Reflections on Diet Culture

I’ve been doing hard things lately. Like hot yoga, putting on a two piece swimsuit, and actively re-learning how to have a positive relationship with food.

These things are hard for me, and sometimes all it takes is just showing up.

I was exposed to diet culture at a young age because... how could I not be? It’s everywhere.

We’ve been taught that certain foods are bad, that certain foods are good, and that if you don’t look a certain way or fit into a certain size you will only achieve that level of happiness through dieting.

Furthermore, we’ve been taught to believe that our livelihood and happiness depend on it.

I don’t know about you, but that scares the hell outta me.

Are we really going to keep this up? Can we stop now?

I just can’t help but think what our lives would have been like if we had grown up learning what different foods do for our bodies, and that eating a colorful plate of food is fun and energizing, and that outdoor activity is good for your mental health. And joyful movement! Why am I just realizing now that I can exercise for joy rather than to punish my body?! Instead, we grew up watching the women in our lives be afraid to eat a piece of bread, or even worse... be ashamed of eating and enjoying food if it didn’t fall into their diet plan. We can’t blame them though, because diet culture was everywhere and it still is.

Companies like @ww are more concerned with money, which is one reason why their recent launch of a dieting app for kids is sickening.
I have so much more to say on this topic, but I’m curious to know what your opinion of diet culture is? What is your story? 👇🏼👇🏼👇🏼(comment below)