What even is diet-culture?

Diet-culture is both the implicit and explicit cultural messaging to which we are all exposed that insists upon the necessity of manipulating one’s body in the name of health, beauty, and/or fitness, stigmatizes individuals in large bodies, and disseminates the message that it is one’s individual responsibility to adjust their body to fit “acceptable” standards.

This messaging is rooted in racist, sexist, and sizeist rhetoric and is not supported by scientific evidence, despite its rampant presence. There is a large body of literature that demonstrates the profound inefficacy of diets, the ways dieting endangers a person’s health (more so than if they didn’t try to lose weight in the first place), and the ways in which systemic and interpersonal weight stigma (particularly from medical providers) damages our well-being (again more so than not attempting weight loss).

Despite the extensive evidence surrounding the inefficacy of diets, the long-held cultural assumptions we have about weight, health, and beauty make the systemic rejection of diet-culture a massive, and what feels at times insurmountable, undertaking.

Rejecting the diet mentality requires raising one’s consciousness surrounding the problematic nature of diets and weight-biased rhetoric and considering transformative changes to the ways we understand weight, health, and beauty. 

If you’re ready to reject diet-culture, pop on over to my Anti-Diet Culture Starter Pack to find tons of resources to help you learn more and regain your life!