Diet culture
Diet culture is a societal belief system that prioritizes thinness and appearance over health and well-being. It promotes practices such as calorie restriction, adherence to fad diets, and the labeling of food as good or bad, often leading to negative self-talk and shame surrounding eating. This culture is pervasive, fueled by media portrayals of unrealistic body standards and the marketing of diet products, which collectively contribute to low self-esteem and body dissatisfaction among individuals, particularly women and teenagers. The impact of diet culture can be severe, as it is linked to the development of eating disorders, such as anorexia and bulimia, especially among young people.
Despite the popularity of various diets, research shows that they often fail to produce long-term weight loss and can lead to harmful patterns like weight cycling. Furthermore, diet pills can pose serious health risks, including cardiovascular issues. In contrast, nutritionists emphasize the importance of balanced eating, portion control, and regular exercise for sustainable health. Movements such as fat acceptance and the anti-diet movement are emerging responses to challenge the negative narratives of diet culture, advocating for body positivity and a healthier relationship with food. However, these perspectives also face criticism for potentially encouraging unhealthy behaviors, particularly in those with underlying health conditions. Overall, understanding diet culture requires recognizing its impact on mental health, body image, and societal norms regarding food and weight.
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Subject Terms
Diet culture
Diet culture refers to a belief that thinness and appearance matter more than health. Those who embrace diet culture often restrict calories, adopt unsustainable or “fad” dieting practices, and engage in negative self-talk. They typically label food as being either good or bad and feel shame after eating bad food. Diet culture can be dangerous and can be a precursor to eating disorders such as anorexia and bulimia.
The media perpetuates diet culture by promoting unrealistic body standards. Print advertisement, television, and movies use models who are unnaturally thin. This causes women, and in some cases men, to view themselves negatively, developing a low self-esteem that may lead to diet culture.
Background
Advertisements for fad diets abound in the media. They promise to help dieters lose a large amount of weight in a short time—and many people believe these claims. About one-third of all Americans at any time are on a diet, spending their hard-earned money on diet plans, diet pills, and special food and drinks. In 2022, the diet and weight-loss industries in the United States were valued at approximately $76 billion.
While science overwhelmingly supports healthy eating practices, extremely restrictive diets in general do not work, especially in the long-term. Ninety-five percent of dieters who lose weight regain it within one to five years. Frequent dieters are also more likely than non-dieters to become obese in the future.
These types of diets fail for a variety of reasons. Many require restrictive eating, such as low- or no-carb diets, which makes dieters feel deprived and results in overeating. Some require eating only certain foods or sharply cutting calories which can deprive dieters of necessary nutrients.
Fad diets can be harmful because they lack essential nutrients and do not encourage healthy eating. They also provide no guidance about how to eat once the weight is lost, causing dieters to quickly regain the weight. This can lead to weight cycling, which is a pattern of losing weight and regaining it again. Weight cycling is also called yo-yo dieting because a person’s weight goes up and down like a yo-yo. Weight cycling can lead to muscle loss and eventually obesity.
Diet pills can be dangerous, especially if used long-term. While they may curb a dieter’s appetite, they can cause serious health problems and are addictive. Even diet pills claiming to be natural may not contain all natural ingredients, and synthetic substances are usually not listed on the label. Some diet pills cause cardiovascular problems, such as strokes and heart attacks. Others can cause cancer. Fen-phen was a type of diet pill that was pulled from the market by the FDA in 1997. The drug caused heart-valve problems in some dieters. More than 6,500 lawsuits have been filed for deaths and health problems caused by fen-phen.
While dieting does not directly cause eating disorders, researchers believe that for some individuals, dieting may be a precursor to such disorders, which include bulimia, anorexia, and binge eating. The link is especially strong among teenagers. According to the National Eating Disorders Association, 35 percent of teens and young adults who frequently diet may develop an obsession with dieting, and eventually about 25 percent of them will develop an eating disorder. Nutritionists contend that the best way to lose weight and maintain the weight loss is to reduce portion sizes, eat mainly healthy food, and exercise regularly.
Overview
The Alliance for Eating Disorders defines diet culture as utilizing programs that encourage extreme weight loss, have restrictions, and require the cutting of calories. Diet culture also includes “fat talk,” or “fat phobia.” This refers to negative comments to oneself and others about one’s weight and food choices. Examples of comments about weight include “I look fat in these jeans,” and “I’m too fat to go to that party.” Examples of comments about food are “This grilled cheese has too many calories” and “If I eat that, I’ll have to go for a run later.” Fat talk lowers a person’s self-esteem. People who talk this way judge themselves by their appearance, in particular their body size.
People who have a diet-culture mindset equate thinness with attractiveness. They do not take into consideration genetics or metabolism or accept that some people are not meant to be thin. When they do not lose as much weight as they would like to, they may further reduce calories, which can lead to eating disorders and mental health problems.
Diet culture causes people to think that some foods are good and others are bad. They try to restrict themselves from eating a “bad” food. If they do give in and eat it, they feel shame and guilt. In essence, they become scared of food. Diet culture fosters the idea that some ways of eating are superior, such as paleolithic (paleo), low-carb, or intermittent fasting. This focus on dieting can make people extremely cautious about what they eat. While healthy eating is important, an obsession with it can lead to orthorexia, an obsession with healthy food that borders on addiction. People with this condition obsess to the point that it can harm their mental health.
Experts explain that resisting or eliminating a diet culture mindset is difficult for many people because they have been thinking this way since childhood. However, people should recognize that thinness is not always healthy, and healthy people come in all shapes and sizes. Models are not representative of most healthy people’s bodies. They should also understand that most published photographs of models have been edited. The fat acceptance movement provided further emphasis on the value of accepting one’s own body type.
Similarly, the "anti-diet" movement gained traction in the early twenty-first century. Mainly spread by social media influencers, including some dietitians who were compensated by the food industry for sharing those views, anti-diet messaging encouraged people to stop dieting altogether. By espousing messages that denounced "food shaming" and society's obsession with weight, and encouraging people to not worry about eating processed foods, anti-diet views resulted in essentially shifting the focus away from the food industry that manufactured ultra-processed foods. Critics of the movement warned, however, that such messaging encouraged unhealthy behaviors in people with serious diseases like diabetes.
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