Breaking Away from Diet Culture

By Hayley Rader

It’s that time of year again. Ads are popping up on my computer and my phone advertising a ‘3 Week Get Fit Plan’ and ‘10 Tips and Tricks for a Perfect Spring Break Body’. I normally scroll by, but this year I decided to look into what these ‘tips and tricks’ were telling people to do to achieve a ‘Spring Break Body’. This lead me into a deep dive of many articles about getting ready for Spring Break- all of them full of quick-fixes to lose weight or gain muscle. Some of the common tips that I found were to avoid salty foods, drink less water, do a juice cleanse, and cut out all forms of sugar and gluten. They all had short deadlines with some guaranteeing results in just one week.

As a future Registered Dietitian, I know from my education that there is no ‘quick fix’ for any kind of body change. I can look at these ads and know the falsehood behind them and the risks to following these plans. I also know that messages like this to the general public can seem like real fixes that can help them achieve that ‘body ideal’ that they have in their head. Following any of tips that I found in these ‘quick fix’ articles could result in disordered eating patterns. These messages may exacerbate levels of body dissatisfaction that are already present. It has been shown that severe body dissatisfaction can lead to low self esteem, depressive symptoms, binge eating, and other extreme weight control behaviors. Body dissatisfaction is shown to lead to increases in eating pathology- any symptoms of eating disorders such as severe caloric restriction, self-induced vomiting, excessive exercise, and misuse of diet pills².

Why do we have this fascination with achieving a perfect body for spring break? Why is there such a fixation on having a ‘bikini-body’?  Why are we willing to go to such lengths to achieve it? We all know that the media plays a huge role. Our personal involvement with the media has increased drastically since the invention of social media. Instagram, specifically, has increased the role that social media plays in our self-perception. It is no longer just magazines and models who can impact our perception of our own bodies. Our peers are using editing apps to create a perfect photo. Our feeds are full of filtered photos that create unrealistic expectations of reality.  

A 2017 study showed that there was a significant difference between Instagram users and non-Instagram users in body surveillance- which is defined in this study as the behavioral manifestation of self-objectification. Instagram users thought about how they look more than those who did not use Instagram. This study also found that following ‘health and fitness’ and/or celebrity accounts on Instagram was significantly positively correlated with thin-ideal internalization and a drive for thinness¹.

So what can we do? It’s not realistic to stop using social media- it is such a large part of everyday life for many people.  However, we can populate our feeds with body positive messages and images can work to combat the messages we are getting from other Instagram accounts and ads. Here are some of my favorite body-positive Instagram accounts:

• Christy Harrison, MPH, RD, CDN (@ch1styharrison) – Christy Harrison is the self-proclaimed “anti-diet dietitian” who posts great quotes from her podcast, Food Psych. She strives to debunk the diet culture and is a big encourager of intuitive eating.
• Deanna Wolfe, MS, RDN (@dietitiandeanna)- Deanna Wolfe is a dietitian who focuses on improving people’s relationships with food. She is very open about her recovery from her eating disorder on her page and emphasizes the importance of balance in a diet and not restricting foods. While her page is more food centered, she has great messages and tips for people trying to improve their relationship with food.
• Anna Sweeney, MS, RDN, CEDRD-S (@dietitiananna)- Anna Sweeney specializes in intuitive eating and eating disorder treatment. Her feed is full of motivational quotes and reminders to treat your body with kindness. Her goal is to remind people that food is just food and that your body has the power to tell you what it needs.
• Aerie (@aerie)- While this is not a Dietitian account, Aerie has a very strong body positive message. In addition to advertising their clothing line, the Aerie Instagram posts images of real women wearing their swimsuits and other clothing items as part of their #aeriereal campaign.  I love seeing the diversity in their models as well- check out their website for some of the most diverse models I have ever seen.

It is important that we remember what our bodies are for. We need our bodies to walk and talk and dance and run. Our bodies need to be fueled with food to carry out all of these functions. Our bodies deserve to be respected and treated well. Spring Break should be a time to relax and enjoy the time away, not a time to stress about your weight, shape, or size.  Fill your Instagram feed with positive messages that motivate you to love your body. This Spring Break let’s break away from diet culture and appreciate our body for all it does for us.
 

I celebrated my spring break with some Mickey Ice cream from Disneyland!

 
Cohen, R., Newton-John, T., & Slater, A. (2017). The relationship between Facebook and Instagram appearance-focused activities and body image concerns in young women. Body Image, 23, 183-187.

Rosewall, J. K., Gleaves, D. H., & Latner, J. D. (2018). Psychopathology Factors That Affect the Relationship Between Body Size and Body Dissatisfaction and the Relationship Between Body Dissatisfaction and Eating Pathology. Frontiers in psychology, 9, 2768.