The Invisible Diet

The quiet food patterns we follow, and the stories they’re still telling our bodies.

You might say you’re not on a diet. But you are. We all are. The real question is: who shaped it, and is it working for you?

We talk about diets like they’re something you start. A Monday thing. A “new me” thing. A colour-coded, meal-prepped, download-the-app kind of thing.

But the truth is: you’re already on a diet.

Not the restrictive kind. Not the “count this, cut that” kind. The invisible kind, the one shaped by your habits, your culture, your scroll history, your 3pm cravings, your calendar, your childhood, your mood.

That’s your diet. Whether you’re trying or not.

Diet = Pattern, Not Punishment

Somewhere along the way, “diet”  became a dirty word. It stopped meaning “how you eat” and started meaning “how to suffer publicly with lettuce.”

But the word diet originally meant “way of life". Not something you go on, but something you’re already doing.

And when you zoom out? That actually makes a lot of sense.

Your diet isn’t a program. It’s a pattern. And the more you pay attention to it, the more you start to notice, you didn’t create it alone.

The Diet You Didn’t Choose

If your food choices feel automatic, that’s because they often are.

Most of us are eating a mix of:

• What we learned as kids (“finish everything on your plate”)

• What our culture values (“real meals have meat” / “don’t eat carbs at night”)

• What our friends and partners eat

• What fits into our schedule or budget

• What our phone’s algorithm keeps feeding us (literally and figuratively)

Even if you’re not following a plan, you’re following a pattern. One that was built, intentionally or not, by a dozen small influences you may not even remember saying yes to.

Diet Culture vs Diet Reality

So when someone says, “I’m not on a diet", they usually just mean: “I’m not restricting myself right now".

But we’re all on a diet. The real question is: Is the one you’re on working for you? Or did you inherit it by accident?

Because even the most relaxed, intuitive, “whatever works” approach is still a diet. It’s a shape. A rhythm. A story. The difference is whether you’re choosing it, or defaulting to it.

Awareness is the first nutritional skill. Not willpower. Not protein. Awareness.

Reclaim the Word

You don’t have to micromanage every bite. You don’t have to follow rules someone else made. But you do get to ask:

• What’s actually influencing the way I eat?

• What feels good, and what feels like autopilot?

• What would change if I made a few of those choices on purpose?

Because being “on a diet” isn’t a thing. It’s just a fact.

You’re already on one. It might as well be yours.