Diet Culture, Law Offices, and Yoga
Transcript:
There are too many salads at women bar events. That’s how this all started.
Once upon a time, I worked at a fancy law and lobbying firm. A part of my job included planning programs and every corporate event planner knows the key to attendance is delicious food. As the diversity, equity, and inclusion department, I always put my focus on cultural foods to introduce my colleagues to local food they might never try otherwise. And it was always important to account for dietary needs—if you came to my event be it vegan, gluten free, you name it—I had you covered.
But without fail as we stacked a buffet onto our plates I would always hear women staff, attorneys, or paralegals make some type of comment on calories or the desserts.
My big fancy firm had community breakfast once a month. Eggs, bacon, burritos, French toast, pancakes, donuts, bagels—all met with neutral feelings if not excitement by the men. Too many times I was asked by another woman, “hey, want to split this donut with me?” On more than one occasion, I convinced other women to just eat the bagel instead of worrying about who they can split it with.
I attended an array of sponsored events for the firm as a representative. And since I worked in diversity, equity, and inclusion in a law firm, many of these events were centered around women in the law. I always knew going into these events that the food would be salad-centric and the desserts were always fruit and yogurt based. But also always chocolate snuck in there.
What is the deal, folks? When did we let diet culture take over the joys of the best perk of going to events: free food. And especially as modern lawyers, don’t tell me you’ve already forgotten the free school event dinners from law school years past.
Don’t get me wrong, fruits and veggies can be delicious. But why, as women, do we feel the need to get calories and the shape of our bodies involved in what is meant to be a chill and fun and maybe educational time?
Diet culture plagues the workplace for corporate women. So much so, folks are capitalizing on it.
I recently saw an ad for women attorneys who “have gained a few pounds since starting the practice of law” and my chin hit the floor. This personal trainer claimed to work exclusively with busy women who needed to “shed the work weight.”
Get this misogyny off my social media timelines.
Women in the law, as a woman in the law myself I beg you to reject diet culture. You know where I’m going to tell you to turn: Yoga dear friends.
Yoga supports authenticity and showing up as you are. It certainly does not support self criticism rooted in Eurocentric stereotypes that here in America, dictate how we should feel about how we look and what we eat. Recognize that many foods beyond salads are nutrient dense and support a healthy lifestyle. And in turn, recognize that avoiding a slice of cake probably only hurt your mental health and made you crave cake more than if you let yourself just live a balanced life.
The next time you’re in the workplace and there’s free food, stop thinking about weight gain. Trust and believe that donut you have at community breakfast once a month will not be the end of you. And even so, so what if you gained weight since graduating law school? Or like at all?
If you’re happy, healthy, living balanced, what is the harm in giving yourself grace and accepting your body? It’s a body, folks—she is multidimensional and her worth is not tied to her shape or weight.
Reject diet culture in the workplace and support other women, too. Be that colleague who unapologetically takes the side of bread with your pasta and ask your women colleagues if they want a piece, too. Be that girl so that we can all be that girl.
