By Therese Kenny, MSc, PhD Student
Every year on May 6th, organizations around the world work to dismantle diet culture. International No Diet Day is an initiative that aims to increase awareness about the misconceptions of dieting, push back against the diet industry which robs us of hundreds of millions of dollars every year, and to work toward body liberation. International No Diet Day invites us to take a look at our own relationship with food, weight, body, and health and to question how our actions/behaviours may contribute to a larger, problematic industry. Before doing this though, we need to break down exactly what it means to diet and why this is unhelpful.
What is a diet?
Initially used to refer to the kinds of food that a human or animal might eat, diet now colloquially refers to any intentional changes to our lifestyle (modifying food intake, exercise, and/or consuming supplements) for the sole purpose of changing weight or shape. This is not the same as someone with a medical condition such as celiac disease or diabetes where an individual must modify their eating patterns in order to manage their physical wellbeing.
Diets vary over time. When I was a child, I remember my parents talking about a friend who was on the Atkins diet. We have now shifted to Keto, intermittent fasting, among others. Even the wellness industry has begun co-opting diet culture for their own gain. Programs and lifestyles predicated on health and wellness are generally just diets in disguise.
What is ‘diet culture?’
Christy Harrison (https://christyharrison.com/blog/what-is-diet-culture) defines diet culture as a system of beliefs that:
- Worships thinness and equates health with moral virtue (see discussion of healthism later)
- Promotes weight loss as a means of attaining higher status
- Demonizes or vilifies some ways of eating and elevates others
- Oppresses people who don’t match up with this supposed image of ‘health’
Diet culture includes, but is not limited to, the diets mentioned in the previous section. It also however, encompasses wellness programs, fitness centers, lifestyle changes etc if they fall into one of the above categories.
Why is dieting harmful?
Dieting is harmful for many reasons. First, in some cases dieting can precipitate (or mask) disordered eating or eating disorders. This is concerning especially in the current context where Canadian hospitals have already seen a significant increase in demand for eating disorder services as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. Second, dieting sucks. When you are dieting, your body is in a state of deprivation. By definition, it is not getting the nutrients that it needs. This leads to feeling hungry, groggy, or sluggish all the time. It also leads to constant thoughts about food. It’s hard to get anything else done when your brain is focused on food at all times. (It’s also worth noting that up to 98% of diets ‘fail’ because our bodies are very good at defending an optimal weight range). Finally, and most importantly in my opinion, dieting reinforces fatphobic, ableist, racist, classist and healthist ideals.
Fatphobia and weight stigma. Weight stigma is the discrimination of an individual due to their weight. This can happen at any weight but in Western cultures happens most frequently for individuals in larger bodies. The fear of, aversion to, and discrimination of fat[1] people specifically is known as fatphobia. When we diet to avoid gaining weight or to lose weight, we send the message to folx in larger bodies that ‘we don’t want to be like you.’ This is harmful to people who already experience discrimination and marginalization because of the size of their body.
Racism. Notably, fatphobia is inherently racist. As Sabrina Strings describes in her book, Fearing the Black Body, fatphobia emerged following the association of being fat with being Black in the 18th and 19th centuries. Being fat was therefore equated with being bad because it was associated with being Black and of a lower class. Thus, dieting is in-and-of-itself racist. When we buy into diet culture by purchasing products or going on diets, we are contributing to an industry that has its roots in racism. We cannot be anti-racist and still engage in dieting.
Ableism and classicism. Ableism is the discrimination of folx who live in Disabled bodies. Dieting, particularly those that involve different exercise and movement routines, is ableist. Moreover, the ideal body perpetuated by the media is ableist. It focuses on able-bodied individuals and does not represent the range of bodies that exist. Dieting is also classicist. It is EXPENSIVE. Think of all the money that you have spent on gym memberships, meal delivery programs, special supplements. Dieting and being in an ideal body is attainable for people who have resources to spend on it. When we try to look like these ideals, we are therefore actually reinforcing ableism and classicism.
Healthism. Oftentimes, folx will cite ‘health’ as an important reason for a lifestyle change. Perhaps more significantly, people will cite ‘health’ as a reason for policing fat bodies. Beyond the fact that other people’s bodies are none of your business, this is a healthist ideal. Healthism is the belief that being healthy is morally virtuous. There are a couple of issues with this. First, no one is obligated to want to strive for health. Each person is entitled to the autonomy to make decisions for themselves. Second, there are people who for whatever reason (e.g., chronic illnesses, socio-economic disadvantage) will never achieve health. By setting this as the pinnacle of achievement, it creates a hierarchy in which individuals who are limited in their ability to achieve quote-unquote health are deemed unworthy.
Dieting can therefore, be seen as a tool to continue oppressing individuals who have historically been oppressed. How then can we make change this International No Diet Day?
- Ditching the diet mentality: As hard as it is, the best way to improve our mental and physical well-being is to stop dieting. Our bodies were made to eat a variety of foods throughout the day. Ditching the diet mentality involves embracing the notion that there are no bad foods except those that make use sick. If you’re having trouble reconnecting with what your body needs, it can be helpful to follow the rule of threes:
- a. Aim for 3 larger eating moments and 2-3 smaller eating moments throughout the day
- b. Aim to have 3 food groups (fruits/vegetables, dairy, protein, grains, fats, desserts) per eating moment
- c. Try not to go longer than 3 hours without eating
- d. If you are farther along in ditching the diet mentality, work on having a particular meal no more than three times a week (e.g., if you have oatmeal every day for breakfast, switch it up on at least 4 days)
Notably, ditching the diet mentality also involves abandoning punitive, rigid, and non-enjoyable exercise. The Health-At-Every-Size® movement advocates for incorporating joyful movement rather than ‘exercise.’ Try to find something that is enjoyable for your body and makes you feel good!
- Learn about anti-diet, body liberation, and radical self-love: In addition to ditching the diet mentality, we can also increase our awareness of concepts such as the anti-diet movement, body liberation, and radical self love. Some great resources include:
- The Body is Not an Apology by Sonya Renee Taylor (now has accompanying workbook)
- Anti-Dietby Christy Harrison
You can also follow Sonya Renee Taylor, The Body is Not an Apology, and Christy Harrison on Instagram for more anti-diet and radical self-love content.
Ultimately, however you decide to celebrate International No Diet Day, I encourage you to take a moment to reflect on how your relationship with food and your body is making you feel. Does it give you life? Or keep you from life?
[1] The word ‘fat’ has become a slur in our society. There is currently a movement to reclaim this word as a neutral descriptor, rather than an insult. I use the word ‘fat’ throughout this blog as a neutral descriptor of one’s body size.
Images
Park, R. (2018). Brunch. UnSplash. https://unsplash.com/photos/hrlvr2ZlUNk.