TW// Mentions of eating disorders and toxic diet culture
It seems as though whenever I open Tiktok, or any other social media platform for that matter, a new trend has emerged that is used as an excuse for people to show off their pre-recovery bodies in the disguise of eating disorder recovery content. Whether it be through triggering body checks or videos of people hospitalised with feeding tubes, there is a toxic cult on social media that will always find a way to remind the rest of the world how ill you must be in order to be considered “valid” in the eating disorder sphere. It is not always done so covertly through a new song or transition video however, sometimes it is done far more discreetly, wrapped up in bows and pink emojis, finished off with a matcha latte and a lilac yoga mat.
Enter the ‘Almond Daughter’ the new age aestheticised poster child for toxic diet culture. This emergence and the Almond Daughter of course is a concept birthed by the Almond Mom, an early 2010’s toxic eating ideal brought to life by Yolanda Hadid, mother of fashion model Gigi Hadid. After expressing that she was feeling weak after being on a new diet, Gigi was advised by her mother to “eat a couple of almonds” for some substance, and thus the Almond Mom was born. In more recent years, despite the Almond Mom image being one of criticism as people on social media took to shame the people in their lives that pushed these toxic ideas onto them, this toxicity has since been rebranded as the Almond Daughter.
Ironically the Almond Daughter operates in a different way, albeit to achieve the same goal, weaponising hyper-feminine ideals and a soft girl aesthetic as a way to overtly embrace toxic eating habits and diet culture. This idea has been bred directly from the rise of the “it girl” aesthetic which promotes extreme discipline and routine under the false guise of self-care and a way to promote your esteem. Much like the “it girl” , the Almond Daughter uses pretty emojis and pastel coloured coquette core on top of Billie Ellish music as a way to subtly glorify eating disorders and unhealthy behaviour.
If we track this sort of behaviour back we are seeing the repetition of the violently toxic pro-ana culture that took over Tumblr in the early 2000’s be repacked and rebranded into something more digestible, something that many people fail to recognise as dangerous and instead as aesthetic and aspirational. This resurgence of diet culture through the Almond Daughter has found a way to disguise blatant eating disorders as self care and wellness as it is focuses itself around “gentle movement” and “girl dinner” , pretending that small and unsuitable eating habits are girly and desirable rather than dangerous. This behaviour is slowly becoming more and more mainstream as it begins to frame itself under the notion of a ‘lifestyle change‘ rather than disordered eating and in doing this it is disguising discipline as necessary and toxicity as a requirement in order to meet the beauty standard. Food is not meant to be “cute” or “aesthetic”, especially when the reason it is called “cute” is because it is in fact a child sized portion that is not going to sustain a fully grown adult. A bowl of grapes is not a meal; a match latte is not breakfast. And anyone on social media promoting this kind of behaviour under the guise of wellness is false and trapped in a toxic system themselves.
You are allowed, and in fact you should block or report content that triggers you or that you feel is unhealthy. You do not have to suffer being inundated with behaviour that makes you feel bad about yourself or makes you feel as though you are not enough. The equation of thinness with worth or beauty is beyond outdated and this rise in Almond Daughter content will fall just as quickly as it has risen.