Understanding diet culture
What is diet culture?
Diet culture is much more pervasive than just the promotion of fad diets. Author and registered dietitian Christy Harrison defines diet culture as a system of beliefs that:
worship thinness and equates it to health and moral virtue;
promotes weight loss as a means of attaining higher status;
demonises certain ways of eating while elevating others; and
oppresses people who don’t match up with its supposed picture of “health”.
It could be argued that Western culture is diet culture, and consequently, most of us have been indoctrinated into diet culture since birth. I’m yet to meet anyone who doesn’t hold numerous beliefs (both conscious and unconscious) based in diet culture. I’m not here to shame any individual person. Trust me, I've been there. When I first learnt about diet culture, I felt uncomfortable. I didn’t want to acknowledge that many of the beliefs that shaped my life were based on diet culture. Had I been gullible? Was I an elitist? Was I indirectly responsible for the oppression of people in marginalised bodies? Had I wasted my time and energy pursuing things that didn’t matter? But no individual is to blame; diet culture is a systemic problem, not an individual one. It took time for me to accept and truly understand diet culture. I read books, listened to podcasts and audiobooks, followed people on Instagram; it was a journey. So, it will take more than reading this article for you to understand, recognise and reject diet culture. But that doesn’t mean that you can’t start the process now. So, let's unpack the definition of diet culture a bit more.
Worship thinness and equates it to health and moral virtue
Have you ever told someone, heard someone else say or been told, “you’ve lost weight, you look so healthy”? But why do we automatically associate weight loss with health? People can lose weight due to stress, ill mental health, or physical health conditions. I’ve had many clients tell me they were praised when they were at their lowest weight. Were they healthy? No!
But, what about the people who make the conscious decision to change their diet and exercise, and it results in weight loss? Let me be clear I am not anti-intentional weight loss. I believe that every person has autonomy over their body and food choices. However, the evidence to support that long term weight loss is possible is severely lacking. Weight loss that is maintained for 2 – 5 years is considered successful. There is, of course, a tiny percentage of dieters who can maintain weight loss for the longer term, but at what means? Caloric restriction and strict exercise regimes? Just think about the people in your life; do you know anyone who has maintained weight loss for more than 2 years without strictly monitoring their food and exercise regime? So, what does this mean for comments praising weight loss? It means that when the weight is inevitably regained and, the praise stops, people feel like a failure, which can have serious repercussions for a person's self-esteem and self-worth.
Promotes weight loss as a means of attaining higher status
Diet culture sells us the dream that having the "perfect" body will bring happiness and the perfect life. Just think of the countless images on social media of people with the “perfect” body, wearing the latest trends while sipping coffee, travelling, lounging in their immaculate home or lovingly gazing into their partner’s eyes. Diet culture has intrinsically linked privilege and entitlement with having the “perfect” body resulting in the belief that to be happy and accepted, you must control the size and shape of your body. Because if you have the willpower to do that, you can achieve anything. Researcher and activist Ragen Chastain explains, “The incessant incantation that thinner bodies are better bodies… harms people of all sizes, but harms those in the largest bodies and those with multiple marginalised identities the most, telling them early and often that they are less worthy”.
Demonises certain ways of eating while elevating others
This involves assigning food a moral value and is often one of the unconscious beliefs that people hold. Let me ask you, do you consider particular foods “good”, “healthy” or “clean” and other foods “bad”, “unhealthy” or “junk”? In the 21st-century, diet culture has shapeshifted into wellness culture. Think, clean eating, detoxes, cleanses, carb restriction, gluten and dairy phobias, etc. It’s no longer “cool” to be on a diet purely for weight loss purposes. Now you are expected to be focusing on your health. And while this has resulted in a slight deemphasis on weight loss, the moralisation and demonisation of food is front and center. So, what’s the problem with labelling foods as “good” and “bad”? I’m sure you’ve heard the diet culture rhetoric, “you are what you eat”. Have you heard someone say, “I’m being so bad or naughty or unhealthy today” after “caving” and eating a piece of cake at the staff morning tea? If we believe that we are what we eat, "then, when we inevitably do eat that ("bad") food, we feel like shit about it. But the reality is, food has no bearing on who you are as a person" says author and registered nutritionist, Laura Thompson. Now I’m not here to argue about the nutritional value of foods, yes, some foods have a higher nutritional content than others, but food is about so much more than the nutrients it provides. It’s about celebration, connection, relationships, fuel and enjoyment. Many would argue that having a healthy relationship with food is more important for your health than the food you eat. In fact, health is largely determined by the social determinants of health, and at an individual level, we have little control over the social determinants of health. By comparison, factors that we have more control over, such as food and exercise, play a relatively small role in our overall health. Feeling guilty, anxious or ashamed for eating a "bad" food or compromising on time with family and friends because social activities often involve food and eating has a huge impact on mental health, which greatly affects our overall health. Christy Harrison explains, “obsessing over food and exercise and struggling with disordered eating or chronic dieting is not health-promoting. And it has a much larger and long-lasting negative impact on our health than any of the foods our culture has demonized”.
Oppresses people who don’t match up with its supposed picture of “health”
Have you heard of the term weight stigma, also known as weight bias or fatphobia? It refers to the consistent systemic oppression of people in larger bodies, including the everyday experiences of differential treatment, referred to as microaggressions such as having your opinion disregarded, and social injustices such as being denied employment or appropriate healthcare. Weight stigma can be subtle, hugely overt and anywhere in between. Let’s consider some examples; this is by no means an extensive list.
Weight-based bullying at school or work.
Doctors recommending weight loss regardless of the reason for the appointment.
Doctors denying medical treatment until you’ve lost weight.
Not being able to fit into airplane seats, restaurant chairs or seats on public transport.
Mainstream stores not stocking clothes in your size.
Family and friends encouraging you to lose weight.
Being stared at in public.
Having your food choices criticised by family and friends, and "concerned" members of the public.
Being denied jobs, promotions and equal pay.
Being physically or verbally abused.
Having people, you don’t know comment on your weight out of “concern” for your health.
Hearing people in smaller bodies speak negatively about their bodies and discuss their latest diets.
People stereotyping you because of your weight – this is incredibly common. Diet culture has conditioned many of us to believe that people in larger bodies are lazy, stupid, unhealthy, and lack willpower and ambition. Just think about how people in larger bodies are portrayed in movies and on tv. Firstly, they are ridiculously underrepresented and, when they do feature, they are so often subject to fatphobia. Think The Nutty Professor, Homer Simpson, Fat Amy (Pitch Perfect), Shallow Hal, Peter Griffin (Family Guy) and fat Monica (Friends).
In reality, body diversity exists, and much like our height and eye colour, genetics play a large part in determining the weight that our bodies tend towards, referred to as set point theory. Research suggests that each person has a weight range that they are genetically predisposed to maintain, called their set point weight range. Staying within this range is where our bodies are happiest and healthiest. If you engage in periods of restrictive eating, your body will respond by increasing your hunger signals (at least initially) and mental preoccupation with food while decreasing your metabolism. These mechanisms are in place to try and keep your body within its natural set point weight range. Food preoccupation becomes so overwhelming that it can be hard to concentrate on anything else. Our bodies defend with more ferocity against falling below their set point weight range as this poses a greater threat to survival. Continuous dieting attempts can increase our set point over time in an effort for our body to protect against future famine.
In contrast to what diet culture would have us believe, those in the overweight BMI category have greater longevity. Nutritionist, PhD, researcher and author Lindo Bacon explains; “what we’re seeing, and this has been really, really clear, is that it’s the people in the overweight category that live longest, and the people, most of the people that are obese, not the entire category, are living as long as people in the normal weight category. So, you know, what the scientists have done with this? We’ve seen this so many times, right. And we’ve also seen that even when someone in the normal weight category gets the same disease as somebody that’s in the obese category, the people that are in the obese category, usually live much longer than the people that are in the normal weight category. And scientists were seeing this so much and across so many diseases, that they came up with a name for it. They called it the Obesity Paradox. You know, because they were so shocked that that could happen and not willing to believe it. And yet, it happens. And it’s very clear across a long range of diseases, including cardiovascular disease and diabetes”.
Examples of how diet culture shows up in everyday life (by no means an extensive list)
Ads for weight loss programs even those using the terms “wellness” and “lifestyle changes”.
People on social media prompting their way of eating or exercise plan.
Existence of shows like The Biggest Loser.
The promotion of clothing or beauty product as slimming.
Fitness professionals assuming your goal is weight loss and offering nutrition advice.
Healthcare professionals encouraging weight loss regardless of the reason for seeking treatment/support.
Bonding over your latest diet or desire to change your body.
The belief that you need to workout to change your body or earn your food.
Speaking negatively about your body or other people’s bodies.
Postpartum women being encouraged to get their prebaby body back.
Family members, friends or colleagues praising weight loss or encouraging diets or exercise out of “concern” for your health.
The assumption that you can tell the health status of a person by their physical appearance.
Commenting on person’s food choices whether its praise for a salad or guilt for fried chicken.
The glorification of “cheat” meals or days.
Before and after body transformation photos.
The normalisation of food restriction (aka dieting) and ignoring hunger cues.
‘What I eat in a day’ videos.
Why is it important to understand diet culture?
Diet culture isn’t going anywhere and is becoming sneakier in its marketing. You mustn’t be lured by its seductive messages, which promote controlling your body as a means of achieving happiness, moral virtue, health and acceptance. The first step in this process is to educate yourself because you can’t reject diet culture without being about to recognise it.