Unpacking Diet Culture to Simplify Your Life
In the 21st century, diet culture has infiltrated so deeply into our lives that it’s hard to navigate in a healthy and sustainable way. Hoping to shed some light on the complexities of this pervasive market force, we’ll be unpacking diet culture to simplify your life.
What is “Diet Culture”?
Diet culture is the socially-accepted and culturally-ingrained ideology promoting the achievement of a certain physique by conforming to certain food, health and fitness standards. From product marketing to magazine and billboard advertisements, diet culture is everywhere, with a strong focus on weight loss, malnutrition, and other unrealistic and unattainable notions of physical perfection.
The Negative Effects of Diet Culture
Unfortunately, diet culture can result in a number of negative psychological and physical consequences, such as:
✦ Body shaming and feelings of guilt or failure when unable to maintain the standards of diet culture
✦ Developing eating disorders due to an obsession with food, weight, and dieting or body image
✦ Over-exercising while lacking in other important physical activity, such as stretching and relaxation
✦ Putting aside relationships and other activities that make life enjoyable
✦ Ignoring the body’s natural cues for hunger and fullness, leading to extreme dieting behaviors
✦ Sacrificing health to meet appearance standards
The Dangers of Disordered Eating
Disordered eating is defined as any pattern of disordered meals and nutrition, or excessive exercising, that has a negative impact on physical and mental health. It is closely related to diet culture in that it is often induced or perpetuated by the belief that one must achieve a certain “ideal body” to be healthy, desirable, or accepted.
It’s no secret that disordered eating is a major problem, with an estimated 30 million people in the U.S. affected by an eating disorder. Signs of disordered eating include rigid, obsessive behavior around food, elimination of entire food groups from one’s diet, and constant body dissatisfaction. If you observe any of these behaviors in yourself or others, it’s important to reach out for professional help.
How to Reject Diet Culture
The truth is, no one should be made to feel ashamed for their body shape, size, or lifestyle. That’s why it’s important to learn how to reject diet culture and learn to embrace a more inclusive approach to nutrition, health and wellness. Here are some key tips to get you started:
✦ Evaluate the language of diets. Use the words “health” and “wellness” over the words “thin” or “lean” and focus on overall health, not size.
✦ Listen to your body. Learn to tune into your body’s signals and nourish it accordingly, without guilt or fear.
✦ Let go of comparisons. It’s impossible to compare our own journey with that of others; focus instead on listening to what your body needs.
✦ Refrain from ‘Clean Eating’ labels. Not all food is “clean” or “unclean”, and feel free to indulge in the occasional treat without worrying about guilt or over-indulgence.
✦ Replace diet talk with body-positive language. Words like “strong” and “capable” promote self-love and confidence more than “thin” and “lean”.
✦ Be gentle. Be kind to yourself and honour your body by loving and respecting it, instead of trying to control and manipulate it.
(Bonus tip: You can even download wellness apps like Mindful Meals or Simple Habit to help you navigate a healthier, more balanced lifestyle!)
Diet culture is a complex web of unrealistic and unattainable body standards, social pressures and food anxieties. But there is a way to reject this ideology and move towards a healthier lifestyle – body acceptance and self-love.
By listening to your body’s individual needs, refraining from restrictive food labeling, and speaking to yourself more positively, you can make a conscious effort to simplify the way in which you interact with food and start to reclaim power over your body and health.
The journey towards a positive relationship with food and body is a unique and continuous one, and certainly not an easy one. But with patience and self-compassion, it is possible to make simple and meaningful changes to your diet culture and ultimately, simplify your life.
