So You Want To Be “Skinny”

America’s stark issue with diet culture

Elley Atchison, Junior Editor

For many years, a popular trend in America has been the pursuit of a “healthy” lifestyle through a particular obsession. Advertisers and influencers have tapped into this phenomenon, but it ultimately stems from the allure of diet culture. While some believe that dieting is a productive way to achieve health, the reality is that it can lead to harmful habits and ideas due to the misinformation surrounding this culture.

First and foremost, influencers spreading their beliefs about diet could lead to their followers facing challenges about their bodies. For example, the seemingly harmless “what I eat in a day” videos on Youtube and Tik Tok have become exceedingly popular. While the intentions are innocuous, these types of videos are the very thing that reinforces an unhealthy culture because they are setting a standard of what food and lifestyle habits should look like for everyone. Many of these people convey that because they “complete intermittent fasting” or “drink three cups of pineapple juice before breakfast,” that is how they attained their perfect figure. Consequently, their followers will try mimicking the influencer’s tips and tricks, only to be disappointed when their bodies do not produce the same results. This idea that they are not eating the “right” things leads to an unhealthy notion about the human diet and, in turn, about the human body. Overall, social media leaders are at the heart of the diet culture in America that has caused many people to feel inadequate about their bodies.

Additionally, the restrictions that come with dieting could cause eating disorders because it enforces harmful patterns. For instance, the popularized “75 Hard Challenge” includes, but is not limited to, following a dieting regimen, completing two intervals of a 45-minute exercise, and drinking one gallon of water daily for 75 days. Because this diet does not allow for “cheat meals,” an individual who cannot stick to its rigidity could develop an eating disorder.

The whole idea of dieting separates food into two categories: good and bad. When someone strays from the diet and eats the so-called “bad” food, they experience guilt. Thus, this guilt could potentially fester into disordered eating because it might lead to periods of binging the “bad” food or restricting oneself from certain food completely. It is not inevitable that dieting will lead to an eating disorder, but it does establish the potential for one because of the constraints that come with it.

Moreover, although some may view dieting as an excellent way to get into (or back into) shape, the truth is it can end up causing more harm than good for many people. Going back to the “75 Hard Challenge” mentioned previously, it could be an excellent way to motivate people to be healthier; however, many people do not do well under strict rules like the one that challenge requires. Some individuals excel at the intensity of a diet like that and would see amicable results. Many, though, would be unsuccessful at a regimen like that, which would further cause insignificant feelings about their diet. Instead of curating all of these new diets and fads, we should encourage wholesome eating and the implementation of exercise in an individual’s life. No person will successfully follow a strict diet their entire life, so why should we not just encourage a healthy lifestyle instead of increments of dieting? All in all, America should strive to uplift a balanced lifestyle instead of pushing temporary diets. To end, health is an immensely complex topic with multiple layers, some of which I am sure I am not well educated on. Although my knowledge is limited, I think certain ideas about health are festering into an unproductive culture in our society. America should be more careful about the information they are spreading about health, claiming it as fact. If we can take what we hear about fitness and well-being with a grain of salt, our overall ideas about health could improve dramatically. America has the opportunity to spread facts instead of theories about health; we should start now.