“Weight loss sells;” that’s what someone told me right before my first television appearance soon after I’d lost a significant amount of weight.
And sure enough, that became my internal compass for every marketing campaign I was asked to participate in thereafter--whether it was a magazine cover/article or a televised program. (The title of one show was The 7-Day Crash Diet. . .and millions of women tuned into it.)
Weight loss is many American women’s obsession.
Eat less.
Exercise more.
Intermittently fast.
Shrink yourself.
Skinny is sexy.
Get as thin as possible without becoming too thin.
The marketing to lose weight is everywhere.
I was born into this weight-centric culture.
For a woman born in America, there’s no escaping it.
Women are praised for small bodies; no matter how dangerous the cost may be to their health and well-being in order to achieve it.
The crack in my nearly six decades of weight-centric brainwashing happened when I met my daughter-in-law for the first time in the summer of 2023. She was raised in a country where food was a scarce necessity; not a commodity. In her country of origin, food was regarded as essential for survival--a basic human right.
She lived with us for several weeks. I observed how grateful she was for each bite of food. After she finished eating a meal, she’d say, “A full belly is a happy heart.”
And she’d stop eating when full.
She had never dieted a day in her life; therefore, her hunger and fullness cues were still intact.
And as a result, she was “weight-stable.” Her life was not consumed with going on and off diets; gaining and losing weight. Her size was not the focal point of her life; it was not her obsession, nor was being full villainized.
I couldn’t help but compare my young adult life to hers. I had already joined Weight Watchers twice by the time I was her age. I had also been on and off The Conway Diet several times. I had been verbally and emotionally abused for not being thin enough. I had been hospitalized for becoming too thin in high school. I had developed a binge eating disorder in grade school as the direct result of being put on restrictive, weight loss diets starting at age six.
All because of being born into a weight-centric country whose citizens are obsessed with thinness. . and whose healthcare providers assume lower weight equals better health.
This holiday season, notice the women’s magazines, social media ads and promotions for diets, weight loss challenges, “health resets,” and the like.
Here are just a few titles from past covers of a popular women’s magazine available at most every check-out counter:
· Melt Fat with Fibermaxxing
· Bye-Bye Menobelly
· Walk Off Belly Fat
· Lose Weight After Diet Drugs
· Carb Lover’s Craving Cure
· Walk Off Two Sizes
· Toxic Fat Disappears
I encourage every woman who’s battled weight to follow registered dietitian Bonnie Roney’s Diet Culture Rebel on Instagram, Facebook, or Tik Tok for a refreshing grasp on how to eat without guilt. . .and in the process, heal your relationship with food and your body.
Bonnie also hosts a plethora of eye-opening episodes on The Diet Culture Rebel Podcast.
Emily Boller, wife, mother, painter, 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 to chase sunrises, grow flowers and vegetables, and can homemade soups.