The Harm of Diet Culture
As a young, impressionable woman, diet culture has become a prominent aspect of my day-to-day life. Social media has become an outlet for the promotion of diet culture and the harmful ideologies it encourages.
TikTok is one of the most popular social media apps with a large community of influencers promoting diet culture. Diet culture inherently glamorizes eating disorders. Influencers post videos detailing what they eat in a day, which can be triggering for those who are struggling with food. Of course, these videos are not realistic, which in turn creates a negative relationship with food for many viewers.
Diet culture hit me hard during my sophomore year of high school. I felt the need to try to eat as little a day as possible, as this is what I thought I needed to do to be “pretty.” Not eating enough every day caused real problems in my life: constantly feeling dizzy, having no energy, and feeling guilty when I did eat. It came to the point where a few of my friends noticed my weight loss and became concerned.
When asked why I wasn’t eating at lunch, I always provided the excuse that I was not hungry, or had eaten a big breakfast. None of these responses were true. In truth, I was monitoring my weight closely and wanted to make sure I was burning off more calories than I was eating. Although I did receive these comments of concern, I was also told “how good I look” and “how skinny I am.” This only motivated me more to continue what I was doing.
Eventually, I broke out of this harmful pattern by my senior year of high school, though diet culture still follows me through social media every day. I still tend to compare myself to others on media platforms, as it is hard not to fall back into this same pattern. Going into college has changed my body a lot, as my eating habits and relationship with food have altered. However, I do sometimes look back at those pictures of me as a sophomore in high school and wish that I still looked the same.
The hard conclusion I have come to is that I am no longer 15 years old—I am a 20-year-old woman and my body has changed. Though I am more comfortable with food, it’s difficult to not compare myself to my past self and others on social media. The goal I have is to see food as fuel rather than something to be guilty about.
It’s disheartening to see what diet culture and social media has done to society. Because so many young women are on social media, they are subsequently exposed to diet culture. The promotion of restriction of food and the obsession of exercise can be so negative. Counting calories, labeling food as good or bad, and comparing oneself to other bodies are all ways that reinforce diet culture.
Separating from social media dieting is the best way to put yourself on a safe path with food. The most important thing to remember is that food is nourishment for your body. After all, food is necessary for survival.
Cover Photo by Charlotte May. Edited by Madison Case.