Why Diet Culture Is Running Your Life (And How To Fix It)
What is diet culture?
It is a movement where bodies of a certain size are considered the ideal type and therefore anyone not within that size range will be convinced they need to diet.
Who is affected by diet culture?
Well… pretty much everyone.
You know your grandma who calls you chubby when she sees you at Christmas? Or when your friend says “wow you look amazing” when you have lost a couple pounds. Or the social media influencers showing ‘juice detox’ before and after pictures.
This is diet culture.
Something to consider
Why do we judge a person who is in larger body eating chips but praise someone in a smaller body who eats chips?
Think about it, most people will believe that the person with a larger body (person A) probably eats chips all day. And the person in the smaller body (person B)has such an amazing metabolism that they can eat whatever they want.
Maybe person A has a healthy relationship with food and person B is struggling with an eating disorder? Has anyone considered this? Nope.
We are taught that being in a larger body is ‘unhealthy’ and being in a smaller body is ‘healthy’.
And you might be thinking
‘losing weight is good, my doctor told me so’
I am not a dietitian and do not have the right to give diet advice and am not against people who are losing weight or who feel they need to for health reasons. I am purely speaking up about the fact that we talk about weight loss in an unhealthy way that affects not only myself but my friends as well and I want it to stop.
The problem is when people believe that being skinny is the goal. That losing weight is always healthy. It is a blurred perception of health. There are almost never any absolutes in health care, so why do we all act like being skinny will heal everything. There can be people in bigger bodies who get cancer and there can be people in smaller bodies who get cancer.
Why is diet culture so bad?
What really gets me mad is the amount of money influencers are making off of impressionable children. Yes, kids that are 6 years old can feel bad about their bodies even when they are supposed to be gaining weight.
We have forgotten how to truly compliment each other. Almost every compliment I receive is about the way I look. There is way more to me than the way I look and I feel disgusted that this is the only thing people think about me.
There can also be many health issues related to dieting such as damage to organs, slow metabolism, changes in the microbiome and hormone imbalance.
The one that bothers me the most is shame and eating disorders.The amount of people I know who struggle with orthorexia (overexercising, under eating, obsession) is shocking. It is not only women either. Men and women both struggle with this and they are unable to understand the severity of the disorder because the fear of being fat frightens them so much more than being starved or malnourished.
Diet culture is teaching people to ignore hunger cues and practically self-harm until a certain goal is achieved. And let me tell you — this goal will never be achieved because the goal will become more and more extreme.
Change in mindset
So how do we change the topic of weight loss in a conversation with friends?
Well, it is important not to shame people for what they do with their own body. They might be doing a juice cleanse that you think is stupid but keep that to yourself. Stop the body talk. Whether you think it is a compliment or not. Find compliments that truly mean something. How about complimenting someone on their determination or their creativity or their commitment to self-improvement. Even just letting someone know how happy you are to have them as your friend could make their day.
Staying aware of your health
Health does not necessarily mean a diet. There are different ways to go about it such as:
- Try new vegetables
- Go on a walk
- Do yoga
- Listen to hunger cues
- Try out new recipes
- Meditate
- Read
Bottom line is, you probably do not need to lose weight if you already feel amazing and are not struggling with food. If you are struggling, always talk to a dietitian for nutrition help.
You do not need to look like those fitness girls/guys on Instagram to be healthy, that is not a definition of health, it is a marketing strategy. — Elizabeth Kathleen
Do what feels good to you.
The point of this post was to remind everyone that they are beautiful and when that little diet culture voice is talking in their head saying you're not beautiful, you can tell it to shut up. There is no room here for body shame. Be proud of what your body can do and remember, you are much more interesting than your weight.
