The 3 Biggest Crimes of Diet Culture

Have you ever found yourself caught up in a passionate discussion about food or the latest diet trends?

It’s a scenario that unfolds frequently when I’m out to dinner with friends or family. It’s not surprising, really, because we all share the common need to eat, and it seems like no one can escape the constant barrage of diet-related messages.

Even with my many years of experience counseling individuals on intuitive eating, I’m still taken aback when I’m asked, “What are your thoughts on that new diet book by [celebrity’s name]?”

The most troubling aspect of Diet Culture, or as some would say, “Diet Cult,” is the potential harm it can cause to everyone involved. Diet culture revolves around a set of beliefs that prioritize weight, shape, and size over health, often equating thinness with social status and self-worth. The negative impacts it has on both adults and children are significant.

Many so-called “healthy” diets are considered disordered eating or even full-fledged eating disorders.

I am here today to call out the CRIMES OF DIET CULTURE.

Crime #1: Dishonesty

“Don’t eat carbs. They make you fat.”

“Dairy will keep you from losing weight.”

“Avoid gluten! It’s bad, bad, bad.”

When you look back at the history of food, Diet Culture has spent a great deal of time and money on criminalizing one food or another. This food is “good” for your health and weight, this food is “bad.”

When saturated fat was the offender, we saw an influx of fat-free, chemically altered foods. When sugar became the offender, we were bombarded with products containing sugar alcohol and messages to avoid sugar at all costs. Food fads are encouraged by Diet Culture with the support of the food industry. When scientific research is published, Diet Culture cherry-picks the information that best supports its agenda and launches campaigns to herd consumers to jump on their bandwagon, spending money on its products, and lining their pockets.

Diet Culture never has your best interest in mind and it’s betting on the fact you don’t realize it. So, they call their foods “healthier” than the others and have you thinking it’s better for you.

Crime #2: Disregard

Any eating pattern that emphasizes how you look over your mental and physical well-being is detrimental. Diet Culture thrives on black-and-white thinking. Eat foods on the “good” list and you’ll lose weight (“good”); eat foods on the “bad” list and you’ll get fat (“bad”). Thin = win!

Here’s the thing – people are literally dying to be thin, and Diet Culture completely disregards this. Your body does so many amazing things for you every day, but Diet Culture has you focusing on how many calories you’re eating, pounds you lost, or dress size you wear.

There is peace in accepting your body as it is at this very moment. But Diet Culture doesn’t want you to have this peace. So, it influences you to keep striving for that “perfect” body, comparing yourself to celebrities, models, and reality stars.

I remind my clients that what they see online and in magazines are not real. They are photoshopped images and even more, they are just the highlight reels of people’s lives. What they decide to post and publish are just snippets of their reality, particularly the snippets they want everyone to see. They edit out nearly a lifetime of moments, yet you use those carefully selected highlights as a comparison to your own life. This is exactly what Diet Culture wants – to keep you running back for more.

Crime #3: Destruction

Diet Culture’s most egregious crime is telling you that you’re not good enough. It doesn’t know you at all, but it’s making you question yourself, often calling attention to things you never considered flaws.

“Got a muffin top? Never eat these 5 foods again to get rid of it!”

“Do your thighs touch? Do this cleanse to fix that problem!”

Messages like these are toxic to women of all ages. It’s teaching them from a young age that they are nothing more than a sum of their parts and if those parts don’t add up to an unrealistic ideal, they need to do whatever it takes to get there. This has the potential to lead them into a dangerous relationship with food and exercise, twisting their self-perception. Diet Culture destroys self-esteem.

It’s Time to Defy Diet Culture

The truth is that body size doesn’t always equate with health. There are plenty of people who are in smaller bodies who have a plethora of health issues. On the flip side, there are people in larger bodies that have no medical issues at all.

Why is the thin “couch potato” more culturally acceptable than the larger triathlete?

Diet Culture wants you to be at war with your body because that’s how companies who support it make billions of dollars every year while young girls are skipping meals, ultimately missing out on nutrients critical to their growth and maturation. What’s even worse is that these diet messages often come from parents who suffer from disordered eating patterns over decades of being at war with their own bodies.

It’s a cycle of abuse you are paying dearly for with both your wallets and your well-being.

If you’re ready to fight back with all your might, I’d love to support you. Just email me and we can set up a time to speak!