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What is diet culture and why should you care?
The term ‘diet culture’ is everywhere. But what is diet culture and how is this multi-billion dollar industry harming our relationship with our body and food?
In this post, we will cover
What is diet culture?
When I say diet culture, you probably think of the Kardashians promoting laxative lollipops, celebrity ‘before and after’ photos, and the ‘bikini body’ workout craze of the 2010s. It seems like an old problem that we look back on in shock and concern for our younger selves. But, diet culture has not gone anywhere. It is a shape shifter that follows the trends of the time while promoting the same old messages.
I truly believe that to make informed decision about your health, nutrition, and wellbeing, you need to understand what diet culture is and how to recognise it. So let’s get stuck into the four ideas research tells us define diet culture.
1. Your body size and weight indicate your health
Diet culture promotes the weight = health myth where smaller bodies are healthy and larger bodies are unhealthy. Because of this, we strive to shrink our body to get the ideal thin body. But no matter what we do, our body never feels good enough and we are left constantly trying to lose weight, build muscle and eat perfectly.
2. Diet culture tells us there is only one 'right' way to eat.
Rules and trends around food define what we can eat and how much we can eat. This creates restriction around food and is a way for us to measure how ‘healthy’ we are. If we are following the rules we feel good for being healthy, if we break the rules we feel guilty for harming our health and not meeting the ‘healthy’ ideal.
3. Bodies exist on a hierarchy
We can’t deny that our society idolises thin bodies. And fat bodies? Well, they receive quite the opposite treatment. People who live in larger bodies experience ridicule and mistreatment in all facets of life, sadly including healthcare. This is known as weight stigma and it greatly damages a person’s health and wellbeing.
4. You can't trust your body.
Diet culture teaches you that your desire for food, nourishment, and rest are wrong. If we trust our instincts for what to eat, we will become unhealthy and gain weight. Instead, we must trust the diet and wellness rules, no matter how hard they are to follow. And if you fail, it’s not the diets’ fault but yours.
A quick point on healthism
Before we learn about some examples of diet culture I want to touch on healthism.
Healthism is the idea that we as individuals are responsible for our health through our behaviours and lifestyle choices. If a person is experiencing poor health, healthism assumes it is because the person is making poor choices. Similarly, if a person is in good health, we assume it is because they are making many health-promoting choices.
But, our health and wellbeing is not a direct outcome of our behaviours. Much of our health is determined by things that we have little control over such as our upbringing, education, access to safe and affordable food, health care expenses, and safe places to exercise, be in nature, and have community. These are known as the Social Determinants of Health and they play the largest role in our wellbeing (look at pie chart below). This doesn’t mean our lifestyle choices are meaningless, it just means there is more to the story.
Diet culture is filled with healthism because it assigns a judgement to our individual choices. We congratulate the person drinking lemon water and waking up early while criticising someone who eats processed cereal as they rush to work.
What are signs of diet culture?
Now that we understand what diet culture is and the role of healthism, let’s go through some common signs of diet culture to help you spot it in the wild. This is a list of ways diet culture shows up in our society.
- It makes you feel guilt or shame about your body or your food choices.
- The goal is weight loss or altering your body.
- Weight is used to measure health.
- Diet culture discourages you from listening and responding to your body’s hunger or appetite cues.
- It demonises eating and promotes smaller portions or skipping meals.
- There is a form of calorie counting and hypervigilance to what you can eat.
- You are the problem if the diet/wellness program does not work.
How can I avoid diet culture?
Avoiding diet culture is hard. It is in our entertainment through jokes at the expense of fat people. It is on social media and in podcasts through the latest diet and wellness trends. And it is in conversations with friends, family members and even strangers.
We would have to move to a deserted island to escape diet culture! But, what we can do is learn to identify and reject it. Next time you see a health and nutrition related product, post or conversation, consider whether it is showing signs of diet culture and if that is actually helpful for you.
This does not mean we can never buy any product associated with diet culture again or that we must turn off our favourite health and wellbeing podcasts. It simply means we can recognise why we might be tempted to start a new diet or buy the latest health food. Interrogating that desire can then help us understand if that is helping or harming your health.
As we step away from diet culture we can start to invest in ourselves. We can relearn what a satisfying and nourishing relationship with food means to us. We can learn to respect and appreciate our body and reject the notion that only one body type is acceptable. It is counter-cultural and it is hard. But I think it might be worth it!
Getting support
If you want to let go of the restrictive diet rules, Kim is a dietitian who provides gentle nutrition counselling through a virtual clinic. Kim takes an approach that is personalised to each individual and seeks to understand what you need to reach your health goals. Kim is a Credentialed Eating Disorder Clinician and has a special interest in digestive health and chronic dieting.
About
Kim Lindsay, APD
Kim Lindsay is an accredited practicing dietitian and credentialed eating disorder clinician.
She provides online dietitian appointments for people who want to improve their health while developing a positive relationship with food. Kim has a special interest in disordered eating, chronic dieting, and digestive health.
