Friday, December 8th, Davidson, noon
Diet Culture bomb: I was scrolling through Tiktok causally, and a video of an old man showed up on my for you page. He said that we should cut out sugar from our diets for a month, and we would see all sorts of “benefits” such as a thinner face and a “better” body. People in the comments stated that if you cut out sugar for long enough, you won’t even crave it anymore!
How it landed: The Tiktok startled me. I’m not used to seeing diet culture videos on my for you page, but this time, it was loud and clear (apparently the algorithm hasn’t fully figured me out yet). I quickly scrolled past.
How I recovered: I stopped for a minute and thought about the video I had just watched. Do I really want to cut sugar out of my life? I LOVE sugar. Why would I want to cut it out of my life? Frankly, that sounds miserable. And there is absolutely nothing wrong with my body. So I’ll eat as much sugar as I please, thank you very much.
Saturday, December 9th, Indiana, 10 pm
Diet culture bomb: I arrived home from my long drive back from college with a large bag of snacks that my eating house gives us for free every finals season (thank you Turner House!!). I was very excited to have good snacks to munch on while I completed finals at home. However, when I walked in the door, my mom immediately expressed her disdain. She said, “we don’t keep junk food in this house. We try to eat healthy around here”.
How it landed: This was hard to hear, especially as someone who has struggled with an eating disorder in the past. I love eating all types of food, from fruits and vegetables to candy and chips. I think that all food is good food. So it was hard to hear my mom refer to a wonderful bag of food as “bad”.
How I recovered: I thought about the comments that my mom made and talked to her about them. I think that we can keep all types of food in our house, and I don’t think that food should be assigned the terms “good” or “bad”. And just because my mom only wants to eat “healthy” foods, doesn’t mean that I can’t enjoy some good snacks! I make my own food choices!
Tuesday, December 13, Indiana, 2 pm
Diet culture bomb: I show up at my local Starbucks to get some work done. I promptly order a drink, but as soon as I look at the menu, I remember something. Starbucks has calories on their menu. As someone who used to have an eating disorder and be obsessed with calories, that is not really something that I want to see or be reminded of.
How it landed: I was disappointed. I absolutely hate when restaurants have calories on their menus. It makes it more difficult for people who are recovering from eating disorders and the impacts of diet culture.
How I recovered: I was disappointed, but I tried to completely ignore the calories and just order whatever I wanted to drink, regardless of the calories or how “healthy” it was. It was a reminder that calories are not at all important in my life, and I can enjoy whatever foods or drinks I want.
I’m glad that you are enjoying whatever you want and not focused on diet. It can be hard to have this mindset when society and culture tells us otherwise and glorifies unhealthy eating habits to have the “right body type.” In college I feel so many of us are insecure about our bodies and it makes us workout. I love to eat food and sometimes I see people stare at me whenever I grab a lot of food and it makes me uncomfortable as if I’d doing something wrong. I hope this diet culture can change.
I definitely agree that you should enjoy whatever foods you like to eat. It is hard at times to do so because of the all of these negative diet cultures and other negative messages that society is sending to people, but at the end of the day, everyone should feel comfortable with whatever food they eat. One thing I wish to see change is that society gets past these negative diet cultures and more people begin to promote positive eating habits that encourage people to eat whatever snacks or meals they like instead of judging a person for doing so.