We’re kicking off our summer series with what I believe to be the BIGGEST turning point in my personal anti diet journey: body image. More specifically, how body image affects self-advocacy and what is possible when the perspective we have of our body shifts into a more positive area of the Body Appreciation Spectrum.We explore the body appreciation spectrum, which includes body respect, body acceptance, body neutrality, body appreciation, body peace, and body confidence, and discuss the importance of body respect and acceptance, rather than striving for a singular body image feeling.As always, we’re finishing the episode with prompts and questions to help listeners explore their relationship with their bodies and advocate for themselves. Get full access to The Culture Of It All! Podcast at cultureofitallpod.substack.com/subscribe

For as long as I can remember, I’ve struggled to enjoy the summer months. Even as a kid with 6 weeks off from school, my Dad put so much pressure on me ‘You should be outside, enjoy the weather while it lasts!’ but I was never an outdoorsy kid, and I’m not an outdoorsy adult either!- Baby Melanie circa 1987 with my DadNowadays the summers are hotter, and I’m the parent with a kid at home, juggling childcare, work and as few “I’m bored!” moments as possible.The last few summers have required so much mental preparation, and I found that as I’ve divested from diet culture and learned to accept, honour and respect my fat body in it’s current form, I found products and routines to help me feel more comfortable.I will always be a cold weather person. Give me all the chilly mornings and unexpected snow falls, but I can’t control the weather, so I decided to reclaim the summer!I deserve to find pockets of joy, and even if I don’t ENJOY the hotter days, I deserve to be comfortable. WE deserve to be comfortable.And, with that, this summer series was born 🙃Starting on May 28th I will be sharing everything from my self advocacy and body acceptance journey to personal hygiene routines, book recommendations, and everything in between!Be sure to follow on Instagram as I’ll be uploading reels and posts on my grid too!So, are you ready to challenge the culture of it all this summer?Let’s do this! ☀️😎 Get full access to The Culture Of It All! Podcast at cultureofitallpod.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, we continue our exploration of the intersection of diet culture, hustle culture, and online business. We’l continue to explore the paradoxical nature of these cultures and how they can negatively impact mental health. I’m sharing some stories of my personal experience “growing up” in the online business culture, and feeling like I never fit in and wanting to be successful in my own venture. We also highlight the tendency to blame the consumer or client when desired results are not achieved, rather than questioning the effectiveness of the product or method. We explore spiritual bypassing and how this often leads to toxic positivity and a failure to address systemic oppression and privilege amongst online business coaching communities. As always, we finish the episode with some journal prompts and reframes to help us deepen our personal anti-diet work.The Culture Of It All! Podcast is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber.Chapters06:53 Melanie's Journey To Starting An Online Business09:59 Following The Rules & Fear Of Failure13:28 Leaving The Business Coaching Bubble19:41 Inflated Testimonials & Lack of Context24:06 Selling The Next Best "Secret" & Marketing 'Pain Points'28:04 Moving The Goalposts32:46 Spiritual Bypassing, Toxic Positivity and Systemic Oppression in Online Business34:49 Undermining Trust, Intuition & Autonomy37:17 Ditching Diets & Online Business Coaching38:36 Reclaiming Lost Parts of Myself40:57 Anti diet journal prompt & reframe43:30 Navigating the Online SpaceThank you for reading The Culture Of It All! Podcast. This post is public so feel free to share it. Get full access to The Culture Of It All! Podcast at cultureofitallpod.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, Melanie explores the intersection of diet culture, hustle culture, and online business culture. She discusses how these cultures profit and uphold systems of oppression, and how they manipulate spending power and fear tactics to control individuals. Melanie also highlights the similarities between these cultures, such as the emphasis on hard work, the blame placed on individuals when programs fail, and the disregard for privilege and accessibility. She challenges the notion that health is the responsibility of the individual and questions the cost and benefits of constantly pursuing societal beauty standards and external validation.The Culture Of It All! Podcast is a reader-supported publication. To receive new posts and support my work, consider becoming a free or paid subscriber."Healthism reinforces the need to pursue your health at all costs and equates our self-worth to how healthy we are perceived to be."Chapters:00:00 Introduction and a BIG thank you!05:40 Content Warnings06:36 The Intersection of Diet Culture, Hustle Culture, and Online Business Culture07:45 Description of Hustle Culture19:13 Examples of Diet, Hustle and Online Business Culture in Action23:01 Ignoring Privilege and Accessibility: The Inaccessible Promises of Health and Success23:44 Wellness, Biohacking and The Marketing of Meal Replacements30:26 Healthism and the Healthy Hustle Paradox: Equating Worthiness with Physical Health34:26 Questioning the Cost and Benefits: Is the Pursuit of Health and Success Worth It?Thank you for reading The Culture Of It All! Podcast. This post is public so feel free to share it. Get full access to The Culture Of It All! Podcast at cultureofitallpod.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, Melanie discusses five ways to practise anti-diet work with compassion. She emphasises the importance of applying kindness and thoughtfulness as we navigate this challenging work. Melanie shares her personal journey with diet culture and how she came to embrace anti-diet work. She explores the practice of looking for and celebrating diverse bodies, recognizing the difference between wants and needs, dressing safely in a body-positive way, setting boundaries, and practising self-compassion. In this part of the conversation, Melanie discusses the concept of dressing safely as a tool to check in with oneself and reduce social anxiety and hyper visibility. She also explores the importance of reading fat stories and how it can help in practising anti-diet work. Lastly, she talks about the challenging but crucial practice of self-advocacy and shares personal experiences of advocating for herself.Chapters00:00 Introduction: Practising Anti-Diet Work with Compassion12:56 Embracing Diverse Bodies and Challenging Societal Norms19:07 Seeing Bodies Through Our Own Gaze21:55 Asking Ourselves What We Need30:08 Dressing Safely in a Body-Positive Way35:06 Setting Boundaries and Practising Self-Compassion33:24 The Power of Reading Fat Stories45:21 Practising Self-AdvocacyCome say 'hi' on social media:Instagram Threads TikTok Check out my journals and stickers at Outlaw Creatives Get full access to The Culture Of It All! Podcast at cultureofitallpod.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, Melanie explores diet culture and its relationship with body positivity. She defines diet culture as a system of oppression that centres thin, able-bodied people and promotes weight loss and food restrictions. Melanie emphasises that ditching diets is just the starting point of the anti-diet journey and that it requires ongoing self-reflection and compassion. She also discusses the intersectionality of diet culture with racism, ableism, sexism, and social economics. The episode concludes with a journal prompt for listeners to deepen their own anti-diet work.Chapters00:00 Introduction to Anti-Diet Culture03:19 Understanding Diet Culture06:29 The Complexity of Ditching Diets09:28 The Intersectionality of Diet Culture11:14 Expanding Body Positivity12:32 The Role of Journaling in Anti-Diet WorkCome say 'hi' on social media:Instagram Threads TikTok Check out my journals and stickers at Outlaw Creatives Get full access to The Culture Of It All! Podcast at cultureofitallpod.substack.com/subscribe

Welcome friends to the Culture of It All podcast. I am absolutely thrilled that you are here and I can't wait to start having conversations with you about what it really means to ditch diet culture whilst living life in a larger body. No matter where you are on your own anti-diet journey, we’re in this together, and will continue unpacking and unlearning diet culture so that we can take up space right now.As the name of this show suggests, being anti-diet is about more than a meal plan or a food list, it's about the culture of all. It's a cultural system of beliefs and myths that centre thinness, promote weight loss and unrealistic beauty standards. It demonises food by labelling them as good or bad and attaching your self-worth by association.Diet culture oppresses people who do not fit into this system of beliefs, and it disproportionately harms women, femmes, trans folk, people in larger bodies, people of colour, and people with disabilities, damaging both their mental and physical health.The Culture of It All podcast launches on April 16th. So go ahead and subscribe and you'll get access to new episodes every Tuesday. Come say 'hi' on social media:Instagram Threads TikTok Check out my journals and stickers at Outlaw Creatives Get full access to The Culture Of It All! Podcast at cultureofitallpod.substack.com/subscribe