Diet Culture Messages You Can Forget About

Diet culture sucks. It makes practice as a Registered Dietitian both interesting & frustrating - I love hearing stories about food and the ways we understand it but hate seeing people be so unbelievably flustered by messages about weight and dieting.

*I recognize that I am size-privileged, and don’t experience weight stigma the way others do *

In practice, I try to take an intuitive eating and non-diet approach to health. All foods fit, some foods more often than others, but always in a way that feels good to you, tastes good, and incorporates culture, lifestyle and medical conditions you may have. I’ve also been working on refreshing my approach, as in the past I have definitely fallen into the “diet culture” trap and caused harm. Companies don’t like that approach, and that’s because people loving their bodies and refusing to be anything other than what they are makes them no money. It doesn’t sell product or fill bank accounts. It doesn’t put people on the Sunshine List. It doesn’t make someone the youngest billionaire in the world. When we bombard people with messages that they just aren’t good enough or aren’t worth enough, we steal health and vitality from them. Even when we’re well-meaning, asking if someone has ever thought about maybe trying that diet to carve off the last 10 pounds. In light of my "having-just-about-enough-of-it", here are 5 diet culture messages you can totally forget about.

1. “Living in a larger body increases your risk of chronic disease/is a chronic disease.” The “war on obesity” is garbage. Individuals of all sizes can achieve their definition of health. Yes, there are health behaviours that can increase or decrease your risk of chronic diseases like heart disease, diabetes, and arthritis. Your body is not a behaviour. Also, who the actual H came up with the idea that people in larger bodies just ARE a chronic disease because that’s crap.

2. “There are foods you should avoid to protect your weight/health." There are 3 different types of foods to avoid: foods you’re allergic to, foods that have gone bad, and foods you stole. Everything else is perfectly fine to eat.

3. “Food and exercise fix everything.” Food is NOT thy medicine. Food is food, and medicine is medicine. Going to the gym and eating vegetables will not cure cancer or diabetes or make heart attacks stop. Food and activity are important pieces in the health puzzle, but they are not the answer.

4. “You are responsible for all of the things that happen in your life, especially your health.” Yes, you can take charge of your life. Call your own dentist, buy your own groceries, remember to call your mum every once in a while. But when it comes to your health, you are merely a pawn in the game. Your health is influenced by your environment, your family, where you work, your genetics, what kinds of food is accessible. Individuals of lower income status have poorer health, with health improving as income increases. If you’re not able to control the kinds of job opportunities you have, or the prices on fresh foods, how in heaven are you supposed to control the way you body reacts? This diet culture tactic is a sneaky way to push all the responsibilities of organizations, companies, government groups and others from bucking up to take charge of their population’s health, being more than just absence of illness or disease.

5. “Health looks the same on everyone, and you need weight loss to get there.” I see this a lot in practice, and the BMI chart is to blame - which, to be clear, is outdated & inaccurate. Health is not always weight loss either; this goes for both people in larger and smaller bodies, especially those who may struggle with disordered eating or eating disorders. And someone is under no obligation to be “healthy” in order to participate in society (read up on “healthism” for more information on this!)

When we move our focus away from the numbers on our scales, joy is waiting - delicious foods to provide us energy, movement that feels good, sleep we feel rested with, and time to care for our minds and hearts. How do you kick diet culture to the curb?

peace and harmony xox