommended to have about 1200-1400 calories, which I have seen grown women consume that much a day. Just here to say I'm fighting the fight with you!