Western society is totally saturated in diet culture. But before I share some ways that we can attempt to find self acceptance within this fog of toxicity, it’s worth unpacking what diet culture really means.
The bottom line is that diet culture is obsessed with thinness and weight loss and thrives by making us feel guilty, shameful and dissatisfied in our bodies. It imparts the message that ‘thin’ is morally good while ‘fat’ is immoral and unhealthy.
The diet and weight loss industries make hundreds of billions year on year and are estimated to continue growing in size.
Our insecurities are a source of profit. Thus, as I once read online, refusing to buy, both physically and mentally, into diet culture is an act of rebellion.
But this isn’t easy as diet culture can be found everywhere.
An article by ‘Behavioural Nutrition’ lists these examples as some of the ways diet culture can show up in day to day life:
Individuals discussing their newest diet to lose weight;
Justification of eating what we want because we “haven’t eaten all day” or “had a intense workout this morning”;
The never-ending cycle of thought, “I’ll start my diet/exercise routine on Monday/tomorrow”;
Routing my self worth in my weight, size of my jeans/clothes, or how little I can eat;
Advertisements for weight loss products/diet programs/exercise equipment that tell us we are not good enough if we are not pursuing weight loss or are not currently thin/muscular;
Complimenting others on their size/shape/weight loss;
Comparing our bodies to others’ and deriving worth (ie. “I am better than her because I am thinner” or “She must be better than me because she is thinner”)
But while diet culture is everywhere, we do not have to listen to it, buy into it or allow it to dictate our lives.
These are 5 top tips that will hopefully help you (and continue to help me) find body acceptance and neutrality in a society that values and prioritises being skinny and losing weight at all costs.
1. Focus on yourself
It's difficult to avoid hearing people echo the mindset of diet culture. Whether that is talking about engaging in a new diet or weight loss product in order to rapidly ‘shed some pounds’, mentioning weight as a measure of how you should view and treat your body or making fatphobic comments. It is likely that family members, friends, colleagues or just strangers passing by have all said such things at some point which can be triggering and upsetting if you’re working hard to reject this culture. Unfortunately, these people who are reproducing diet culture are likely still feeling its immense pressure and may currently be unable to understand the bigger picture - that there is more to life than trying to lose weight and that our bodies are our friends not our enemies. But if you are trying to throw off all the exhausting lies that diet culture likes to drip feed us, remember that your journey and your experience is about you. It can be draining to observe other people being caught up in diet culture’s toxicity but it’s important you take care of yourself and try to block out other people’s unhelpful comments. Your feelings and your struggle is valid. Just because someone else is buying into the latest fad diet and is discussing their weight as if it dictates their worth - you do not have to go back to that place as well. Focus on you, look after your mind and your body and lets hope that more people learn both what diet culture is and how much it needs to fuck off!
2. Make your social media a safer kinder space
Am I going to tell you to unfollow people? Well if they make you compare your body or lifestyle and ultimately leave you feeling shitty, then yes I am.
You've probably heard it before but unfollowing people who make you feel like this can be an effective step towards shoving diet culture firmly out the door. Even if you don’t want to unfollow people, there is usually the option to mute accounts on social media so that you don’t have to interact with their content. You might also find that certain friends or people you know well have a social media presence that makes you compare yourself or that reproduces the idea that thinness is the ultimate attractiveness.
You can mute or unfollow them too - that’s okay. You’re allowed to prioritise making your social media a space that feels fun and non toxic even if that means doing a mass unfollowing.
As well as unfollowing, you can also follow people! I have so many body positive, self love promoting, gorgeous, comforting accounts I could recommend who help me to enjoy social media and to exit those apps without feeling really crap.
Unfortunately however, the algorithm is not on our side. I very consciously work on hiding ads or posts that promote disordered eating with vlogs which follow that person’s daily food and exercise or how to look like this body shape (insert image of pushed out bum and tits, small arms and thighs and flat stomach), but they still crop up again and again. So my other suggestion to make social media less toxic in relation to how we view our bodies, is to try and spend less time on it. I know I’ve been scrolling a bit too much for my liking lately and it doesn’t help me to feel positive or productive so I want to improve on that. Just being present and intentional with my time rather than scrolling meaninglessly is definitely something that I know will help me feel better in myself and my body.
3. Educate the people around you
I understand that this isn’t always possible. Not everyone is willing to learn and change their views, particularly ones that are so ingrained, and that’s not your problem but theirs. Some people have spent their whole lives being ruled by diet culture to the extent that they may not allow themselves to learn it is possible to be fat and healthy or that no food is as bad for you as the mentality of restrictive, disordered eating.
However, in many cases, it is possible to educate those around us about what diet culture means and the harm it inflicts. In doing so you can help make the space around you more loving and kind to all bodies.
For instance, my family and I try not to talk about foods being ‘naughty’ or needing to be ‘earned’ through a certain amount of exercise. Previously I probably said these things without thinking, but having learned so much through people I follow online, podcasts and books, I’ve got much better at recognising and calling out diet culture on all its bullshit. Sharing this with my friends and family has meant we can all work on being more kind to ourselves and having a less diet culture dictated relationship with food.
4. Clothes were made to fit you - not the other way around!
One way that diet culture likes to make us track our worth is through the clothes we fit into. Fitting into a particular size jeans or still being able to wear clothes you bought years ago are made out to be personal achievements and marks of success. You are not made to fit clothes, clothes were made to fit you. Our bodies are continually changing and growing - it is part of the privilege of ageing. Your worth does not diminish when your body inevitably changes shape and size. We happily embrace that kids get new clothes when they grow taller and hit puberty, so why can’t we allow ourselves to do the same as and when our bodies change?
Having clothes that fit well and that you feel good in can be a huge confidence boost. I instantly feel better wearing clothes, particularly trousers, that fit really well.
I do understand that buying clothes costs and not everyone has a disposable income for fashion, however we do have wonderful things like eBay and Vinted and the joy that is charity shops so buying new (or at least new to you) clothes doesn’t have to be expensive.
You deserve to feel good in what you wear. If your body changes and you don’t fit into some of your clothes, that does not make you a failure, that does not diminish your worth. Instead of feeling the need to fit your body around your clothes, find clothes that fit you! Honour your body for the way it is today by dressing in things that feel good and comfortable - you shouldn’t have to wait or hold back to feel confident in what you wear.
5. Vocalise it - you are not alone
I cannot stress enough how valuable it is to talk about your feelings. Discussing diet culture with my friends and family helps me process and work through the negative thoughts and feelings it encourages. It also reminds me that we are not alone.
In the world of social media, our obsession with bodies and appearance is immense, and this affects people of all genders. By talking to people you trust, you may enable them to support you with solidarity and empathy.
Diet culture targets everybody, it does not discriminate. So if you are struggling with the bullshit it tries to feed (or starve) us, please remember you are not alone. If we can talk about our experiences and take a moment to unpick how crazy it is to feel the need to justify every meal, snack or sweet thing and the lunacy of dieting and body trends - diet culture suddenly doesn’t feel so all invasive or really relevant at all.
At the end of the day - we are so much more than our bodies.
I do not expect, having read this blog, that suddenly you will be able to shut diet culture out of your life for good. If only it was that simple! However, I do hope that you might feel able to adopt some of these tips into your life so that diet culture might have less of a suffocating hold. If you want recommendations of people to follow online who have a body accepting, positive presence - I have lots to recommend so feel free to ask. If you are looking for resources to educate yourself or others about the history and myths of diet culture I can also offer suggestions or point you towards my previous posts!
Take care of yourselves - remember diet culture is the enemy, not your body.
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