Diet culture is a set of societal ideals that values thin bodies and weight loss above all else. This often promotes unhealthy eating habits, toxic relationships with food, and negative self-image.
Diet culture is practically inescapable. Everywhere you look you see ad after ad promoting a magical diet plan that “actually works”, or a “how to lose weight quick” workout routine that promises unrealistic results. Organic foods are glorified, while “unhealthy” processed foods are demonized. And while it is important to exercise and eat food that is good for you, when you begin to value these things over all else, you risk your mental and physical well being in the name of “health”.
You see it everywhere on social media. From the “wellness” influencers teaching their fans to fear carbs and how to not properly fuel their bodies under the guise of “health advice”, to the countless trends that glorify thin bodies. You have people body checking in their videos, which is the frequent monitoring of your physical appearance, like turning to the side in front of a mirror or camera and going out of their way to mention the size of their body. There are “what I eat in a day” videos that glorify undereating. The hate comments under a fit check of a bigger person wearing the same outfit that was praised when it was on a smaller body. Wherever you look online, you are more than likely to find some form of diet culture on your feed.
One of the most obvious effects of diet culture are eating disorders. In a world that constantly promotes thin bodies, it’s almost impossible to avoid linking self worth with how much you weigh or the shape of your body to some extent. Diet culture has created unrealistic and often unnatural beauty standards and has paraded them around as not just standards, but expectations. Everyone is expected to be thin, women are expected to have small waists and a thigh gap, men are expected to be muscular and go to the gym. This sort of mindset that is pushed onto every single person from the moment they are able to comprehend their own bodies is a driving factor in the development of eating disorders, and the perpetuation of fatphobia.
Millbrook senior Margaret Wilson presented a project about eating disorders for a Family, Career and Community Leaders of America competition and said the reason her and her partner senior Megan Barghout chose this topic was, “Because we had first hand experience with insensitivity of talking about food, whether it had been our parents making small remarks of our eating habits or our peers expressively describing their diet or eating habits. What stuck out the most to us from our research was that at the age of eight most girls start dieting and comparing their bodies to others, it shocked us most because at this age the average girl hasn’t even started their period and is already concerned about their weight.”
An eating disorder is a mental disorder characterized by abnormal and unhealthy eating habits that negatively affect the body and the mind. They are often linked with other mental disorders such as mood and anxiety disorders, and OCD. The most common ones include Anorexia Nervosa, which involves heavy restriction of the amount and type of foods one can eat; Bulimia Nervosa, which is known for switching between restricting and binging, or overeating, followed by purging the food; and Binge Eating Disorder, which involves periods of overeating followed by immense feelings of shame and guilt. According to the American Psychiatric Association, “Eating disorders affect several million people at any given time, most often women between the ages of 12 and 35.”
Eating disorders typically develop in adolescence and are more common in women however, they can affect anyone. While there are many reasons someone may develop an eating disorder, the societal pressure to be seen as “thin” or “healthy” often plays an undeniable role. According to the Harvard T.H. Chan. School of Public Health, nearly 30 million Americans will have experienced an eating disorder in their lifetime.
Another major effect of diet culture is how it perpetuates fatphobia. Fatphobia is often known as the aversion to or discrimination/oppression of bigger bodies. Because of diet culture, being overweight is seen as an indicator of poor health, of laziness, and of morality. Being overweight is seen as shameful and wrong. People with bigger bodies are seen as lazy and unhealthy, even though weight is often not a reliable indication of health. Every body is different, and requires different things. Two people can have the same exact diet and the same exact workout routine and still have vastly different bodies.
Diet culture and fatphobia both push this idea that one’s health is completely in their own control. And while there are typically measures someone can willingly take to improve their physical health, there are often factors beyond one’s control that have an effect on their physical health and appearance. This can include genetic or biological factors, like one’s metabolism or predisposition to certain medical conditions, and also social factors, like one’s income or access to certain foods.
Overall, diet culture pushes unhealthy ideals onto society and causes a great deal of harm. It causes people to have unhealthy relationships with themselves and food, and is often used as a marketing tool for companies to profit off of people’s insecurities. Food should not be something that you fear. Food is simply fuel for your body, and there is no such thing as a “good” or “bad” food. It’s all just food. Bodies aren’t all meant to look the same, and each one is beautiful in its own right. Having fat on your body is not something to be ashamed of, it is a natural and necessary part of the body.
