Diet culture has become so engrained in our society that it has become difficult to see what it is and how it impacts us.
Let’s start by looking at its definition. Certified Intuitive Eating Counsellor and Dietitian Nina Mills from Feel Good Eating says it can be defined as “a system of beliefs, customs, messages and behaviours, that places value and focus on weight, shape and size over and above health and well-being.”
With that being said …
Diet culture is the reason why dieting has become the norm.
Diet culture is the reason why we would dedicate hours to a strict exercise regime to try to achieve a certain body shape or size.
Diet culture is the reason why foods are labelled as ‘good’ and ‘bad’.
Diet culture is the reason why society view thinness as ‘good’ and fatness as ‘bad’. (1)
And you know what? Because of diet culture, there is a weight loss industry worth $66 billion selling people weight loss programs, diet foods, cookbooks and apps. (2)
And the industry will continue to profit if we don’t give people the facts. The fact is, dieting to lose weight is not sustainable for 95% of the population (3).
So if we know that dieting doesn’t work, why then is it so hard remove ourselves from diet culture? Because it is everywhere.
In an attempt to drop out of diet culture, I decided to write an open letter to ….
Dear Diet Culture,
You and I met about 20+ years ago when I was a freckly faced 13-year-old.
At the beginning of our ‘friendship’, you introduced me to the glossy teen magazines where I could look at photograph after photograph of gorgeous, thin models wearing beautiful clothes in luxurious settings.
I loved those magazines and the message was clear. Thin and pretty = desirability, popularity, happiness.
This gave me something to aspire and look up to. My friends too.
But Diet Culture, what I didn’t realise at the time was that you had a more sinister plan. Your plan was to ramp up this messaging through other avenues.
As I progressed into my mid-teens, you showed me how restricting food (aka dieting) could change body shapes. I was well aware that exercising more and eating less would change my body shape to be something more desirable.
And you were sneaky, Diet Culture. When my body shape did change after dieting, I was complimented on the weight loss. So much that I started to worry about putting the weight back on – because you showed me that if I wasn’t thin I would be less desirable, less popular and less happy.
And you didn’t stop there.
Diet Culture, as an adult in my 20s, you let me believe that being on diet after diet in the pursuit of shrinking my body was completely normal! You also led me to believe that certain foods were ‘good’ and others ‘bad’, and if I consumed the ‘bad’ I should feel guilty and probably exercise intensely to burn it off.
And this was all before social media kicked off.
When the world of Facebook and Instagram appeared in the mid-2000s … wow, Diet Culture, you really took things to a whole new level.
Your initial and current involvement in social media has meant that we now have social media influencers without appropriate qualifications talking about weight and health in harmful ways. It has also meant that we don’t often see a diverse range of body shapes and sizes, which has led to many of us becoming so fixated on making sure our bodies are good enough to be shared on social media platforms.
Diet Culture, because of you, we live in a world where people who are not thin are instantly thought of as unhealthy based solely on their physical appearance.
But what you fail to recognise Diet Culture, is that health is much more than just what a person looks like on the exterior – it includes psychological health and wellbeing, as well as biochemical markers such as blood pressure, blood glucose levels and cholesterol levels that you cannot tell just by looking at someone’s body.
In saying all of this, I’m pleased to say that I see through you now. And guess what? I know what your game plan is and I have chosen to opt out.
And thank goodness, because as a new Mum, I see your BS and I think shame on you for making women feel pressured to prioritise returning to their pre-pregnant bodies rather than focus on what’s important (which is the baby, in case you didn’t realise).
So take this letter as a big farewell from me, Diet Culture.
Here’s to finding food peace and shining a light on you so that we can all get one step closer to moving into a body positive mindset.
- Willer, F. (2013). The Non-diet Approach Guidebook for Dietitians: A How-to Guide for Applying the Non-diet Approach to Individualised Dietetic Counselling.
- Rothblum, E. D. (2018). Slim chance for permanent weight loss. Archives of Scientific Psychology, 6(1), 63-69. doi:10.1037/arc0000043
- Australian Government National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC). (2013). Clinical Practice Guidelines of Overweight and Obesity in Adults, Adolescents and Children in Australia. Retrieved from https://nhmrc.gov.au/about-us/publications/clinical-practice-guidelines-management-overweight-and-obesity#block-views-block-file-attachments-content-block-1