Happiful – September 2019

Writing | Pixie Turner

As the summer hits its stride, it’s near impossible to avoid all the attention-grabbing

headlines about the latest fad diet, ‘bikini body workout’, or obesity epidemics,

designed to make us feel guilty at mealtimes. But diet culture doesn’t need to make

its claim on you! Here, we put the BS on blast

64 • happiful.com • September 2019

HOW TO SPOT

The toxicity narrative can come

in a number of forms. With

sugar in particular, we’re told

that it’s toxic and addictive, and

that’s why we’re all fat: we can’t

stop eating it. This is absolute

nonsense. Firstly, weight isn’t

a behaviour, and we should

stop acting like it’s something

we have complete control over.

Secondly, using fear tactics to

scare people out of eating certain

foods is unhelpful. It’s a very

effective short-term motivator,

but it also often leads to bingeing

behaviours, secret eating, guilt,

and is not conducive to good

mental health. Using weight

gain as a fear tactic implies that

all weight gain is bad (it’s not),

and shows just how much value

society places on a thin body.

Much of the ‘toxicity’ narrative

very much feeds in to the ‘thin

bodies are good bodies’, ‘fat bodies

are bad bodies’ narrative, as we

take on the concept of ‘you are

what you eat’. If you eat ‘toxic’

foods (sugar, processed food,

chemicals, gluten, whatever is

negatively trending) then this

must manifest in the body in the

form of weight gain, because

toxic foods make toxic bodies. It’s

an incredibly harmful narrative

that attaches moral value to food,

which is then transferred to our

bodies. All bodies are good bodies.

“THIS FOOD IS TOXIC! AVOID IT AT ALL COSTS!”

DIET CULTURE BS

D

iet culture is like that

song by The Police:

every breath you take,

every move you make,

it’s watching you. And

judging you.

All the messages that are

ingrained in us by society, that

health, beauty, happiness, and

success have an aesthetic, and a

very particular aesthetic at that,

are encompassed by diet culture. If

you don’t fit this image, then you’re

wrong and need to change. Diet

culture conveniently sells us all the

tools we allegedly need to mould

ourselves to the ideal image, and

when they don’t work, it shames us

for not trying hard enough.

These messages have incredible

power over us, and seep into

the way we think and talk about

ourselves, our family, our friends,

and strangers.

Diet culture is built on lies.

Health doesn’t have one look,

beauty is multi-faceted, success

comes in many forms, and

happiness doesn’t often come

from being constantly told you’re

not good enough.

Here are just some of the diet

culture headlines I’ve spotted in

recent years, that I wish people

would stop using: