It seems ironic when you think about it. Fitness is supposed to be about health and living your best life possible. Why then, do we find ourselves stressed and anxious rather than inspired?

When you’re living in a world that thrives on the concept of insufficiency it can be difficult to keep a healthy perspective on diet and exercise. It’s not hard to see how disordered eating and mental health struggles can be associated with the fitness industry because of this.

Most of the articles in the top-selling fitness magazines play up insecurities, encouraging us to jump on every latest trend to change all the things we dislike about ourselves. It’s all about how much we can take away from our body, and how tracking everything we eat and do is necessary for any kind of noticeable progress. Physical activity becomes another gateway to feed disordered eating habits.

We use words like “dirty,” “bad,” and “cheating” to describe certain foods or the consumption of them, thinking it’s an innocent way of reminding ourselves to eat better. In reality, this kind of language is quite harmful to our mental state.

Giving any kind of negative association to the food we eat implies there is something wrong with indulging in it. It’s like a form of self-manipulation, because we are making ourselves feel bad for things we have no reason to feel bad about. If you’ve ever experienced genuine guilt for ordering off the dessert menu, you know what I’m talking about.

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