Diet culture
Diet culture refers to a common set of trends and norms that may specifically affect those undertaking dieting or monitoring their caloric or nutritional intake. It often describes a set of societal beliefs pertaining to food and body image, primarily focused on losing weight, an endorsement of thinness as a high moral standard, and the alteration of food consumption. Scholars and activists believe that diet culture is often intertwined with racism and other forms of prejudice, and rely on an intersectional approach to discuss the interactions of prejudice based on gender, race, and weight.[1] As a term, "diet culture" is used as a framework for social analysis and as a critique of contemporary social standards and their impact on body images and health as it pertains to those classified as overweight and engaged in a diet regimen.[2]
History
[edit]While dieting for health reasons can be traced to Ancient Greece, the movement of dieting motivated specifically by weight loss emerged in the middle of the 19th century. William Banting's "A Letter to Corpulence" was a self-published work documenting his weight loss directed towards white middle-class men and is considered the earliest significant work on the topic.[3] In the late 19th and early 20th century, a move from plumpness to thinness as a sign of attractiveness in women led to women's magazines including dieting advice; other social changes include the popularisation of calorie counting as a dieting method, which was originally used for rationing in wartime.[3]
The second half of the 20th century, marked the emergence of the fat acceptance movement, followed in the early 21st century by the body positivity movement. At the same time, there was widespread pressure applied to women to lose weight and remain thin, including through fad diets and public social pressure.[3] "Diet culture" as a term likely emerged in the early 2010s and has since been used to analyze past and current cultural and social sentiments.[4] The emergence of weight loss drugs such as Ozempic at the beginning of the 2020s and the associated cultural and social changes have led to arguments that a regression of diet culture has taken place.[3]
Use
[edit]Diet culture is often used as a framework for social analysis and critique. Among the topics primarily discussed is the use of critical terms for foods and their consumption, but also of the impact of diet culture on the social and medical treatment of overweight people.[2] The term is used by activists who believe that it causes harm, which can be considered a shared belief among anti-diet movements.[5][6] Intuitive eating is considered by some to be a remedy against the negative effects of diet culture.[7]
The use of diet culture as an analytical framework is often associated with intersectionality and anti-racism based on the outsized impact of diet culture on people of color.[8][9] Sabrina Strings, sociologist at the University of California, Santa Barbara, argues that diet culture is used to enforce existing social hierarchies in a way that disadvantages marginalized groups.[10] Beginning in the late 19th century, scientific racism was used as a tool for criticizing the eating habits and weight of Black people, leading black women in particular to diet due to social pressure.[3] Black women were often accused by the medical community of having an "inability to control their 'animal appetites'", despite the lack of any scientific evidence.[3][11] Diet culture has also been criticized for its outsized impact on the body image and mental health of the Latino community, and for denigrating its traditional foods and social structures in favor of western diets and culture.[12]
Reception
[edit]Diet culture is generally a term used to discuss contemporary approaches to dieting and body images in a critical way. There are concerns that it could promote body image issues, eating disorders, and other mental health issues. Due to these concerns and the negative appeal surrounding the term, diet culture has been reframed as a focus on fitness and health. This perspective centered around prioritizing individual well-being and health rather than emphasizing the improvement of one's physique by losing weight.[13] Commonly, there is a significant difference between what is recommended by healthcare professionals and what social media influencers advocate for.[14]
At the same time, those advocating against diet culture have faced accusations of spreading inaccurate information by denying or minimizing the health impact of excessive weight and unhealthy diets. Registered dietitian and research scientist Kevin Klatt, an instructor at University of California, Berkeley, stated that arguments against the link between high body fat and chronic illness are "made up stuff that is a fantasy and a total fairy tale."[6]
See also
[edit]References
[edit]- ^ Multiple sources:
- Nieto, Azahara (2024-03-14). "Diet culture, or why food is much more than just nutrition". El País. Archived from the original on 2024-05-02. Retrieved 2024-05-02.
- Kelly, Jane (2024-03-11). "What is 'Diet Culture' and How Can You Avoid Its Pitfalls and Accept Your Body?". UVAToday. University of Virginia. Retrieved 2024-05-02.
- Sissons, Beth (2023-11-30). "Diet culture: What it is, its effects, and how to overcome it". Medical News Today. Archived from the original on 2024-05-02. Retrieved 2024-05-02.
- Jovanovski, Natalie; Jaeger, Tess (January–February 2022). "Demystifying 'diet culture': Exploring the meaning of diet culture in online 'anti-diet' feminist, fat activist, and health professional communities". Women's Studies International Forum. 90 (102558). doi:10.1016/j.wsif.2021.102558. Archived from the original on 2024-05-03. Retrieved 2024-05-03.
- Harrison, Christy (2019). Anti-Diet - Reclaim your time, money, well-being and happiness through intuitive eating. Little, Brown Spark. p. 12. ISBN 978-1-5293-8120-7.
- ^ a b Mosley, Tonya (April 25, 2023). "Diet culture can hurt kids. This author advises parents to reclaim the word 'fat'". NPR. Archived from the original on 2024-09-24. Retrieved 2024-09-24.
- ^ a b c d e f Katz, Cameron; Elledge, Annie (2024-01-25). "Diet Culture Has Been Around Since Ancient Greece". Teen Vogue. Condé Nast. Retrieved 2024-05-02.
- ^ Kelly, Jane (2024-03-11). "What is 'Diet Culture' and How Can You Avoid Its Pitfalls and Accept Your Body?". UVAToday. University of Virginia. Archived from the original on 2024-05-02. Retrieved 2024-05-02.
- ^ Chang, Alisa (April 10, 2024). "How Big Food co-opted the anti-diet movement for profit". NPR. Retrieved 2024-09-24.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: url-status (link) - ^ a b Chavkin, Sasha; Gilbert, Caitlin; O'Connor, Anahad (April 3, 2024). "As obesity rises, Big Food and dietitians push 'anti-diet' advice". Washington Post.
- ^ Byrne, Leanna (6 April 2019). "Intuitive eating leads backlash against diet culture". BBC. Archived from the original on 2024-09-25. Retrieved 2024-09-24.
- ^ King, Chrissy. "How Anti-Racism Helps to Dismantle Diet Culture". Shape. Dotdash Meredith. Archived from the original on 2024-05-02. Retrieved 2024-05-02.
- ^ Jovanovski, Natalie; Jaeger, Tess (January–February 2022). "Demystifying 'diet culture': Exploring the meaning of diet culture in online 'anti-diet' feminist, fat activist, and health professional communities". Women's Studies International Forum. 90 (102558). doi:10.1016/j.wsif.2021.102558. Archived from the original on 2024-05-03. Retrieved 2024-05-03.
- ^ Miller, Lisa (2024-04-21). "Let Them Eat … Everything". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on 2024-05-01. Retrieved 2024-05-02.
- ^ Strings, Sabrina; Bacon, Lindo (2020-07-01). "The Racist Roots of Fighting Obesity". Scientific American. Springer Nature. Archived from the original on 2024-08-23. Retrieved 2024-08-23.
- ^ Zaragoza, Alex (2024-01-05). "Diet culture tricks us into thinking our cultural foods aren't healthy". Los Angeles Times. Archived from the original on 2024-05-01. Retrieved 2024-05-02.
- ^ Tagle, Andee; Schneider, Clare Marie (January 4, 2022). "Diet culture is everywhere. Here's how to fight it". NPR. Archived from the original on September 26, 2023. Retrieved September 13, 2023.
- ^ Sissons, Beth (2023-11-30). "Diet culture: What it is, its effects, and how to overcome it". Medical News Today. Archived from the original on 2024-05-02. Retrieved 2024-05-02.