What the heck is diet culture anyway?

What the heck is diet culture anyway?

Diet culture is a complex sociological phenomenon rooted in race, culture, sex, identity, and capitalism. Diet culture places value on body weight/shape/size over health, conflating these two things, and leading us to believe that the pursuit of 'health' (aka thinness, or a lean/muscular physique) makes on person morally superior to another.

It promotes weight loss as a means of attaining higher status, and encourages following external rules about what, when, and how much to eat and move, all in the pursuit of a body that fits unattainable beauty standards.

Because diet culture is so pervasive – like really, its bloody everywhere - the idea that controlling our bodies through restrictive dieting behaviours and/or exercise has become so common it is now perceived as normal and often encouraged.

Diet culture and the diet cycle -

How does diet culture contribute to disordered eating and eating disorders?

Diet culture sends the message that a thinner body is a better body, and makes a person more highly valued, encouraging us to diet.

Australian adolescents engaging in dieting are five times more likely to develop an eating disorder than those who do not diet (1).

Dieting sits on a spectrum between normal eating and eating disorders, and dieting is among the most common risk factors for the development of disordered eating and eating disorders. Some common symptoms of disordered eating include:

·       Avoidance of specific food groups and meal skipping

·       Rigid rules and rituals around food and exercise

·       Feelings of guilt and shame around eating

·       Preoccupation with food, body and weight

·       Compensatory behaviours, including exercise and fasting to ‘earn or burn’ foods eaten

So, how do we reject diet culture?

·       Choose to move and nourish your body from a place of self-care, not self-control.

·       Marie Kondo your social media feeds – unfollow anyone who sparks comparison, affects body image and self-esteem, or perpetuates harmful messages about food, movement and bodies. Instead, diversity the people you follow to begin to see all the wonderful ways bodies show up in our world!

·       Ditch the diet, scales, tracking apps and 8 week challenges!

·       Stop labelling food as ‘good’ or ‘bad’ – food is not a moral issue, and will not make you a ‘bad’ person for including fun foods!

·       Practice body gratitude, and choose affirming and positive language when you speak about your body, and avoid commenting on others bodies.

·       Remember, your body is not the most important or interesting thing about you

Seeking help for an eating disorder or disordered eating habits can be daunting, and it is common to second guess if we need help in the first place. At TWC we are passionate about supporting all people to heal their relationship with food and their bodies, we support those with a formal eating disorder diagnosis but do not believe a diagnosis is criteria for support. Click here to book an appointment today. 

 1.     Patton GC, Selzer R, Coffey C, Carlin JB, Wolfe R. Onset of adolescent eating disorders: population-based cohort study over 3 years. BMJ.
1999;318(7186):765.