Welcome back and Happy New Year
Today's post is all about diet culture, this is something I am very passionate about, I hope you enjoy the post and find it insightful.
It's the start of a new year, the 6th of January as I start to write this, and as we are every year since goodness knows when, we are being inundated with posts on social media, magazine articles and television show segments and ads all about "New Year, New Me" and " How To Get A Bikini Body" and other such things all surrounding losing weight and how we should all be de toxing after our festive indulgence.
Before Christmas:From around late summer, the supermarkets begin to fill their shelves with all sorts of festive products and in particular festive food, whilst we were on holiday in Greece in August 2024, someone I know uploaded a photograph to social media of mince pies they'd seen in Asda, in August!
Then the TV ads begin and on daytime TV theres cookery segments sharing how to make different festive delights, the supermarket shelves soon fill up with more and more festive food and we are being shown TV shows comparing budget supermarket food versus higher end, for example the party food sold in Aldi compared to that sold in Ocado or M&S and guests trying the items and giving their opinions, basicially food is EVERYWHERE!
Not only is food everywhere, we're being told how lovely these things are and how we should be "indulging" how we should grab certain offers and try the new XYZ flavour puddings, pies and party foods and before we know it, it's only October and we're having festive foods rammed down our throats on what feels like an hourly basis.
We are inundated with food suggestions from supermarkets for weeks before Christmas, the photo above is just a handful of ads I found online out of hundreds. It's not just supermarkets who ram the lovely food we need to be consuming down our throats though, coffee shops bring out their festive food and drinks menu, and even McDonalds have a festive menu, then theres the "which festive sandwich is best" segment on daytime TV sharing all the different ones available from various stores, so it really is everywhere.
January 1st:
Before we've had chance to let our Christmas lunch go down, it starts, quite a lot before the new year, but then January comes round and it's like someone pressed the diet culture button and it's everywhere. TV adverts, Slimming World info posted through the door, gym membership discounts, countless segments on daytime TV about diets, weightloss, "good and bad" foods, people we know talking about how they're "being good" now or "making up for" what they've had over the festive period.
Not only is all this eye rolling, it's dangerous, diet culture is dangerous for everyone, but especially those who suffer with eating disorders.
For example, someone who has been brave enough to be in recovery from Anorexia, will see these things and if they've managed to eat a little more over Christmas and they see a TV ad about "good and bad" foods or "being good" this is like someone shouting at them "you're so fat, you ate a pig in blanket on Christmas day and now you'll put so much weight on and look hideous and everyone will despise you" it is so dangerous and also extremely upsetting for someone with Anorexia who managed to have some food over the festivities that they wouldn't usually eat.
There are so many different diets out there, from clubs like Slimming World and Weightwatchers and then there's juice diets, milk shakes, soups, even tablets you can take. But the key thing to remember is, if diets worked you'd only need to do them once.
Diet Culture: What is diet culture?
Diet culture is a societal system of beliefs and practices that places a high value on being thin, equating it with health, beauty, and moral virtue. It promotes the idea that weight loss is the ultimate goal and that being thin will lead to happiness, success, and worthiness. Diet culture influences how people think about food, exercise, and their bodies, often leading to extremely harmful effects.
Diet culture is full of misleading messages that can be harmful. Here are some common "lies" it promotes:
Thinness Equals Health.
- Diet culture equates being thin with being healthy, ignoring that health comes in many shapes and sizes. This thought process dismisses the importance of mental health, genetics, and lifestyle factors.
You Must Lose Weight to Be Happy.
- It suggests that losing weight is the key to confidence, success, and happiness, promoting the belief that your worth is tied to your body size.
There’s a “Perfect” Diet.
- Promises of one-size-fits-all diets that work for everyone ignore the complexity of individual nutritional needs and preferences.
Weight Loss Is Always a Good Thing.
- Celebrating weight loss, regardless of the method or circumstances (e.g., illness, stress, disordered eating), reinforces harmful behaviors and ignores the risks.
Certain Foods Are “Bad”
- Labeling foods as “good” or “bad” creates guilt and shame around eating, contributing to unhealthy relationships with food.
Fad Diets Are the Answer.
- Quick fixes like juice cleanses, detox teas, milk shakes or restrictive plans often fail long-term and can harm physical and mental health.
You Can Control Your Body Size Completely.
- While lifestyle choices influence weight to some extent, genetics, hormones, and other factors play significant roles that aren’t within personal control.
Dieting Is Willpower.
- Failing at diets is often blamed on lack of willpower, but diets are designed to fail—95% of people regain the weight. This then leads to feelings of guilt and shame.
Exercise Is Only for Weight Loss.
- Exercise is valuable for mental health, strength, and well-being, but diet culture often reduces it to a punishment for eating, people feel they must swim 100 lengths or go to a spin class because they ate a Jaffa Cake!
New Year, New You.
- The idea that January means we need a drastic change, it implies that you’re not good enough as you are, you need to look better, be better, doing nothing but preying on your insecurities.
Diet Culture uses lies to profit from peoples insecurities and feelings of needing to change themselves, I have spoken about diet culture on my SOCIAL MEDIA platforms many times and I will always challenge these lies and try my best to help people with their attitudes towards their bodies and how they see themselves.
How Diet Culture Manifests:
Media:
TV advertising, magazines and social media very often promote diets and diet products, they promote and glorify thin bodies.
The Workplace & Society:
Often in the workplace we'll here people speak about their new diet or how they're "trying to be good" we hear chats about weight loss, how much people weigh and how many pounds they want to lose before their holidays, these types of conversations have become the norm amongst people without them realising how dangerous it can be.
Healthcare Professionals:
BMI is still being used as a the sole indicator of what deems a "healthy weight" and it drives me mad. BMI is a waste of time completely, as a youngster I did a lot of sport, I was toned and to look at me, I looked underweight, I wore jeans in a 24W/30L but if I'd have had my BMI calculated, I'd have been overweight, I was very muscular and that combined with my genetics, my family tend to weigh heavy for some reason, I would have been told I was overweight. BMI is so outdated it's ridiculous and it really should not be used in 2025, there is a better way of working out if someone is overweight or underweight, it's called our eyes, can't a healthcare proffesional see if a person is dangerously underweight? Why does an outdated BMI calculator need to tell them?
Celebrating Weight Loss:
Another thing that drives me mad, why is it that as soon as someone can see you have lost weight they say "oooh you've lost weight, well done" well done? What is it the person has done so well? We lose weight for so many reasons including health issues, grief, break ups, stress, medication and so many more things other than being on a diet. Yet, nobody considers this, in 2022/23 I went through what I can only describe as being absolute hell on earth, it was the hardest, most upsetting and worrying time of my life and I lost quite a lot of weight, someone I know told me how wonderful I looked and asked me how I'd done it, there wasn't an ounce of thought that I might NOT have tried to lose weight, especially as the person in question knows my daughter suffers from Anorexia and should know I wouldn't ever be on a diet. They just congratulated me on losing weight, if I hadn't made her feel bad, I would have told her exactly how I'd lost the weight.
The Harming Effects Of Diet Culture:
Mental Health:
Diet Culture can have a devastating effect on mental health, it can lead to anxiety, depression and is extremely dangerous for those suffering from an eating disorder. Although diet culture wouldn't be the sole cause of an eating disorder, it doesn't help and could 100% be a contributing factor, especially if someone is pre disposed to eating disorders already.
Physical Health:
Over exercising and restring your food intake can be very detrimental to your health, going to a gym and using equiptment you have no knowledge of using, or doing a fitness class without knowing the correct way to lie or sit etc, could cause you to injure yourself. Calorie restriction is dangerous and can have a harmful effect on the body.
Unsustainable Habits:
Diets failing can lead to yo yo dieting, metabolic damage and feelings of frustration because the diet or exercise plan you maybe following aren't sustainable long term.
Low Self Esteem:
The whole new year new me thing can leave us feeling we need to change ourselves, feeling not good enough, not worthy of being happy. It's like having a devil on your shoulder telling you you're not loveable, not attractive, not worthy and it's the reason so many people try fad diet after fad diet and end up in the diet cycle and very unhappy.
Another thing I saw recently was an ad for a Zumba class with the wording "burn 1000 calories in one session" how stupid is that? This person takes people from age 10 too, how damaging for so many reasons and ridiculous!
How Can We Challenge Diet Culture:
"New Year, Same Me"
You do you and if you want to lose weight go for it, but please ask yourself first, why it is you want to lose weight, is it for health reasons? Do you need to lose weight before having surgery? Or is it because you have feelings of low self esteem and self worth and you're fitting in with society's idea of how you should look in your bikini on holiday? If you're going to spend every day thinking about food and what meals and snacks you can have that day before you've got out of bed or feeling hungry and trying to ignore it, over exercising, because this can lead to dangerous habits, including calorie restriction and is it really worth it? A bikini body is no good if you're so ill you can no longer go on holiday to wear the bikini.
Speak out to others about the dangers of diet culture, I'm not saying ram it down peoples throats, but if you can see an unhealthy pattern emerging with one of your friends or family, maybe bring it up in a sensitive way, how many people have you heard say or seen write on social media that they're "going back to Slimming World?" as I said earlier in the post, if diets worked, you'd only need to do them once and there wouldn't be a need to go back, but then the diet industry doesn't make it's money does it?
I wish more people would stop giving their hard earned money to diet culture, stop letting scales define you, they are as useless as BMI, if you stand on them in 4 differnt areas of your house, you will get 4 completley different readings, absolutely pointless! As I always say, scales are for fish and fish only, if you own some weighing scales, bin them!
Your body does amazing things, it takes you where you need to be, it takes you to work, to socialise, on holiday, it looks after you, for some people it's grown babies, for others they've donated blood and platelets, or maybe an organ for a loved one, your body is amazing, and it tells a story of your life and everything you've been through, try to love it and not speak badly of it, calling it fat or ugly, speak kindly of it, it's the vessel that enables you to do all the things you love.
You are not defined by the number on a scale, and if you get that urge to weigh yourself just remember SCALES ARE FOR FISH š
And finally, whilst searching for the food images for this post, I found something I thought might be interesting to share in this post.
Photo found on google but is tagged the fitness chef.
Thank you for reading,
Zoƫ x
