Counting calories, staring at the scale, measuring in the mirror; society has taught us that the pinnacle of beauty is having that “ideal” body type, and that if you’re not thin or skinny enough, you must be living an unhealthy lifestyle. However, it is time to ditch these ideas and realize that weight does not determine a person’s health or beauty.
Diet culture is a set of beliefs that places weight and appearance over health and physical, as well as mental, well-being. To learn more about what diet culture is, click here. It comes from the idea that losing weight will fix our insecurities and make us feel better about ourselves, but losing weight is not the key to happiness. Dieting may not only be dangerous to our bodies, but it also doesn’t always work like we think it will. It is time to ditch diet culture and find healthy ways that will make us happy in our own skin.
Diet culture promotes weight loss strategies such as reducing calories, labeling “guilt” and “guilt-free” foods, juice cleanses, dieting pills, as well as normalizing a negative mindset about yourself and appearance. Diet culture is also toxic because of the impact it can have on those around you. For example, people who start to get consumed by dieting commonly partake in “fat talk,” which is a negative way to talk about food and eating. Examples of “fat talk” include saying something has too many calories or they should exercise after a big meal. When someone says things like this, the people around them may begin to feel guilty about their own eating habits, to learn more about the impact of “fat talk” click here.
Diet culture can also lead to eating disorders, making it highly dangerous and, in some cases, life-threatening. Extreme dieting is a gateway to eating disorders because of the mindset it puts you in. This mindset is that losing weight will make you feel better about yourself, no matter the cost. A harmless attempt to lose a few extra pounds can quickly turn into a dangerous habit that is very difficult to turn away from. There are signs to be aware of that you may be getting into dangerous territory with dieting, according to the website Eating Disorder Hope. Some include loss of menstrual cycle for women and pulling away from social activities and relationships. For more information on these red flags and eating disorders click here.
We live in a culture that is diet-obsessed, and new dieting trends are constantly cycling through our media. Social media can have a huge impact on our body image, so when we are constantly exposed to ways to lose weight or get that body that we’ve always wanted, we listen without necessarily thinking about the impacts. The issue with diet fads in the media is that what they are promoting isn’t always true and can be very dangerous. Many of the weight loss strategies shown to use through the media are not research-backed and therefore not healthy for our bodies and minds.
In a world that seems to run and capitalize on dieting and weight loss, we have to remember that skinny doesn’t always equal healthy, and losing weight doesn’t necessarily lead to success and happiness. The road to positive body image is not easy, and many of us struggle with it every day, but there ways to be healthy without putting your body or mind at risk. The biggest thing you can do is listen to your body: eat when you’re hungry without limiting yourself, get physical activity without killing your body, and eliminate terms like “guilt” and “guilt-free” foods.
It is time to ditch diet culture and fall in love with ourselves and the bodies we have, because being healthy and beautiful does not have a size, weight, or shape.