Diet

Culture Is Dangerous

The risks posed by diet drugs and disordered eating need to be taken seriously

I've struggled with my body image for years. Constant diet messaging—from weight-loss ads, fatphobic books, PE coaches, and even my family at times—led me to believe that my weight depended solely on what I ate; that I could be skinny and athletic like my siblings if only I ate right and exercised more (even though my siblings and I all exercise daily and eat similar food); that if I was to become overweight, it would be a health failure and a moral failure. Even today, unlearning these messages is still a work in progress, and the continued prevalence of diet messaging doesn't help.

Mass media, from fearmongering "obesity epidemic" pieces to shady advertisements with inaccurate weight loss advice, will have you believing that losing weight is always a positive, that gaining weight is always a negative, that your weight is your fault. None of those are true. Does losing weight really make you more athletic? Not necessarily. Working out might lead you to gain muscle, causing you to gain weight instead of losing it, and it's possible to be overweight and athletic, or thin and unathletic. Genetics also play a role in determining your shape, size, and athletic ability—it's not just what you eat or how often you exercise.

Does losing weight make you healthier? Again, not necessarily. While certain levels of obesity can have some health risks, variations in body type are normal and natural. And while BMI is often heralded as a metric for determining when obesity poses a medical risk, the metric is incredibly flawed.

BMI was created in the 1800s, based on data from white males. It only uses your weight and height, ignoring other health information such as muscle distribution; athletes can be classified as overweight by BMI since muscle weighs more than fat. Yet when people have a high BMI, doctors will often declare them overweight and advise losing weight as a cure-all, which can lead to fat people not getting the medical care they need.

Pressure to lose weight, from doctors or other sources, can even lead to medication abuse. Ozempic, a drug that limits your appetite, has recently gained mass media attention and celebrity attention as a weight-loss mechanism, despite not being approved for such purposes. The drug is meant to combat type 2 diabetes—it lowers your blood sugar and regulates insulin. This winter, Ozempic was in short supply in part due to its use as a diet fad, causing difficulties for type 2 diabetics who rely on the drug.

While diet drugs do go overboard, there is some truth to diet messaging. Getting regular exercise and eating healthy foods can help your health, both mental and physical. But damaging your relationship with food—or worse, developing an eating

More Than Just Words

The key to increasing attendance and understanding identity is planning fun, cultural events

STORY Sami K.

Affinity spaces should celebrate a shared identity—not just foster solidarity and strategy, although those are important community builders.

disorder—is more detrimental for your health than being overweight. According to the National Association of Anorexia Nervosa and Associated Disorders, eating disorders impact at least 9% of the US population, and about 25% of people with eating disorders attempt suicide.

Rather than using weight as a metric for health, find other ways to measure your fitness, from counting your heart rate to measuring how far you're able to run or swim. Don't make comments on what other people eat or shame them for their weight; what's “healthy” and what's not differs for every person.

If you're struggling with food, try to find joy in it, whether by cooking your favorite dishes or watching baking TV shows. When I've been able to let go of the messages diet culture has drilled into me, food has been more than nutrition or fuel—it's been a way to make memories, and it's brought me a ton of joy.

Learning is a central part of an affinity space, and I know this to be true in the affinity spaces I've been in and led. It is important to create a general understanding of one another, thus creating a community where people feel seen and heard. Affinity spaces have always, for me, been places where I don’t need to explain myself.

However, as much as learning and discussing joy and pain can bring a community together, there also needs to be social time to connect with people on a level beyond identity.

This community cannot exist based only on discussion about similar challenges. There need to be fun activities, such as going to eat a meal reminiscent of culture together, or see a movie, or learn a new art.

Most affinity spaces have very low turnout, with about five people attending affinity spaces with email lists of over 40. This is far from ideal, but it is slowly improving with greater focus and celebrations of cultures this year.

The space I colead, Multiracial Affinity Space, held its own event in April; however, though a few new students attended, they haven’t showed up to meetings since.

The conference focused on our own stories and finding connections through food, media, and family as multicultural people. The preparation of this conference was focused on discussion of identity and spreading the word, but I wonder if community-based activities would bring more people to the space.

STORY Emma Z. and Serena S. PHOTO Still Light Studios

Dear Reader,

When the two of us first stepped into our editorial positions in junior year— Emma as design editor and Serena as the editor for the sports and entertainment sections—we celebrated with a series of hysterical, panic-ridden FaceTime calls. Now we find ourselves on our final FaceTime of The Nueva Current Volume VI, hysterical in a bittersweet, heartfelt way.

Our goal with The Nueva Current is only ever to construct an outlet for student voices as a foundation for change. Because of your time, your stories, and your propensity for critical conversation, we have had the opportunity to excavate our community’s wealth of perspectives to report meaningfully on discourse that inspires such change.

In our curation of the paper this year we’ve worked to foreground not only stories that record disruption—both welcome and unwelcome—within our community, but also stories that work to incite positive change. Among other topics, we’ve collected perspectives on the rise of artificial intelligence, affirmative action, and cultures of misogyny, and are grateful to see our work reflected in administrative action and hallway conversations alike. The two of us now stand at the end of our time at The Current as co-Editors-in-Chief and reflect on past issues with nothing less than regrets. We have you to thank.

We also thank our advisor, LiAnn, for her mentorship, as well as the rest of our staff who see our publication through every step of the publishing process. This year, as four senior editors depart, we welcome three new editors and look forward to previous editors stepping into new positions. We could not be more confident in their passion for and dedication to their work, and rest assured that they will continue to investigate and share the multitude of stories of our community.

With that, we officially pass the torch to next year’s staff of The Nueva Current

Officially passing on the torch, Emma and Serena

INCOMING 2023-2024

EDITORIAL TEAM

Aaron H. ’24, Editor-in-Chief

Ellie K. ’24

Isabella X. ’24

Managing Editors

Natalie L. ’25

News Editor

Isabella X. ’24

Opinion Editor

Owen Y-L. ’24

Features Editor

Josie B. ’25

Culture Editor

In past spaces I’ve been in, from the one at Student Diversity Leadership Conference to my middle school’s affinity ALANA (African, Latino, Asian, Native American), there was always a social component. We would all meet in the same location, eager for the adventure of going to see the new premier that had actually diverse casting or walk to ice cream or go play in the park.

These events weren’t focused solely on our identity or uplifting other people through activism by writing to representatives or holding a bake sale, although they did serve that purpose to an extent. In these times, we understood that this community supported us in our identity and as people.

I remember always feeling seen and energized by these events; even though back then I was shy and my social battery had a short life, I always wanted to go back to the space. In the last few weeks of school, I’ve shifted the Multiracial Affinity Space’s focus to community to build a solid group of people to keep the space strong after I leave.

In the coming years, I hope there will be a core group of at least five to ten people with two co-leads who can rely on each other and the group to center discussion, drive support and numbers for the Mixed Conference, and have fun and enjoy the time together being free without the need to explain the idiosyncrasies of being multiracial.