It is a phrase that has recently become widely talked about by the feminist community. You may have heard it, or you may be learning about it for the first time now. But what exactly is diet culture?

Diet culture is the societal pressure that people of all genders, though mostly women, feel to worry about what they eat in order to be as thin as possible. At first, this may seem like an issue that does not impact you. But let me ask you this: Do you feel guilty about eating food that makes you happy? Do you base any part of your diet on a goal for your physical appearance set by society? Do you purposely skip meals to lose weight? Do you compare your diet to those of the people around you?

When it is written out, it becomes clearer how toxic diet culture is. The physical expectations of women and girls from society have led so many to put their health in danger in order to lose weight. While diets can be a healthy and safe choice for people of all genders, the idea that they are necessary, determine someone’s health, or should be used to reach a goal of physical appearance turn them extremely harmful. Eating minimally is something that has unfortunately become normalized in society today, imprinting on young people that eating disorders are desirable.

Now, that might sound like an exaggeration or dramatization of reality. But it’s not. As a teenager, not only have I felt the intense pressure to diet and lose weight; I have witnessed firsthand so many of my female peers fall victim to eating disorders or eating insecurity because of the advertising of diet culture. In most cases, they don’t even see the problem, and furthermore feel proud of the fact that they are losing weight by that method.

I have news for you. This isn’t normal. Women did not come to have a longer lifespan than men by only eating one to two meals a day. Our bodies need nourishment, and a healthy body looks different on everyone. We should be eating food that makes us feel good– which sometimes might include an extra dessert. But if your eating habits make you feel sick, starving, regretful, or ashamed, you are not doing what is right for yourself.

If you are starting a diet, ask yourself these questions. Am I doing this for me, or to please other people? Is my health really in danger from the way I eat now? Does the diet I choose offer healthy alternatives to meals, or just cut down on how much I eat? Will this path improve my health, or just make me skinnier?

Because diets are not always bad, but most of the time they are not necessary. And it is crucial to diet in a way that will actually make you healthier, instead of malnourish you.

Being informed about this toxic mindset is the first step to overcoming it. Be aware of what influences your decisions (What your friends are doing? What you see on TV?), and what the effects will be on your mental health. It might be popular to make lifestyle changes in order to go down a size, but it is only society’s female body image controlling people’s lives in yet another way. Don’t be pressured to give in. We can be stronger than that. 🙂