It is probably no surprise to you when I say that our culture is obsessed with thinness, beauty, and unrealistic standards when it comes to body shapes and sizes. Unfortunately, it’s not uncommon for individuals to develop unhealthy relationships with food and body. If you are reading this blog and you are someone who notices that you struggle with food, body image, or your relationship with exercise, just know that you are not alone.
This blog is intended to be an introduction to what “anti-diet culture” is and how you can start to form a more positive relationship with food in your body. This journey takes time and it is really important to have compassion for yourself while you navigate unlearning diet culture. You might relate to this idea that you find yourself caught in a cycle of guilt and shame when it comes to food, but what if it was possible to end that cycle?
What is Diet Culture?
Let’s talk about what diet culture is. I like the definition by Christy Harrison, MPH, RD, CEDS, who is the author of Anti-Diet: Reclaim Your Time, Money, Well-Being, and Happiness Through Intuitive EatingandThe Wellness Trap: Break Free from Diet Culture, Disinformation, and Dubious Diagnoses, and Find Your True Well-Being. According to Harrison, diet culture is defined as a system of beliefs that…
- “Worships thinness and equates it to health and moral virtue, which means you can spend your whole life thinking you’re irreparably broken just because you don’t look like the impossibly thin ‘ideal.’”
- “Promotes weight loss as a means of attaining higher status, which means you feel compelled to spend a massive amount of time, energy, and money trying to shrink your body, even though the research is very clear that almost no one can sustain intentional weight loss for more than a few years.”
- “Demonizes certain ways of eating while elevating others, which means you’re forced to be hyper-vigilant about your eating, ashamed of making certain food choices, and distracted from your pleasure, your purpose, and your power.”
- “Oppresses people who don’t match up with its supposed picture of ‘health,’ which disproportionately harms women, femmes, trans folks, people in larger bodies, people of color, and people with disabilities, damaging both their mental and physical health.”
If you’re interested in learning more about Christy Harrison’s take on Diet Culture, be sure to check out her website or listen to her wonderful podcast, Food Psych.
How Does Diet Culture Manifest in Your Own Life?
Now that you know what diet culture is, you can reflect on your own life and the ways that diet culture has been or still is affecting you. In fact, below are some examples of diet culture that you might see in your everyday life.
- Negative comments about a person’s weight or size (or positive comments about weight loss or thinness)
- Assigning self-worth to weight
- Editing pictures to look skinnier or “more flattering”
- Justifying eating (ex: comments about “earning” or “deserving” food)
- Skipping meals or restricting food
- Food rules (ex: only eating during certain times of the day)
- Use of “cheat days”
- Labeling specific foods or food groups as “good/healthy” and “bad/unhealthy”
- Treating exercise like a form of punishment
- Exercising to “burn calories” rather than for enjoyment
- “Health hacks” (ex: attempting to suppress appetite or lose weight with supplements, drinks, or drugs)
Chances are you can identify with or have experienced at least one of these examples before. That’s ok! You are not alone. Now that you know what to look for, let’s discuss how you can navigate and move beyond diet culture.
How to Leave Diet Culture Behind
Diet culture makes nutrition extremely black-and-white and confusing. Nutrition information becomes a tangled web of information and facts which then becomes impossible to untangle. This leads to guilt and shame surrounding food and body size. Not to mention the anti-fatness that is pervasive in our culture as well. How can you navigate diet culture? Here is a guide to anti-diet culture and how you can begin to embrace a better relationship with food…
1. Ask yourself, “what are my values?”
Spend some time thinking about what you value in life. Is it relationships? Compassion? Spontaneity? Grace? Spirituality? Reflect on how you live life close to your values. For example, if you value relationships, do you call your friends/family members throughout the week? Or maybe you prioritize planning dinners with the people you love. Take note of how diet culture influences your values and whether or not it aligns with them. If diet culture takes away from what you value in life, it might be time to start creating some space between yourself and diet culture.
2. Try to start recognizing diet culture
Begin to call out diet culture when you hear or see it. You don’t have to say anything out loud, but just make a mental note when you notice diet culture. The more you’re able to recognize diet culture, you’ll see how pervasive it is. You’ll start to realize that many of the rules you follow about food come from diet culture’s value system and not yours. This is a first step in creating some distance between you and diet culture.
3. Ask yourself, “how do diet culture food rules serve me?”
Even if you may not realize it, you may have certain food rules that are impacting your eating habits. Some examples of food rules include:
- Not eating after a certain time
- Counting calories and imposing limits for meals or snacks
- Imposing limits on the amount of desserts you can have per day or per week
- Not eating certain foods due to their nutrition content
- Having a specific amount of fruits and vegetables per day
We sometimes follow food rules blindly. Because we heard it once from a news source or a healthcare provider. Food rules can be problematic – especially when they create more anxiety and guilt around food (which they often do). Spend some time to ask yourself: why am I following these food rules? How do they help me/how do they hurt me? Are there any exceptions to following this rule? Is there a way I can add flexibility to this rule?
4. Learn about weight stigma
Weight stigma is a huge, pervasive part of diet culture. Weight stigma is a form of discrimination toward individuals based on their weight, shape or size – particularly people living in higher weight bodies. Think about all the stereotypes and assumptions our society has toward people in larger bodies vs smaller bodies. People who are larger are usually assumed to be unhealthy, stupid, lazy, and sloppy, while people who are thinner are generally assumed to be healthy, active, and self-assured. These stereotypes are extremely harmful and cause both emotional and physical distress for people living in higher-weight bodies.
There are also medical consequences to weight stigma. Learning about weight stigma and anti-fat bias is a helpful way to navigate your relationship with food and diet culture. Here are some resources on our website to start:
- 10 Shocking Diet Statistics
- How Dieting Can Lead to Binge Eating
- 7 Health at Every Size Facts
- Letting Go of Your Obsession with Weight Loss
- How to Stop Dieting
- Eating Intuitively: A How to Guide
- Principles of Intuitive Eating
5. Consider seeking support from a dietitian and/or therapist
You don’t have to dismantle your diet culture beliefs alone. Working with a dietitian and a therapist along this journey will help you gain important insight into your relationship with food and body.
Anti-Diet Resources We Offer
Courage to Nourish is an anti-diet nutrition practice. We specialize in eating disorder recovery nutrition and have tons of anti-diet resources on our website! Below are some of the resources we offer…
Blogs
- 3 Signs to Seek an Eating Disorder Dietitian
- What is Meal Support and What is it Used For?
- Family-Based Treatment for Eating Disorders
Eating Disorder Quizzes
If you suspect you may have an eating disorder but aren’t sure, take one of our self-diagnostic quizzes. The quizzes cover a wide variety of conditions, ranging from Binge Eating Disorder (BED) to Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS). You can find our list of quizzes here.
**Note: These quizzes are meant to be self-screening tools and are not official diagnoses.**
Client and Provider Newsletter
If you haven’t already, sign up for our client and/or provider newsletter. Every month, we highlight our new blogs and send out important updates about the practice. You can sign up for our newsletters here.
Final Thoughts on Anti-Diet Culture
Thank you for reading our guide to escaping diet culture! We know that living in a world full of diet culture can be incredibly difficult at times. Know that you are not alone and that with the right tools and support you can leave diet culture behind you. For some, this may require simply making some lifestyle changes, while for others, this may require working with an eating disorder dietitian or therapist. Regardless, we here at Courage to Nourish are here to support you at whatever stage of your anti-diet journey you find yourself at!
Contact Us
Courage to Nourish is a group of eating disorder specialized dietitians. We have in person locations in Alexandria, Virginia, Columbia, Maryland. and College Park, Maryland. We offer virtual services across the state of Virginia, Washington DC, Pennsylvania, and Colorado. We offer individual nutrition therapy. As well as support groups. We would love to guide you in building a better relationship with food.
Contact us for more information. And to schedule a discovery call. Also, sign up for our client or clinician newsletter!
Take one of our eating disorder quizzes:
Alex is the founder and owner of Courage to Nourish. She opened Courage to Nourish to create a practice that aligns with her values in eating disorder recovery. She is a Certified Eating Disorder Dietitian and Approved Supervisor through iaedp. Alex loves working with children, high school and college students as well as athletes. Additionally, Alex is a proud anti-diet dietitian and works with her clients through a Health At Every Size © and intuitive eating framework. Read more about Alex here.
