As a disconnect from reality, diet practicing women associate a fulfilling and successful life with eating the “right” way in order to achieve the perfect body. After every new year, one of the most searched subjects is “diets” as people look for the perfect resolution. After the consumption of cookies, pumpkin spice lattes, and eggnog, what better new years resolution than to detox your body of these “bad” foods? I guarantee everyone on the treadmills will tell you they’re “burning off” everything they ate over the holidays. We categorize these foods as bad because we feel bad for eating them. Then we all collectively come together to undo our sinful act of cookie consumption and what do you know- we’ve fallen under the toxic reigns of diet culture.
Marketing schemes have disturbed our minds with the ideologies of diet through programs including weight loss pills and shakes, categorizing desserts as “guilt-free”, and pressing low-carb and low-calorie eating. Most people aren’t consciously aware that the language broadcasted to us is the talk of diet culture. This set of beliefs worships thinness as the God of self-worth and health. Unfortunately, this has become our dominant culture. We view ourselves, and society classifies beauty, through the lens of diet culture. The story goes that if we eat a certain way we will obtain the perfect body and good health, and are then given a sense of pride as we have willpower and determination.
98% of diets fail. Diet cultures set us up to feel bad about ourselves, judge ourselves, and judge others based on their consumption of food. In an effort to rid the accepted diet culture with society, we must debunk the myth that health equates thinness. People suffer physically and mentally using dieting for weight loss as 75% of women have reported eating disorders. We must slowly find a way to do better- to eradicate the toxicity of diet culture. Health is defined as complete mental well-being, adequate sleep, consumption of a plentiful amount of water and a balance of carbs, proteins, fats, vitamins, and minerals, and movement of the body in a beneficial way- not thinness.