Don't Eat Yourself Up!
This is the time of year when folks do their best to "eat, drink, and be merry." Unfortunately, all that merry-making is often accompanied by the worst diet culture traps, and it simply isn't possible to be truly merry while chastising yourself about what you eat.
Diet culture is a collection of pervasive and insidious social expectations that tell us how we should eat and look in order to be accepted. The ostensible goal, which is rooted in anti-black racism, is to be as thin and as close to the Eurocentric beauty ideal as possible. Diet culture is dangerous and linked to negative physical health outcomes for people of all ages, races, and sizes; however, it is important to note that diet culture causes harm to our mental health, especially body image and self-esteem, by:
1. Assigning morality to food (and to health)
One of the first things that diet culture teaches us is to divide foods into binaries such as "good" or " bad," "real" or "fake," "healthy" or "unhealthy," etc. Beyond the fact that these distinctions are arbitrary and baseless (nutritionally speaking, there is no such thing as a good or bad food), these dichotomies are far from neutral; they assign moral and emotional value to food, which we then internalize and assign to ourselves based on the foods we eat.
Food has no intrinsic moral value. A carrot is no more good/bad, real/fake, healthy/unhealthy than a chocolate bar. Foods either meet our individual nutritional needs or they don't.
Similarly, we are not good or bad based on what we eat. We are simply beings that require food to live. I would also like to note that "being healthy" is a nebulous moving target and is also largely out of our control. As such, health also has no intrinsic moral value.
Instead of moralizing food, focus on maintaining a neutral attitude toward food with the aim of simply nourishing your body. If you have specific health concerns and/or nutritional goals, work with medical professionals to determine what foods will best address those concerns based on your body's needs rather than society's expectations.
2. Framing food as indulgence rather than necessity
How often have you heard or said something along the lines of "I ate too much at dinner, so I need to work out a little extra today" or "I ran an extra mile, so I deserve dessert"? This framing implies that food is something that must be earned rather than a biological necessity. It also frames exercise/movement as a punishment for eating.
Because our thoughts impact our emotions and behaviors in a cyclical way, repeatedly reinforcing this way of thinking creates a negative, avoidant relationship to food and to exercise. By telling yourself over and over that you need to earn food and that exercise is a punishment, you train yourself to feel bad when you eat and when you exercise. This leads to disordered eating habits and an aversion to exercise.
Instead of pairing food and exercise as reward and punishment, remember that food, like air, is something you need to live. You cannot function without eating and therefore don't have to earn the right to eat. Additionally, joyful movement/exercise is one of the ways you take care of yourself and promote physical and mental wellness. It isn't a punishment.
3. Disconnecting food from culture and heritage
Since food is a physical necessity for life, it can be easy to forget that food is also deeply social and is an essential part of many cultural practices. Community and cultural connection is one of the major ways that we protect our mental health. By interfering with our cultural practices around food, diet culture isolates us from our natural support systems.
Whether it's a beloved family recipe passed from generation to generation, a shared community meal as part of a religious practice, or a plate of food prepared for a sick neighbor, food can be so much more than just nutrition. If your family, community, or culture has practices around food that give you a sense of belonging and make you feel good, embrace and preserve those practices.
