The Danger of Diet Culture

Social media hashtags like #whatieatinaday can contribute to anorexia, especially among teenage girls. Image: Elana Ulitskaya

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By ELANA ULITSKAYA

As you walk into your local mall, take a look around at the body type being promoted. You may notice that dozens of thin models are plastered throughout many stores, setting the standard of “beauty.”

Women around the world have been sucked into the notion that beauty is only skin deep and being a size too big devalues them. Diet companies have been playing on this for years and are profiting immensely from millions of women dying for the look. In fact, according to IBIS World, the weight loss industry is making around $3.8 billion in 2023.

This diet culture creates the impression that being thin is the only way to be a good, healthy person. 

Teenage girls specifically have been sucked into the marketing ploys of the industry because many of them are battling with body issues, which makes them easy targets. They see thin women being favored over thicker women all over social media and in their day-to-day lives. 

Oftentimes, diet companies will label foods as “good” or “bad,” which is harmful because it causes people to restrict themselves from consuming food with a negative label. Food is also defined by the industry as only fuel for your body rather than something enjoyable. This creates a negative relationship with food in many people’s minds, especially those of teens who are beginning to gain the independence of buying and making meals for themselves. 

In this culture, many teenage girls go down a path of eating disorders. They begin restricting the foods they love because carbs and fats are “sinful.” A poll by Polaris found that 90% of teens with anorexia are female.

People who have anorexia significantly decrease their caloric intake because of the immense fear they have of gaining weight. Anorexia is also intertwined with depression and anxiety because many people battling anorexia starve themselves and ignore their hunger cues until they inevitably cave in. This becomes a cycle of restriction and then feeling worthless for taking a bite of something.

Many popular diets encourage people to obsessively count calories and starve themselves. Intermittent fasting, one example, entails starving yourself for long periods of time. Dieting supplements like human growth hormone (HGH) sometimes demand an extremely low caloric intake for their product to work best. Even large weight loss apps like “Weight Watchers” push calorie restriction with a point system. You have a certain amount of points available each day to spend. “Good foods” are lower in points while “bad foods” are higher.

Social media was a huge factor in the skyrocketing of eating disorders amongst teenagers during the pandemic. Since we were all stuck at home switching from screen to screen, TikTok and Instagram became the places most young people found themselves on for hours every day.

Hashtags on social media such as #whatieatinaday, where users post extremely unrealistic and unbalanced meals, encourage young people to follow harmful diets where they eat far less than a healthy caloric intake.

Influencers are not safe from the diet industry either; many engage in extreme dieting. Kim Kardashian reportedly lost 16 pounds in three weeks to fit into Marilyn Monroe’s iconic dress for the 2022 Met Gala. In a Vogue interview, she stated, “I would wear a sauna suit twice a day, run on the treadmill, completely cut out all sugar and all carbs, and just eat the cleanest veggies and protein. I didn’t starve myself, but I was so strict.”

All for the sake of fitting into a dress. When influencers like Kim K. promote such an extreme diet, it’s dangerous for young girls because these celebrities are seen as examples of beauty. They also make people who are already battling an eating disorder believe their behaviors are justified.

Sophie Smith from Sydney found herself battling anorexia due to the rhetoric of diet culture on social media. She explained that many social media influencers contributed to her disordered eating, low self-esteem, and poor body image. Luckily, she is now 23 and recovering from her disorder.

However, not every teenager is as lucky. According to DMH, “The mortality rate associated with anorexia nervosa is 12 times higher than the death rate of ALL causes of death for females 15-24 years old.”

People have been turning a blind eye to the horrors of diet culture. However, with so many people dying from its causes we can’t keep ignoring it.

Kendall Baker had to face one of the hardest obstacles one can have. Her best friend Katie passed away after her 15 year long fight with anorexia. 

“Katie did not want to die,” Baker said. “She wanted to live, desperately. She verbalized this again and again. She couldn’t get access to the proper level of care she needed at the very end, and after a long, 15 year battle with her eating disorder, her body finally succumbed.” 

Nobody deserves to bury their loved one because she wanted the “right” body. So, next time you walk into that mall food court or pick up a chocolate bar, know that you are beautiful despite what the money-hungry diet industry says.