🥑 Harm Reduction in Nutrition

A guide to navigating nutrition with compassion and grace

🌱💬 Herb.Chat is a monthly herby/foody/flowery advice column (sometimes written, sometimes video, sometimes audio) for paid subscribers of The Dirt newsletter. Paid subscribers are welcome to leave comments at the bottom and 🌈 submit your anonymous questions for future months.

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🥑 g3ntle.food5:

Q: How do you promote healing for folks that are experiencing food elimination fatigue, aka a case of the f*ck it’s? Similarly, how do you promote healing for those with disordered eating or suspected disordered eating?

🌱herb.chat:

Great questions - so so important!

I’ll answer this question in two parts because the two questions have some really important distinctions that require different approaches.

With that said, I’d approach both these questions with similar foundational frameworks, so let’s start there, shall we?

Let’s talk about harm reduction and vitalism.

🧿 Harm Reduction

Harm reduction is a concept that originated in the field of public health, specifically in relation to substance/drug use. The harm reduction approach recognizes that while some behaviors may be harmful or risky, they may also be difficult or impossible for individuals to eliminate completely.

So, instead of aiming to eradicate these behaviors, harm reduction seeks to lessen their negative impacts.

It’s a philosophy that focuses on working with people to make perceived positive changes without “judgement, coercion, discrimination, or requiring that they stop using drugs as a precondition of support” (Source).

(I’ll explain how this connects to a bit later…)

What makes Harm Reduction Different?

Unlike prior programs and policies for individuals that use drugs, harm reduction doesn’t require the person to discontinue using drugs to receive services.

The thought behind this is that everyone deserves care at every stage in their life, even if they aren’t able to take certain steps towards health at that moment (like discontinuing drug use).

Harm Reduction in Action: An Example

Needle exchange programs, or syringe service programs, are a great example of harm reduction. These programs provide new and sterile syringes to drug users.

So, rather than making individuals stop using drugs, they are decreasing harm by decreasing the risk of getting an infectious disease while using drugs.

Which is really awesome and important, imo.

🌱💖 Vitalism ✨

Now, let’s talk about vitalism!

Vitalism refers to both the energy that animates us (or how life expresses itself through a particular being), and is a holistic philosophy that the human body has innate intelligence that governs all areas of health.

Vitalism has a few key tenets, but a foundational one is that our bodies innately want to heal, and when we follow the lead of the vital force of the whole self, healing will follow.

Combining Harm Reduction + Vitalism in Nutrition 🥡🌮🥑🥦🥨

I’ve found the harm reduction/vitalism combo to offer a really compassionate, human-centered approach for doing nutrition work.