I posted this picture more than a decade ago and received excessive praise and adulation from thousands of people.
Today, I’m ashamed of it, because individuals entangled in diet-wellness cults, see bodies primarily through a lens focused on size, weight, health, beauty, and longevity.
It’s a multi-faceted pressure to be the so-called healthiest version of oneself; and that standard is dictated by oneself and others. . .and can result in the gradual development of orthorexia, hypochondria, and scopophobia.
(Orthorexia is an obsessive preoccupation with eating foods that are healthy—and avoiding foods in the belief they are harmful. Hypochondria is worrying about having or developing a serious illness; and scopophobia is the fear of being seen and judged by others.)
Nutritional purity (following a strict dietary regimen) becomes an obsession; and sadly, it’s normalized and praised.
People trapped in diet-wellness cults secretly and openly judge and critique others’ appearance, size, health, and food choices.
As a result, it’s also a culture of condescending arrogance and superiority.
And the most unfortunate consequence of dieting. . .is everyone who chronically restricts food/under eats develops disordered eating behaviors—and one out of four people who obsessively restrict food go on to develop full-blown eating disorders.
If not halted, eating disorders can lead to sudden death. Every fifty-two minutes, someone in the U.S. dies from eating disorder complications.
Throughout the next few months, watch how various diet-wellness cults show up on magazine covers, Facebook ads, Instagram posts, and email campaigns.
There’s absolutely nothing pathological about wanting to be slender, fit, healthy, beautiful, or even live to be one hundred. However, if any of those desires consume your every waking moment; become all you can talk about; cause anxiety if you gain five pounds; cause you to isolate from social events if you can’t eat perfectly; or cause you to feel superior to others. . .you need to step back, take a deep breath, and honestly evaluate if you are becoming entangled.
You may be trapped in a diet-wellness cult without realizing it.
Some telltale signs:
rigid food rules are expected to be followed
“compliance” is a common word
lack of innate ability to self-regulate food without strict rules
binge eating
participants regularly say, “I’m not allowed to. . . “or “I’m not supposed to. . .”
weight loss challenges, resets, and boot camps are promoted
sharing before/after pics are normalized
sharing “what I eat in a day” is normalized
condescending disapproval of what others eat
frequent weight checking and/or mirror checking is normalized
celebrity-like worship of weight loss transformations are normalized
feeling guilty, anxious, ashamed, and demoralized if one gains weight—or is not losing weight quickly enough
showing disgust of one’s body and others’ bodies
participants comment/gossip about others’ body size or weight gains (weight stigma)
participants’ lives revolve around food, food talk, weight talk
participants label others’ food choices as good or bad regardless of others’ socioeconomic status/privilege
Become aware of how you show up for the holidays this year.
If you are dreading the holidays due to the fear of gaining weight or eating “off plan,” it may be time to consider the help of a professional who specializes in eating disorders.
Last year, I worked with Katherine Metzelaar, MSN, RDN based in Seattle, Washington. I highly recommend her. (I also worked with a local therapist who utilized EMDR.)
Freedom is possible.
“Freedom is oxygen of the soul.” -Moshe Dayan
Emily Boller, wife, mother, artist, and author is on a mission to create expressive works of art in her lifetime; and to bring awareness to the potentially harmful traps of diet-wellness culture. In her free time, she loves creative writing, chasing sunrises, growing flowers and vegetables, and canning homemade soups.