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.
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:
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.
I know it can be hard, but try to love yourself, even if it's finding one thing you love about yourself, or stopping putting yourself down, your friends and family love you and think you're great, would they love you more if you were smaller? No they wouldn't, so many of us have said in the past that we'll do XYZ when we're thinner, why? If you want to do something do it, have a new hair restyle, try new makeup or step out of your comfort zone and try new fashions, but most of all, be happy and be kind to yourself.
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 🐠
And finally, whilst searching for the food images for this post, I found something I thought might be interesting to share in this post.
Thank you for reading,
Zoë x
