Diet culture is omnipresent. It’s glancing at the brightly colored tabloid covers in line at the grocery store, or sitting down to watch The Kardashians after a long day at school. It’s reaching for your favorite Brownie Batter Ben and Jerry’s ice cream and noticing the 200 calorie version on the left (it tastes like sand beware). It’s listening to your family talk about their New Year's resolution to lose 20 pounds, the newest juice cleanse, or the summer body they need to get for the next vacation. Diet culture capitalizes off our impressionable young minds and infects us with insecurities we didn’t know we had, to keep us trapped in a cycle of unhappiness and spending money on the next product, always chasing that impossible perfection. These industries don’t exclusively, but disproportionately affect women. I came across a statistic the other day, that said about 40-60% of elementary school girls, ages 6-12, are concerned about their weight or becoming too fat. Are young girls allowed to have a childhood?
I grew up a tomboy, a sporty girl. I loved being active and running around with my friends during recess, playing handball, basketball, flag football, 4 square. I fell in love with soccer, the exhilaration of scoring a goal, or a good tackle. I loved waking up early for games, and the content exhaustion at the [end of the day]. Soccer was and still is the root of a lot of my confidence. At some point, I began to feel as if I didn’t look the same as my friends. My strong, muscular legs that allowed me to run, jump and kick became a consuming insecurity. I wished I was small and petite, like my friends or the girls I saw on Disney Channel. This singular image of what a girl should look like, or eat like became what I strived for. And yet as a competitive athlete, I couldn’t understand why I was so hungry all the time. As so many can relate to, my relationship with food became negative. I have struggled with disordered eating, and poor mental health due to it. The most important thing to me about overcoming those disordered patterns, and combating the Diet Culture negativity ingrained in me, is changing the language I use when discussing health, food, and our bodies.
Growing up in an ultra-healthy household, (the only sweet in the house was chocolate chips) I needed to learn the difference between eating healthy foods, and eating healthily. Foods we label as Good, or Bad, create feelings of shame or guilt, and a temptation to binge. For instance, if pizza is a Bad food, it brings shame and negativity into an otherwise fun time out with friends, or a movie night. Rather, food should be viewed by how it makes us feel and how it fuels us (emotional eating is perfectly normal). By listening to what your body is truly craving and when, you can give your body exactly what it needs. This is a philosophy called intuitive eating.
As it becomes clear that Diet Culture has infiltrated most aspects of our lives, I think it’s important to recognize that most dieting foods or workout programs falsely advertise as guides to health and wellness. Titles like, “Lose 10lbs in a week,” or “eat this for an hourglass figure,” may sound promising, but clinical trials have proven that spot training (losing fat in a specific, desired area) is a myth. Additionally, 95% of diets fail, and most people who lose weight in these fad diets, gain it back. These flashy products and fad diets are plastered all over billboards and our social media feeds, and may even be endorsed by popular influencers, however they are impossible goals, and perpetuate the idea that health is weight loss. It’s not only incredibly discriminatory but simply false to assume that all overweight people are unhealthy. It’s time to stop assuming that all women’s health goals are the same. In athletics, role models such as Serena Williams, Simone Biles, and Lindsey Vonn represent women as muscular figures. The goal for these women who dedicate their lives to their sport, who put in their blood, sweat, and tears into becoming the most elite athletes, is to show that being small or trim doesn’t determine their success.
It’s not a straight road to overcoming body insecurities. It’s perfectly normal to have bad days or negative thoughts about your appearance. Practicing healthy habits such as intuitive eating are strategies to help to overcome disordered eating and combat diet culture practices. Remember to surround yourself with people who uplift you and inspire you.
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