Are you sure you should eat that? The truth about diet culture

Catherine Hercules The Miami Student

“You have an eating disorder” is the first thing I heard from my therapist after I explained my relationship with food and my body. I never thought I would be the kind of person to suffer from an eating disorder, considering I was “the chubby kid” growing up. What had once been a love for food and confidence in myself slowly became a nightmarish hatred that festered into starvation as I became an adult.

From the time we start kindergarten, we receive messages about when we should exercise, what we should eat and how our bodies should look. It begins in gym class, with physical education teachers grading us based on how fast we run the mile. We watch documentaries about the dangers of sugar and learn how to read food labels. We weigh ourselves and take body fat composition tests to make sure our physical bodies are healthy.

I remember when I was in seventh grade and was in the lunchroom eating with my friends. We were talking about the recent math test, how stupid our social studies project was and what Samantha was planning on doing for her birthday the following month.

I noticed my P.E. teacher looking at me, and when we made eye contact, she walked over and kneeled down next to my seat. She softly said in my ear, “Are you sure you should eat that?”

I glanced down at my lunchbox and saw the Twinkie my mom had packed for me.

I was no stranger to comments about what I looked like or what I ate.

I can recall the boy in fourth grade that called me a pig and the girl in fifth grade who, when she failed to push me, said I was as heavy as an elephant. I think anyone who grew