7 diet culture-y things we need to stop saying

 

Diet Culture suggests that people are more or less good/moral/worthy based on their body size. 

 Diet culture is a system of beliefs that:

• Worships thinness and equates it to health and moral value, which means you can spend your whole life thinking you’re irreparably broken just because you don’t look like the impossibly thin “ideal.”
• Promotes weight loss as a means of attaining higher status, which means you feel compelled to spend a massive amount of time, energy, and money trying to shrink your body.
• Demonises certain ways of eating while elevating others, which means you’re forced to be hyper-vigilant about your eating, ashamed of making certain food choices, and distracted from your pleasure, your purpose, and your power.
• Oppresses people who don’t match up with its supposed picture of “health,” which disproportionately harms women, femmes, trans folks, people in larger bodies, people of color, and people with disabilities, damaging both their mental and physical health.

 
 It has become so normalised that we are surrounded by words, phrases and actions - most of us don't even recognise it as being unhealthy. 

 Here are 7 phrases we need to stop using: 

"I feel so fat" 

In our culture, the word 'fat' is often used to associate with things being 'ugly', or 'undesireable'.  

Fat is not a feeling. It is a thing. A substance. You have fat. You are not fat. You have toenails. You are not a toenail.  

By using 'fat' to describe something that is bad, we're contributing to the stigmatisation that having a bigger body is bad. 

When you feel 'fat'. What do you actually feel? 

 

"You've lost so much weight, you look amazing!" 

This reinforces the idea that having a bigger body is bad, and a slimmer body is good. 

It can also make the recipient feel like they only look good because they are thinner. This can also make the recipient feel bad about gaining weight again (because 97% of diets fail long term).  

 

"I've eaten so badly, so I'm trying to eat good food" 

No food is good and no food is bad. Some foods have more nutrients than others, but this does not make them 'good' or 'bad'. Unless your food is out of date, inedible or you're allergic, it is not 'bad' and you should never feel guilty for eating. 

 

"You need to try this diet, it's working so well for me"

Diets do not work. In fact, 97% fail long term.  So not only are you bringing failure upon someone else, you're also giving the shame that comes with it. 

Also, we all have unique bodies. With unique needs. Different energy requirements. Different preferences. Therefore, we all need different foods, diets and routines. 

 

"I'm having a cheat day"

What are you cheating on exactly? Cheating? You're not 'cheating' by eating. 

If your diet is so restrictive that you feel the need to have a day to blow out then you may need to rethink your diet.

'Cheat' days reinforce the idea that foods are 'good' or 'bad. They also lead to the restriction of foods, 'all or nothing' mentalities and further damages your reltionship with food.  

 

"You're not fat, you're beautiful" 

Fat and beautiful are not mutally exclusive. This implies that fat people cannot be beautiful. Having fat does not exclude you from being attractive, gorgeous or desireable. 

This further contributes to the ideaology that 'fat' is bad. 

 

"I've been so naughty, I'll burn it off with exercise" 

Again, unless your food has personified and misbehaved, it is not "naughty" or "bad"

Movement should be used for improving strength, cardiovascular health, flexibility and mental health, alongside other non weight-loss related benefits. Exercise is not a punishment and it does not exist solely to burn calories. 

Have you used any of these phrases? 

 

I know I have in the past and I apologise. I was wrong. I was uneducated and I didn't know better. 

This list is just few of the everyday phrases that we hear and use on a daily basis. It's unhealthy and most of them are very harmful. 

I'm fed up with diet culture. Are you?

 

Share this with a friend. 

 

Kate xx

 

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 I post regularly on here and Instagram with self-love, body positivity and recipe ideas so that you can bloom into your best self, with me.