Ever feel that before?

Well, they look good with more weight, but I never could.

I think it’s great that they accept themselves however they are…. I just can’t.

I think they’re beautiful, but I wouldn’t be if I gained weight.

I just look really bad with extra weight.

In fact, my little sister just said to me, “I have to put on fake tan because you can’t be fat and pale!” — as if it were a fact.

These are beliefs we take to be completely true, as if they are facts, and they’re ruining our lives.

You are the one who gets to choose.

It’s the same as saying, “Well they can follow their dreams. I just can’t.”

Well they can be happy, I just can’t.

Well they can be good at relationships, I am not.

Well they can make money, I never will.

Excuses excuses excusessssssssss!

And this is what it comes down to:

They can be imperfect, I can’t.

Well, yes you actually can be imperfect. And you already are, so you may as well embrace it.

I get it. I get the fear of vulnerability. I get the paralysis – the kindness towards others and the cruelty towards yourself. The fear of: what if people really do hate me if  _____________? What if people really do hate me if they don’t think I’m beautiful? What if people think I’m lazy and worthless if I gain weight? What if I really am lazy and worthless if I gain weight?

I get it.

But it is still an excuse.

Once you know that you are the one creating your own misery, making the choice to like yourself as a work in progress (in every way) the only way forward.

We are all imperfect works in progress.

And as long as you are using excuses, too afraid to jump in and actually act on this self-love ‘thing’ instead of just thinking about it, you’re going to stay stuck where you are: Imperfect, messy, human, and mortified about it.

You don’t need to be mortified about it – it’s ok.

You wouldn’t believe the amount of readers and clients I have who’ve said, “Well, I have this thing called PCOS, so I can’t actually let go and eat normally, because medically, I am supposed to keep my weight down.”

Guess what? I “have PCOS too”, so, here is what I have to say on the matter:

(Of course, remember I am NOT a doctor and I am not a scientist. And also my language below is extremely basic. I encourage you to read up on the further reading I list, and do your own research based on what I offer up as food for thought. And put this up to your own intuition. My intuition, after years of being obsessed with toxins, weight, sleep, food, was crying enough already, this insanity will never heal you.)

For those of you who don’t know, PCOS is a female hormonal imbalance, resulting in polycystic ovaries, but not always. There are a host of other symptoms that not everyone has. And it is supposedly caused by insulin resistance.

Basically, PCOS is an umbrella term for a common sort of hormonal imbalance, something like 1 in 10 women. But the actual symptoms and imbalances are not all the same from person to person.

It’s an umbrella term for whacky hormones and common symptoms.

And the doctors say: “don’t gain more weight”. Or “lose weight” or “You’re one of the thin ones” or “You don’t have PCOS, you just have low progesterone.”

Which goes to show what a “science” diagnosing PCOS is….

“Go on the pill. Go on this medicine for insulin resistance. Go on a low carb diet.”

But I need to remind you, that dieting exacerbates poor health, metabolism, and disordered eating.

Dieting is also highly stress-causing. It spikes your cortisol. It puts your whole body in a state of alarm.

It is also miserable.

It also almost always backfires with an equal binge rebellion.

Dieting makes you more fixated on food, and more likely to binge or just plain eat WEIRDLY and nuttily.

So as soon as you come at PCOS trying to lose weight, you’re fucked, in my opinion.

1. Dieting and/or low carb does not improve health or sugar metabolism

Read this book, In Defense of Sugar. It has become a must read for all Fuck It Diet followers.

2. I believe PCOS is Stress and Environmentally caused 

I strongly believe that insulin resistance and weight gain, are symptoms, not causes, of a bigger metabolic situation.

Caused and exacerbated by STRESS. (And environmental factors. Some we have control over, some not.)

Stress hormones really mess with the normal hormonal process. It can totally hijack your system.

You know what exacerbates stress hormones?… Yea. Dieting.

3. Losing weight isn’t the way to improve your health

Which brings me to my second huge recommended reading: Health at Every Size.

Habits and Self Love FIRST. Weight is secondary for health. Are there unhealthy fat people? Sure! But there are unhealthy thin people, too. It’s not about the weight, it’s about the habits.

Most often, weight isn’t the thing that causes the health problems in the first place. The weight is either the symptom, or completely neutral.

4. I believe PCOS is also highly energetic/emotional

Well, I believe all illnesses have an emotional/spiritual component. And no, I’m not saying you can magick✨ yourself better. But the emotional/spiritual and physical are highly connected. And dealing with your inner world is essential, which is a lot of the work that we do in my 6 Month Life Recovery Program.

There are things I DO recommend for PCOS.

Think about nourishing your body. Think about ADDING great practices, nutrients, and minerals, not taking things out.

1. Dark Leafy Greens

2. Sweet Potatoes

3. Magnesium

4. DIM

5. D-Chiro Inositol

6. B Complex

7. Rhodiola Rosea

8. Easy, joyful movement. Whatever that means to you.

9. Rest, self-love, journaling, stop dieting, stop weighing yourself.

Smile, you’re gorgeous.

These things support your natural ability to live, enjoy and support the way your body works.

Keep your brownies. They aren’t the problem.

Don’t have PCOS but have another health thing? Read this: But “What if I Have Health Problems?“

For years, my excuse for continuing dieting was that “I had to”.

“I have to be healthy”.

I believed freedom just wasn’t in the cards for me. I knew too much about polyunsaturated fats. I knew too much about how all our food was slowly killing us. And my hormones are messed up. I HAVE to figure out this diet thing. It’s really important.

And so I kept putting off living. Because I thought I would finally let myself live once I’d finally figured out the perfect diet.

And also, y’know, I have to be healthy. Eating what I want will make me unhealthy. I KNOW sugar is unhealthy. I KNOW gluten is probably killing us all. I KNOW TOO MUCH.

Guess what:

…you don’t actually know what you think you know.

The things we think know about diets, the things we think we know about how horrible nearly every kind of food is, the things we think we know about obesity, weight, health, beauty and worth… for the most part those things are actually …wrong.

They were learned. Skewed “facts” that are perpetuated by an industry that is now spewing information as if it were law. “sugar is bad. diets are good. weight is bad. thin is good.”

But just like they were wrong about wheaties being the healthiest food, and wrong about low fat being the way, and wrong about thinking that arsenic was a health tonic… they’re wrong about diets and health now, too.

We diet rebels are slightly ahead of the curve here. But I really do think that in… 50 years (hopefully), the world will swing around. I really do.

So do yourself a favor, please. Read Health at Every Size. Read In Defense of Sugar. Empower yourself with the other side. Empower yourself with new information way closer to the truth.

The information we are being fed is not the whole story. In fact, it’s an incorrect story.

And you deserve better.

Become a rebel. Join us. Learn more.

If you are putting off the fuck it diet because you are afraid it’s not healthy, be willing to reconsider.

(Read Health at Every Size. Read In Defense of Sugar!)