Why Anti-Diet Activism is Super Important

If you’re a human, you have most likely experienced diet culture. You’ve probably even fallen victim to it. Diet culture is unfortunately ubiquitous in today’s society.

Have you been on a diet? Have you been on a diet and lost weight? Do you have an eating disorder? Did you go on a diet that caused an eating disorder?

Whether you answered ‘yes’ or ‘no’, it is still pertinent that you are anti-diet. Being anti-diet is activism, because it means acknowledging that a change needs to occur and that a whole industry needs to go down. Many people’s eating disorders were catalyzed by them going on a diet, which meant requiring them to restrict their food intake. So think of it like this: anti-diet activism is eating disorder prevention.

Dieting normalizes disordered eating behaviors. Diet culture has prevented eating disorders from being treated, as society dismisses disordered symptoms as “normal” and “healthy.” Diet culture teaches us to praise “clean eating” and “detoxes” and “eating less is better” and “thin bodies are more beautiful.” Diet culture shames and stigmatizes “unhealthy eating” and “larger bodies.” Diet culture is a fat-phobic industry with unrealistic and unhealthy beauty standards.

So when we work on being anti-diet, we are also fighting against the causes of food inequality, the fetishization of foreign food, and the shaming of non-standard food behaviors. Have you thought how diet culture is a culture of the white-western, upper-middle class that stigmatizes and fetishizes the eating practices of other cultures, and of lower-income and disabled peoples?

Diet and wellness culture are too focused on the individualization of health; therefore, they do not think about fixing critical structural issues, such as food deserts, food insecurity, fat-phobic beliefs, and lack of health funding and insurance.

Unfortunately, many people have been failed by dietitians and nutritionists. Hopefully, by raising awareness around the severe consequences of diet culture, the next generation of dietitians and nutritionists will be more knowledgeable and better equipped to offer the support and guidance needed to those suffering from eating disorders.

Diet culture is everywhere. From Weight Watcher’s weight-loss app, KURBO, (which has clients as young as five!!), to zero calorie noodles that cause severe bloating and cramping, to the fact that people who have undergone weight loss surgery are three times as likely to commit suicide as the average population, rejecting diet culture is crucial!

Diet industries benefit from our fat-phobic, misogynistic, and ableist social structures, as they sell us the fantasy that our bodies can gain and lose value according to our appearance. What BS!

Please, diet culture needs to go! Please, be an anti-diet activist.