This Changes Everything, if we let it : using food narratives as social action

In a previous post I made the point that while diet and non-diet approaches to theorising eating are presented as polar opposites, they in fact also overlap in a really significant way:

“In both instances the binary is foundational: mind over body for dieters, body over mind for non-dieters. And all this devoid of context.”

A concise summary is that diet and non-diet theories operate within a framework of white supremacy as they’re tied to the binary which fosters a mindset that seeks to ‘divide, devalue, conquer’. Binary thinking rejects the self-in-relationship, and society, in favour of the split-off, or atomistic, self ricocheting around in an ahistorical vacuum.

If we believe that liberation for all emerges from a commitment to understanding mutuality and inter-connection for the common good it follows that our theories must have the indivisible self-in-relationship as an organising principle. So they have to upend the binary. I know, that’s huge right? This awareness has ramifications beyond how we approach eating, it changes everything if we let it.

If you agree with my analysis, and agree something needs to change, great. Carry on reading: I want to think about what happens now, and hope you’ll add your own ideas in comments at the end of the piece. If you don’t agree with the analysis I hope you’ll comment too, I appreciate that you engaged with me and am curiouse to grapple with where we…