Diet Culture: What It Is and 6 Ways to Cope With It

Crash diets, body-shaming, forcing yourself to do an extra workout after an indulgent dinner — for decades, beliefs and trends rooted in diet culture have shaped the way we approach nutrition, weight loss, and what we consider healthy.

Though dieting is certainly popular, experts say diet culture is doing more harm than good for our physical and mental well-being.

While seeking better health through nutrition and exercise is a worthy goal, diet culture zeroes in solely on what people see on the scale, their dress size, and unsustainable ways of getting to a “goal” weight, says Laura Cordella, RD, an ambulatory dietitian at NewYork-Presbyterian Westchester Behavioral Health Center in White Plains, New York.

This limited vantage point on health can have negative consequences for the way we eat and the way we perceive ourselves.

“Diet culture disguises itself in health and wellness advice, but it’s assuming the smaller you get, the healthier you’ll be, and utilizes a restrictive diet in the pursuit of fitness,” says Cordella. “The messaging behind diet culture basically stigmatizes folks in larger bodies and assumes that a larger body automatically makes someone unhealthy.”

It places importance on sticking to strict eating regimens, so-called “quick fixes,” and the notion that thinness is ideal. “These are ideas that start from such a young age that are now ingrained as a normal thing,” Cordella says. “It’s not giving people a chance to develop their own individualized relationship with food and ability to feed ourselves.”

• Thin people are automatically healthier and more attractive than people who aren’t thin.
• A higher weight or larger body is caused by poor health decisions.
• People can fully control their own health and appearance.
• Fatness should be feared.

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• Weight loss is an automatic indicator of better health.
• Certain foods are morally better or worse than others.

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The principles of diet culture often lead people to believe that doing certain things will make them thinner or healthier, and that if they don’t follow these rules, they’ve done something wrong, says Cordella. “It interferes with your ability to enjoy life and make connections with other people. It’s getting in the way of the human experience,” she explains.

• Descriptions of food, such as “good,” “bad,” “guilt-free,” “junk,” or “sinful”
• A workout instructor says, “You need to earn that brunch.”
• Phrases like, “I was really bad this weekend,” or “This is my cheat day,” to describe the food you ate
• Advice (that you hear or give) focused on “melting fat” or losing a certain number of pounds in a week
• Before and after body pictures that idealize weight loss or the "right way" to look
• Compliments on a person's weight loss or praise for a celebrity’s weight loss on social media, especially without an indication of how or why they lost weight
• Fat-shaming yourself, according to Cordella
  

Diet culture has been a part of human civilization for eons and has a complicated history.

• Racism As described by the sociologist Sabrina Strings in Fearing the Black Body: The Racial Origins of Fat Phobia, fear of fatness has origins in the Enlightenment-era belief that fatness was associated with racial inferiority and “savagery.”

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   Around the 17th century, body fat and size became a tool of racist categorization to justify the enslavement and oppression of Black people. A thin physique was viewed as a sign of European intellectual and moral superiority, whereas Black people were viewed as inherently physically inferior to white people because of larger body sizes.

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• Sexism Diet culture is closely linked with patriarchal expectations for how women should look and behave.
• Body Mass Index (BMI) BMI — a calculation based on one’s weight and height created in the 1970s — was once viewed as an automatic indicator of one’s health. A so-called “normal” BMI is often viewed as inherently healthy, and a high BMI is often viewed as inherently unhealthy. BMI was first developed and studied in white European men and didn’t account for the body sizes of women or people of other races or ethnicities. BMI has since been changed over time to account for some of these differences. Although it’s still used to screen for weight categories that may be associated with certain health issues, it cannot diagnose an individual’s health or body fat percentage.

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• Diet and Weight Loss Industry Businesses recognized the opportunity to profit from people’s insecurities about weight and body size and body dissatisfaction. Many companies and individuals have created and sold products like supplements, diet plans, and cleanses and marketed them as solutions to these insecurities. As mentioned earlier, the U.S. diet and weight loss industry was valued at $72.6 billion in 2021.

In more recent times, fashion trends, supermodels, celebrities, and, of course, today’s era of social media and influencers have further reinforced diet culture in countries like the United States, says Ziyad Nasrawi, MD, a bariatric surgeon at NewYork-Presbyterian Medical Group in Brooklyn, New York.

“In the ’70s, ’80s, and ’90s, we valued models,” Dr. Nasrawi says. “More toward the 2010s, celebrity trends really picked up. It’s become a multibillion-dollar industry, and now people are flooded with a lot of messages about diet.”

Once you start to buying into diet culture, it can be a slippery slope. It can lead to yo-yo dieting (gaining weight without intending to, dieting in response, and then regaining that weight again), intense calorie restriction, body dysmorphia, or other mental or physical health concerns, says Julia Zumpano, RD, a registered dietitian at Cleveland Clinic’s Digestive Disease and Surgery Institute in Ohio.

• Negative body image caused by unrealistic beauty standards and weight stigma
• Low self-esteem and body dissatisfaction
• Preoccupation with food, control, and restriction
• Disordered eating patterns or eating disorders
• Blood pressure problems
• Compromised bone density
• Decreased muscle mass

Plenty of research backs this up.

“It can lead to body dysmorphia — your perception of yourself is altered and you’re dissatisfied no matter how you look,” Zumpano adds.

When it comes to the health effects of calorie restriction, Cordella points to the infamous and often-cited 1940s Minnesota Starvation Experiment. That was a study conducted at the University of Minnesota during World War II to help experts and relief workers learn how to help people who’d been starved during the war.

Restrictive diets can have other health consequences, too. Think of low-carb diets, for example, says Cordella. “You’re eliminating a major food group that can have a significant impact on your health. It can lead to dangerously low blood sugar, kidney problems, and digestive problems in addition to impacting the way we concentrate, cope with our emotions, and fuel our brains,” she says.

Figuring out how diet culture has shaped your lifestyle — from your eating habits to how you talk about your body — is a crucial first step in avoiding its negative effects on your well-being, Zumpano says.

If you feel diet culture has had a negative effect on you, here are six ways you can shift your mindset and learn to treat your body and mind better, even in the face of body shaming and diet scrutiny.

1. Talk to a Registered Dietitian, Especially if You Have a Health Condition

If you feel diet culture has caused you to struggle with food or weight-related issues, consider consulting a registered dietitian, say Zumpano and Cordella.

This is an especially important step if you have diabetes, high blood pressure, or other medical conditions that may affect your appetite, metabolism, and physical activity. It’s in these instances that participation in fad diets or other unhealthy trends around weight loss and fitness on social media or elsewhere could be even more harmful to your health.

“My No. 1 recommendation would be to see a dietitian,” Zumpano says. “We’re educated in nutrition, we can tailor people’s diets to their goals, and we make sure you’re meeting all your macro- and micronutrient needs.”

Registered dietitians can factor in insulin, blood sugar levels, and triglycerides if you have diabetes or heart disease, for example. They can fine-tune your eating patterns in a medically supervised way and help you with any nutrition-related goals you have.

If you need help finding a registered dietitian, consider using the Association for Size Diversity and Health (ASDAH) Health at Every Size provider directory. Note: ASDAH owns the trademark to Health at Every Size.

2. Be Skeptical About What You See on Social Media

Don’t believe everything you see on Instagram, TikTok, and other social media sites. Think critically about the content you’re viewing and who created it, says Nasrawi. Social media platforms are often inundated with brands trying to sell you something and influencers who are paid to promote certain products and lifestyles to you.

“See their credentials before taking what they say at face value if they’re giving out nutrition advice,” says Nasrawi. “People can be motivated by sponsorships over the health of their viewers.”

Or shift away from diet and lifestyle content altogether on social media, says Zumpano. Instead, go to trusted, science-based organizations for credible information, such as the Cleveland Clinic or the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, she suggests. If you have a health condition, seek information from relevant organizations like the American Heart Association or the American Diabetes Association.

3. Don’t Fall for ‘Quick Fixes’ or One-Size-Fits-All Approaches

Diet culture promotes a stark black-and-white stance on nutrition and body ideals — food is either “good” or “bad” and you’re either “slim” or “fat.” This limited thinking doesn’t work, and it could damage your health in the long run.

Any person, company, or diet that promises you’ll lose weight quickly or forces you to commit to strict calorie restriction or cutting out entire food groups is not sustainable. “Spreading the message that there's just one universal way of eating that will solve everyone's problems is really, really dangerous,” says Cordella.

“It has to be a lot more individualized, and there are a lot of nuances that you have to consider,” Cordella explains. “We all have a unique makeup, so just because one diet works for one person doesn’t mean it’s going to work for someone else.”

If you want or need to make weight changes, your goals should be slow, steady, and sustainable. Remember: As mentioned earlier, restrictive diets can lead to weight cycling patterns that are hard to stop.

4. Choose Whole Foods, Not Diet Foods

Instead of forgoing carbs or counting calories, shape your meals around whole foods. You’re better off adopting an eating pattern that steers you away from packaged, highly processed diet foods as a rule of thumb, Cordella says.

For instance, rather than load up on things like protein bars, low-carb crackers, or sugar-free ice cream, instead reach for nutritious, whole foods like fresh fruits and vegetables, fish and lean meats, and nuts, seeds, and olive oil, Cordella suggests.

She points to the Mediterranean diet as a general guide to use when you’re grocery shopping. It’s important to note that the Mediterranean diet is not a restriction-based or fad diet. Rather, it’s a science-backed, heart-healthy eating pattern centered on nutritious, plant-based foods in your diet. It also emphasizes eating meals with family and friends and enjoying conversation together.

There are many ways to incorporate these types of foods into your life, and there’s no one right way to do it. These foods can be prepared many different ways with a variety of different seasonings.

5. Reframe the Way You Think About Food

It’s important to center your eating patterns and your mindset on fueling your brain and body rather than simply trying to be as thin as possible.

One way to do this is by asking yourself if what you’re eating makes you feel energized, helps you focus on work or exercise, and lifts your mood instead of making you feel lethargic, Cordella suggests. A holistic approach like this can help you reframe the way you view food and weight, she adds.

According to Zumpano, other important questions to consider, beyond weight loss or the number on the scale, include:

• “How’s my mental health?”
• “How are my memory and cognition?”
• “How’s my sleep?”
• “How well am I recovering from exercise?”
• “How are my blood pressure, blood sugar, and cholesterol?”

6. Work Toward Body Acceptance

There are a lot of different ways to practice body acceptance. For instance, work on catching yourself anytime you engage in “fat talk” (talking about body weight or size in a negative or disparaging way) with yourself or with friends and family, and replace these words with kinder, more complimentary thoughts about your body.

Try not to edit your photos before posting them on social media, and understand that there are many different body types that are healthy, Cordella says. Or, instead of creating a goal to lose 10 pounds, consider a goal to strengthen and tone your body or to cook more at home instead of dining out.

Finally, remember that there are many factors at play when it comes to weight. Genetics, lifestyle, and socioeconomics are all moving parts that can play a role in one’s health journey.

“Believe that ‘healthy’ comes in every size, and that it’s not necessary to fit societal expectations,” Cordella says.

These organizations aim to mitigate the effects of diet culture and body shaming on people’s lives and promote body acceptance.

The Body Positive

The Body Positive is a community geared toward cultivating body positivity and helping people free themselves from societal messages that contribute to body-shaming and body dissatisfaction. Check out their blog posts about body acceptance. You may also consider enrolling in their Be Body Positive Fundamentals home study course to improve your relationship with food, exercise, and your body. You can follow them on Facebook, Instagram, and other social media sites.

Body Empowerment Project

Founded in 2021, the Body Empowerment Project aims to help young people embrace body acceptance and cultivate a strong sense of self-worth, and to reduce the risk of eating disorders in teens. The group offers educational workshops geared toward boosting body image and self-esteem, including a youth program for kids in Philadelphia and Bay Area public schools and a college program for students across the United States. You can subscribe to their newsletter or follow them on Instagram at @body_empowerment_project.

• Diet culture promotes the belief that weight loss and thinness are markers of good health.
• If you’re struggling with your diet or weight, consider speaking to a registered dietitian who can help you reach your nutrition goals and factor in your specific medical conditions, if needed.
• Reframing how you think about food and learning how to replace “fat talk” with body acceptance can help you feel better about your progress.

Everyday Health's Weight Loss Reframed Survey queried 3,144 Americans nationwide ages 18 and older who have tried losing weight in the past six months. The study was fielded between July 10 and August 18, 2023, across demographic groups, genders, and health conditions. Survey recruitment took place via an online portal, in-app, and email. The margin of error for the sample size of 3,144 is +/-1.7 percent at a 95 percent confidence level.