What is Your Diet Identity?
Written by: Brad Pilon
Your workout and your nutrition routine will become part of your identity…but they should never become your entire identity.
You may notice that advocates of various styles of dieting or exercise begin to take it on as the main driving factor of their personal identity.
Veganism, “Paleo”, Low Carb, Vegetarianism, Runners, Powerlifters, Triathletes etc.
These can become all consuming identities that take over the persons life even if they never intended to become such an advocate when they first tried it out.
If you enjoy running and you do it often, that is great, but that doesn’t mean that running is who you are, it’s just one of the things you do.
If you like vegetarian food great, but that doesn’t mean that vegetarianism should define you as a person.
These are all just choices you make.
In most cases these choices start off benign and usually in the name of achieving better health and a better physical condition…and lets face it, to lose weight. Nobody does any of this stuff assuming they’re going to stay the same weight or gain weight!
But if you’re not careful they can become a cult like phenomenon where you feel like you only belong and only have worth if you grip tighter and tighter to these identities and let them become entirely who you think you are.
Some people will go as far as to disown long standing friends just because they haven’t adopted the same diet and exercise identity.
This is clearly an example of taking things too far.
Yes exercise and nutrition can and will become part of your identity, but only a part. You are much more than how you exercise and eat.
No matter what exercise and diet identities you associate with, make sure you are in control if it, instead if it being in control of you.
