BREAKING DIET CULTURE
When Kennedy Anderson (name changed to protect anonymity) was in fourth grade, her older sister, Jenny (name changed to protect anonymity), would project her own body image insecurities onto her. Jenny made Kennedy feel insecure and unworthy; Kennedy reflects, “anytime I was wearing something she didn’t like she’d be like, you look so fat— like, literally, change.” This was the first time Anderson noticed her body in a negative way and was made self- conscious about it. Now as a junior, Anderson has pushed back on the stereotype of how a body is supposed to look after suffering with an eating disorder most of her life. Older generations putting their insecurities onto younger generations is a reality for most girls Kennedy’s age. They feel pressure to look skinnier from those they view as role models in real life—not only in the media. When friends and family make “tiny” comments about weight it makes their loved one feel anxious about the way they look. Because we are in a society that values thinness, making a comment about someone’s physical appearance, no matter if it is well intended, can be harmful. According to Juliana Strano, a mental health writer,“They reinforce and promote society’s idea that we are only as good as our physical characteristics…” Instead it is helpful to make comments about someone’s personality and strengths.
With fairly new apps such as Instagram, Snapchat, and TikTok, the internet is rapidly growing its influence. Because the internet has marketed towards children, they are influenced into developing unhealthy expectations for their bodies. The way the algorithm works is if you search up dieting tips or anything having to do with struggling with your body image, it gives you recommendations of dieting and tips to lose weight. Instagram opened an investigation in 2021 and created an account as a 13 year old girl who wanted diet tips. She was given suggestions of accounts who promoted “skinny binge” and “apple core anorexic.” (CBS News) Their role models tell them to diet because they are not skinny enough, which causes them to question their lifestyle and eating habits in a covert way. There are hundreds of influencers that tell their followers to diet and to buy a new beauty product that will help them lose weight. It is hard to escape the media pressure surrounding them.
The willingness for young people to lose weight at all costs comes from consumerism, advertisements, and social media. The impact of this is anxiety, restrictive eating habits and long lasting physical damage. If people do not start to limit the amount of media they consume and parents do not interfere, many young people will become wrapped in the web of diet culture.
What Is Diet Culture?
Diet culture is a system of beliefs imposed by the media that promotes weight loss and values it over everything else to achieve the ideal body image (Sweeney and Sage). According to Alexis Conason, PsyD., “Diet culture is a system that equates thinness with health, wellness, beauty, desirability, moral value, and superiority. It teaches us that the only way to improve our health and wellbeing is by losing weight” (qtd. in “Diet Culture”). Diet culture has been prevalent in the media for many years. Because of recent social media apps and new technologies it is easier to be susceptible to it.
It is harder to avoid because the media is everywhere and a part of daily life, especially in younger generations who use the internet more. According to The New York Times, screen time has increased since the pandemic. Melina Moyer says, “...daily screen use went up among tweens (ages 8 to 12) to five hours and 33 minutes from four hours and 44 minutes, and to eight hours and 39 minutes from seven hours and 22 minutes for teens (ages 13 to 18).” Before the pandemic, children were in school learning with paper and a pencil. Now most schools use technology as their main tool of education. When therapist Sarah Kimm was younger she remembers watching an ad about a cola that suppressed her appetite. Kimm says, “The primary differences are the volume of the messages. I think magazines only came once a week. TV was only there when you were watching it. You didn’t have a device in your pocket that you could consume almost at any moment of the day, reinforcing those messages over and over and over.” Social media is okay in small amounts but when it is all that you think about and do, it can cause very harmful effects on your mind and body. Social media is an insidious aspect of diet culture. According to Psychology Today, most eating disorders develop at a young age; therefore, social media enforces negative messages about weight constantly (Fuller). Psychological Effects come into play which, “can also play a significant part in the development of an eating disorder. Advertising and media convey mixed messages about what a person’s body “should” look like.” (“Adolescent Wellness Academy”)
Health Risks-
Some people who struggle with diet culture face extreme mood swings and excessive body checking. Junior Julia Pletcher of Los Altos High School talks about how when she opened up about her struggles with eating, many people did not believe her and said she was faking it. Stereotypically, she did not fit the physique of someone with an eating disorder. This caused her to crave more validation from others and she started to restrict more. Being around people who are not supportive can affect your mental state in a negative way. Eating disorders are linked to interpersonal relationships. (Psychology Today) Having a person in your life who is harmful to your mental wellbeing can be draining. Pletcher spoke about how a toxic friend had compared her struggle with hers. Eating disorder culture is extremely competitive and can make restrictive habits worse. Pletcher said, “The culture just suggests that, if you don’t look like this and if you’re not this X amount of weight, then you are invalid or if you can’t do these things like I can, you can’t show you’re hurting.” This causes a majority of people with eating disorders to lose enough weight to where they are seen as having issues, so that finally someone can give them the physical validation. The new trend sweeping Tik Tok is one where you only eat eggs for 10 days straight to lose weight. Some nutritionists worry that this trend encourages people to take a “highly restrictive approach to dieting.” (MM+M) Restrictive dieting does not help one lose weight; instead, it can lead to “...slower metabolism, increased hunger hormone (ghrelin) and decreased satiety — or ‘feeling full’ — hormone (leptin).” (Ohio State Health and Discovery) Although this trend has been debunked for being unhealthy and being an unsustainable approach to dieting many people continue to try it out. As Tik Toker Bailey Quinn put it, “ I just want to lose dramatic weight within the next week.” Even though Quinn puts a disclaimer at the beginning of her video saying she is not encouraging anyone to try this,she is putting it on the internet where anyone can ignore her warning and do it anyways.
This might not seem like such a big deal but when children take this in every day, it leads to dieting and unhealthy relations with their bodies. Trying out a trend like this and then stepping on the scale leads to a positive association with losing weight. A young mind tricks themself into thinking that ‘if I lose weight I will be happier.’
Recovery-
Eating disorders are addictions and, like other addictions, in order to get better you have to recover. Recovery is not linear and it’s difficult work. The first step to rejecting diet culture is to realize that there is a problem, that you have been dieting, losing weight or keeping obsessive track of how you look. Being conscious of it is the best thing that you can do at the beginning. If you do not realize there is a problem how can you fix it?
Caroline Mendes, a nutritionist from Massachusetts talks about how it is difficult to understand the difference between if you are actually full or if it is the eating disorders control on them. Mendes says people in recovery need to ask themselves the question, “Am I really full or is this the eating disorder trying to get me to restrict?” Listening to your body is key in order to recover. It is as simple as if your stomach is grumbling it means you are hungry so you should probably eat something. If you feel dizzy or tired the problem is you have not been giving your body the nourishment it needs. Balanced eating can also be a good way to give your body the care it needs. Step 1 is to eat in moderation. Give yourself permission to eat and be mindful of when you are hungry, or full. Step 2- Variety. Keep your body interested in the food it consumes. This can be a great way to jumpstart your appetite. Eating new things is scary but can also be rewarding. Variety also means all of the food groups. Kate Sweeny and Sage Macogona from Boston College wrote, “no one food provides all essential nutrients!” The last step is adequacy. It is important to reject the notion that there is an acceptable time or amount of food to eat. In general, eating every 3-4 hours is good for your body.
Prevention-
According to 60 Minutes Overtime, many parents have sued social media apps for turning a blind eye to the correlation between negative body image and a colossal amount of screen time use. “More than 150 lawsuits will be moving forward next year” (Alfonsi). Parents are the first in the line of defense in preventing dieting from becoming a disease. Sarah Kimm says parents can limit their children’s social media screen time. An example of how to do this is to “…not to be online or using social media after a certain time or hour of the day or, having check-ins like how you are interacting with this community…” (Kimm). An important step is to establish healthy and open communication when talking about the internet from a young age. Create an open and safe environment for your child and speak to them about the dangers of media and how it can subconsciously make you treat yourself and your body badly. The biggest tip is to be approachable and make them feel like you are not going to be upset or disappointed in them if they do something ‘wrong.’ If you find yourself confused on how to proceed with this conversation.
Cyberwise is a website that teaches parents how to teach their children how to use the internet safely and what warning signs they should look for. There are numerous digital citizenship and cyberbullying courses available such as digital citizenship, information literacy and media literacy for positive participation. Many parents assume the only dangers of the internet are cyberbullying and giving out your personal information. In reality it is now more likely for children to come across harmful comments about bodies. It is all across the internet everywhere you look. Numerous advertisements and posts talking about how in order to look beautiful you have to do or buy a certain thing. That you are not perfect the way you are, something needs to change.
Lexi Davis is a 17 year old junior who studies design at Freestyle Academy. She lives with her parents, older sister and cat in Mountain View, California. Outside of school she volunteers at The American Cancer Society and works at a jewelry store downtown Mountain View. She loves going to the beach and thrifting with her best friends. She has been in Dance Spectrum for all of her years at MVHS and is in the intermediate class. She has loved fashion and design every since she was a little kid trying on her moms clothes and wearing 5 outfits a day. Lexi has struggled with an eating disorder for 3 years. She is currently in recovery but wants to help other young people by writing this.
