This is part 2 of our blog topic on diet culture. If you’d like to learn more about what diet culture is and the harm it causes please refer to part 1 of the blog- What is Diet Culture and Why is it Harmful?

Let’s Challenge Diet Culture – What’s next?

Diet culture is like that person in your life who makes all the attractive promises (for a ‘better’ body, more joy, etc.) but in reality, they fall short. Luckily, you don’t have to buy into their false promises. There are several ways to reclaim your power by questioning societal norms, refusing harmful messages around food and body image and embracing intuitive eating cues. Here are a few ways to start supporting a positive relationship with food and our bodies and embracing body liberation, joy and love: 

• Change up your social media: Diversify your social media feeds to include those who help you feel comfortable in your own skin and unfollow accounts which make you feel like you are not enough (ie. those promote dieting, weight loss, narrow standards of ideal beauty).

• Practice food neutrality: Take a moment to reflect on nutrition messages that we come across. Is it a fear-mongering or balanced and supportive message? Does it trigger black and white thinking when nutrition always has nuance and complexity based on context?

  Practice staying neutral first as all foods have functional benefits if we take the time to unpack our needs. Remember that eating is more than just providing nutrients but also has its own social, cultural and emotional benefits.

• Practice the Health at Every Size approach: Health goes beyond just weight and size. Leave weight-centric recommendations at the door and focus on address behaviors that directly benefit overall well-being including physical, mental, and spiritual health. A focus on weight misplaces focus on many other aspects that impact quality of life. Rather than focusing on achieving a certain weight or body shape, try practicing overall well-being and self-care rooted in compassion. If you are a health-care provider, be sure to check out ASDAH to inform your practice on size-inclusive care.

• Lean into intuitive eating (IE)*: Learn to listen to and trust your body when it tells you what, when, and how much to eat (there is a reason that we are born with these cues after all!). This is part of intuitive eating which has 10 principles that guide holistic practices like practicing permission and enjoyment with eating, challenging rigid food policing, and honoring your internal cues. Practicing intuitive eating can provide beneficial results such as greater sense of oneself, ability to listen to oneself and even non-food or body related benefits like the development of new interests and hobbies (9). IE is not a diet nor a way to control weight, it is a pathway to heal our relationship with food from the harm of dieting.

*IE may not be helpful for everyone. It is often helpful for individuals who have access to interoception- the ability to become aware, recognize, and answer internal cues appropriately. Not everyone has access to this therefore IE would need to adapt based on context.

• Incorporate joyful movement for health: What is play for you? Rather than viewing physical activity as a weight loss strategy, find ways to move your body which you enjoy and contributes to physical embodiment. If HIIT workouts and going to the gym are not your thing, that’s alright! Lean into what works for you. Embracing joyful movement also plays a role in maintaining body neutrality by removing and dissociating health from physical appearance.

• Limit engagement with diet-talk: Have you started to notice how often we engage with diet-culture through conversations on the latest fad diets, weight loss trends, body comparisons of celebrities, and deprecations of our own bodies with our families, friends, co-workers, and acquaintances? Becoming aware is the first step to changing the behavior. And if you have capacity, we invite you to consider slowly disengaging from these conversations by gently changing the subject, even starting with just one person in the group.

Where can I learn more about rejecting diet culture? 

Luckily, there is no shortage of great resources that you can use on your journey to rejecting diet culture. Some of our favourite blogs, podcasts, and books are highlighted below and also referenced on our Resource Page. 

Podcasts and videos

• Let Us Eat Cake Podcast by Ali Eberhardt and Hannah Robinson. "A podcast dedicated to ditching diet culture.”

• Body Kindness Podcast by Rebecca Scritchfield. “Improve your health and life, without judgements, ridiculous food rules, and dramatic promises.” 

• Find Your Food Voice Podcast by Julie Duffy Dillon. “A podcast and movement to fix diet culture. Because you don’t need fixing.” 

• Food Psych Podcast by Christy Harrison, RD. An anti-diet approach that includes intuitive eating and disordered eating recovery. 

Blogs and blog posts

• How to Spot Diet Culture by Linsday Pleskot, RD.

• Christy Harrison’s Blog by Christy Harrison, RD. An informative anti-diet approach that includes intuitive eating and disordered eating recovery. She also has specific blog: ”What is Diet Culture?” 

• Recognizing and Resisting Diet Culture by National Eating Disorders Association (USA). 

Books

• Intuitive Eating: A Revolutionary Anti-Diet Approach by Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch

• Anti-Diet: Reclaim Your Time, Money, Well-Being and Happiness Through Intuitive Eating by Christy Harrison

• Body Respect by Lindo Bacon and Lucy Aphramor

• Body Kindness: Transform Your Health from the Inside out and Never Say Diet Again by Rebecca Scritchfield

• The Body is Not an Apology: The Power of Radical Self Love by Sonya Renee Taylor

When we prioritize a healthy relationship with food and our bodies, we eventually learn to reject the diet culture system. Genuine wellness is about nourishing our bodies, enjoying foods without guilt and embracing ourselves without judgement. It can feel like a big step depending on where you are in your journey but remember that it is about progress and not perfection. Let’s contribute to a world where food is celebrated and balanced health is embraced.

Blog written by Sharon Sun, RD

Reviewed and edited by Abby Hsiao, RD

Disclaimer: the information provided is not intended as medical advice or to diagnose or treat a medical disease. It is strictly for informational purposes. Consult with your medical provider such as a dietitian before implementing any dietary changes, the information provided does not replace medical advice provided by your healthcare provider.

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Work cited

1. Teich, Jessica (2021) "The Unbearable Weight of Diet Culture." Good Housekeeping. www.goodhousekeeping.com/health/diet-nutrition/a35036808/what-is-diet-culture/.

2. Fildes, A., Charlton, J., Rudisill, C., Littlejohns, P., Prevost, A. T., & Gulliford, M. C. (2015). Probability of an obese person attaining normal body weight: cohort study using electronic health records. American journal of public health, 105(9), e54-e59.

3. About Health at Every Size (HAES) (n.d.). Association for Size Diversity and Health. https://asdah.org/health-at-every-size-haes-approach/

4. Bacon, L., & Aphramor, L. (2011). Weight science: evaluating the evidence for a paradigm shift. Nutrition journal, 10, 1-13.

5. Puhl, R. M., & Heuer, C. A. (2010). Obesity stigma: important considerations for public health. American journal of public health, 100(6), 1019-1028.

6. LaRosa, J. (2019). Top 9 Things to Know About the Weight Loss Industry. Market Research. https://blog.marketresearch.com/u.s.-weight-loss-industry-grows-to-72-billion

7. Mann, T., Tomiyama, A. J., Westling, E., Lew, A. M., Samuels, B., & Chatman, J. (2007). Medicare's search for effective obesity treatments: diets are not the answer. American Psychologist, 62(3), 220.

8. Gillings School of Global Public Health (n.d) Survey finds disordered eating behaviors among three out of four American women. https://sph.unc.edu/cphm/carolina-public-health-magazine-accelerate-fall-2008/survey-finds-disordered-eating-behaviors-among-three-out-of-four-american-women-fall-2008/

9. Erhardt, G. A. (2021). Intuitive eating as a counter-cultural process towards self-actualisation: An interpretative phenomenological analysis of experiences of learning to eat intuitively. Health Psychology Open, 8(1), 20551029211000957.

10. Whitman, A., Lew, N. D., Chappel, A., Aysola, V., Zuckerman, R., Sommers, B. D. (2022). Addressing Social Determinants of Health: Examples of Successful Evidence-Based Strategies and Current Federal Efforts. Assistant Secretary for Planning and Evaluation Office of Health Policy.  https://aspe.hhs.gov/sites/default/files/documents/e2b650cd64cf84aae8ff0fae7474af82/SDOH-Evidence-Review.pdf