You might have heard of the term “diet culture”, but what does it actually mean?

The Butterfly Foundation defines diet culture as a group of ever-changing myths about food and bodies, which promotes the idea that your weight determines how healthy you are. It puts certain body shapes above others, and it idealises thinness and demonises fatness.

Diet culture is created and held in place by a complex system of power. It stems from the racist and white Eurocentric ideal of beauty and thinness, and it’s kept securely in place by sexism (determining what women’s bodies are allowed to look like) and capitalism (corporations that profit from people being unhappy because it allows them to sell more products that promise to help us achieve happiness).

Diet Culture in Everyday Life

While the concept of diet culture may sound very abstract, diet culture has invaded many parts of our lives. It pops up in unexpected moments, and it’s a constant reminder that you’re not good enough.

• Diet culture is the coworker who comments on the pasta you’re having for lunch, saying it’s not good to eat that many carbs.

• Diet culture is the family member who comments on the weight you’ve gained.

• Diet culture is the person who asks you why you don’t just go on a GLP-1 because it’s an easy way to lose weight.

• Diet culture is the magazines, Instagram posts, and TikTok videos telling mothers to “get back in shape” and “lose the baby weight” after giving birth.

So What?

Becoming aware of how diet culture impacts your thoughts and how you view yourself and your own body is an important step on the way to improving your relationship with your body and your mental health.

It’s important to explore what is causing the thoughts that are making you feel not good enough, not thin enough, not fit enough, or not perfect enough. Once we acknowledge that diet culture is an important reason for why we believe that thin bodies are superior and fat bodies are a moral failure, we can start challenging those damaging beliefs. Only then can we explore new beliefs that are more in line with how you’d like to feel about yourself and your body. For example fat bodies are worthy of respect too or I don’t have to be thin to be worthy of love and respect.