WHAT IS DIET CULTURE? A REVIEW OF DIET CULTURE, DIETS, AND DIETING
Anti-diet culture is not the same thing as anti-dieting, and let’s talk about why.
WHAT IS DIET CULTURE?
Diet culture is a system that places value on our weight and size over our health. It promotes messaging that tells us what foods are “good” and what foods are “bad.” It glorifies restriction & willpower and ignores our well-being.
Diet culture is supported by a multi-billion dollar industry that pushes weight loss through every medium possible.
It is an industry that names snack foods “good things” “slender pop” and “thindulgent” and in an attempt to associate guilt and shame with certain foods, diet culture pushes “clean eating” and promotes restriction that often leads to disordered eating behaviors.
Diet culture tells men, women, and children that they are not small enough, strong enough, or lean enough.
DIET CULTURE IS HARD TO IGNORE.
It is what we have often been a pawn to if we have spent years dieting, chronically undereating, or trying to fit a specific mold or body type that has been painted as “ideal” by diet culture itself.
A DIET VS. DIETING
A question I’ve received multiple times in the past: can one be against diet culture but fine with a diet? Yes, and it all starts with understanding terminology:
A DIET merely refers to the foods & drinks we habitually consume. A diet can be a specific, structured way of eating (gluten-free, pescetarian, kosher, etc.) or just our normal daily intake.
The term “DIETING,” is often where the idea of weight loss comes into play. Dieting is (usually) used to describe eating with the purpose of losing weight, which requires a calorie deficit.
I am anti-diet culture because I believe that food is not meant to be associated with guilt and shame. I am anti-diet culture because I do not believe that reaching a specific weight, shape or size is ever more important than our physical or mental wellbeing.
However, I do believe that it is ok to want to change your diet.
I believe it is ok to have aesthetic goals, especially when we can learn to work towards them in a healthy and sustainable manner.
It’s ok to want to shift from old negative eating patterns and thoughts to new behaviors that leave you fueled and healthy.
I believe that it is ok to want to look and feel your best, and addressing your nutrition and relationship with food is often the best way to do so.
Having goals toward improving our eating habits, our relationship with food and our bodies, or our approach toward our food choices is not bad. But only focusing on aesthetic goals or reaching goals in a restrictive manner is.
Your diet is not bad. Restriction, shame, guilt, & obsession are.
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