What causes and maintains diet culture?
The way we speak >>
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Includes
social foods
Includes having
varied food
groups
Variable in the
amount and type
Usually comprises of
3 main meals
and 2-3 snacks, however,
this can vary based
on many factors
e.g. how active
you are, your appetite,
the environment
etc.
Flexible
Listening to hunger
and fullness queues.
Eating regularly is
the best way to
manage appetite
Enjoying your food
Sometimes
eating
fast food or
takeaways
Using some
restraint in your
food selection
to get the right
balance
of foods
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Sometimes overeating and sometimes undereating
Avoiding whole food groups due to food rules (all carbs are 'bad')
Food and weight occupying most of your waking thoughts
Allowing food to have moral value (eating a specific food makes you a bad person)
Measuring and weighing food
Choosing desired foods without guilt
Eating regular balanced meals and snacks of normal portion (e.g. 3 larger meals and small snack or multiple smaller snacks)
Meeting nutritional needs through varied diet
Ignoring your bodies hunger signals
Being able to maintain a healthy body through regular and relaxed intake
What they read on social
media, magazines,
internet
Their eating habits
observed or learnt
from childhood
Pressures from
peers and society
to look a certain
way
Their knowledge of food and
what is normal eating
behaviours
The Diet Culture
we live in
A system that values weight, shape and size over health and well-being!
What does diet culture mean to you?
Labelling
foods
Ignoring body
cues
Associating
worth with
how you look
Equating thinness
with health
Associating
worth with what
you eat
Food rules
Food anxiety
Avoiding foods
too high in fats,
carbs or calories
Food label gives
you permission
to eat
Eliminating food
groups
Food Guilt
Examples of
diet culture!
Avoiding
situations
because of food
Feeling or need
to justify eating
Exercise for
punishment
Diet talk
Complimenting
weight loss
Scale dictates
happiness or
worth
Believing you must
take supplements
for health
Diets are usually short term interventions focused on rigid, strict and restricting food plans with aim
of losing weight.
Physiological and Psychological effects:
Diets are often overly prescriptive in the deficit of intake that leads to semi-starving of the body and physical body feeling deprived. Physiologically and psychologically, the body starts to increase it’s signalling to get what it needs … food.
- Young people may feel like they are constantly thinking about food, preoccupied by making food choices or have a building sense of craving food.
- This deprivation of brain and body can lead to overconsumption of food intake and poor food choices, which can undo the aims of the initial diet.
- Following overconsumption, young people may then feel guilty about eating too much and feel a need to restrict further to make up for the overeating. Leading to a vicious cycle.
Creation of Food rules: Diets usually promote labelling foods into categories ‘good foods’ and ‘bad foods’.
Psychologically, this can lead to over restriction of the ‘bad foods’ and significant guilt if a young person gives in and eats a ‘bad food’. Eating a bad food or banned food, can make a young person feel like they have failed in their diet.
This can trigger thoughts that they might as well eat as much as they can since they failed anyway, with view of then going back to denying themselves the food in the future.
The way we speak >>
Advertising!
The UK diet industry is worth $2 billion a year
Social
Media
Anyone can call themselves a "nutritionist"
It is not a legally protected title – an Instagram “nutritionist guru" may have no qualification
Research reveals social media influencers give bad diet and fitness advise
Stop comparing your food choices to someone else’s
It’s okay if you eat more than someone else, man or woman!
Does your young person have any rules around how they eat or the foods they eat?
Do they have any deliberately avoided foods?
Make some notes below?
Eats a mix of both
having grapes for dessert because it’s what you want
Eats mostly processed foods
eats mostly 'whole' foods
Eats a mix of both
Not physically hungry but have a craving for some chocolate
Totally okay, eat mindfully to identify satisfaction and enjoy without guilt
Using your list of rules and avoided foods. Cut these up into individual papers and fold to place in a jar.
Choose one or more out the jar to challenge each week.
You can challenge that rule as frequent as food daily or as little as once in the week.
Is it based on evidence and a credible source?
Is it relevant to your age group?
Is it relevant to your gender?
Is it designed for a healthy population of for medical purposes?
Does this rule or avoided food stop you being able to do social activities?
Does it stop you attending social events?
Does it impact your mood negatively?
Does it negatively impact your physical health? – fatigue, illness,
dizziness, weight, energy levels etc.
Note: It will likely take more than one attempt, so consider placing them back in the jar for another attempt
Healthy relationship to food not based on a restrictive diet
Don't go on a diet
Have a think about how you can challenge diet culture personally and how you could support your young person to be more aware of the diet culture they live in?
Can you think of a good magazine or news headline to challenge diet culture?
My worth is unrelated to how I look
Know our boundaries
it’s ok to say no and prioritise mental health
stop comparing yourself to unrealistic standards
Move because it feels good in your body and head but don’t forget to rest!
Diets are usually short term interventions focused on rigid, strict and restricting food plans with aim
of losing weight.
In the body image sessions, one task was to complete two self-worth pie charts. One chart focused on aspects currently
highlighted as influencing your young persons self-worth, and the second pie-chart focused on how they would like their future self-worth pie chart to look (based on their goals, values, beliefs and desires).
Task: To complete with your young person
In a blank pie chart, draw out how much priority what they eat and how they look has on their life?
Are there other aspects of their life that have been neglected due to their focus on diet and image?
How would they like their pie chart to look in regard to what they would like to hold important?
Begin to notice the messages around you that are from diet culture.
This includes conversations about weight, body shape and dieting
Recognise the unhelpfulness of diet culture. Know that skinny doesn’t always equal healthy. Remember why fats and sugars are ok, and even needed, in our diets
When you see it say “no not today” to diet culture
It’s ok to leave these conversations – or even call them out! Talk about something else
Do something else – engage in hobbies, voluntary work or learning something new
Listen to podcasts and follow social media around intuitive eating and body kindness
Find friends that have similar beliefs as you
Empower others to break free of diet culture
Clean up your social media feeds
Avoid diet products – food & drinks, supplements, books, magazines
Encourage your young person to choose what they genuinely want. Encourage them to think about how hungry they are. Encourage them to remember some of mindful eating and intuitive eating ideas.
Steer them away from ordering based on any food rules they have or diet culture influences
Ordering off a menu
The pad thai because
they like the cuisine and
peanut taste
Ask your young person: What did you order and why?
The quesadilla
because they love
cheese
The Souvlaki because it
reminded them of a
holiday in Greece
Next up...
References or Creators Credit
We hear you and see you!
Get SupportIn this module, learn how to improve your relationship with food and your body.
In this module you’ll learn more about ARFID (Avoidant-Restrictive Food Intake Disorder) and discover some of the tools the NHS uses to support young people.
In this module you’ll learn how to recognise the signs of disordered eating and how to offer support.
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