As an eating disorder therapist, I see the impact of diet culture on the women I work with. These women are reaching out for help because they can’t stop the cycle of restricting and then binging. They have lost weight and regained it, which leads to a hit to their self-esteem. Women who have spent time dieting are more anxious and depressed than those who don’t. When reaching out for binge eating disorder treatment, my clients are full of shame and embarrassment. They had done so well and dieted and now they believe they have no self-control. If they could only buckle down and work as hard as they did before then they would be happy. In fact, many clients reach out in hopes that I will help them lose weight because that’s their view of their problems. The problem is actually diet culture itself, and it’s not good.
What is Diet Culture?
Diet culture is a set of beliefs that values thinness and weight loss over health and well-being. It often involves strict eating rules, labeling foods as "good" or "bad," and focusing more on your body's appearance rather than physical or mental health. It’s important to address the risks that come with dieting and how it can impact your overall health.
Why Diet Culture Can Be Harmful:
Negative Body Image:
Diet culture sets unrealistic beauty standards, making people feel unhappy with their own bodies. Comparing themselves to these perfect images on social media and elsewhere leads to low self-esteem and a negative self-image. People who diet end up being too critical of their body and tend to never feel ok about how they look long term.
Increased binge eating:
When people follow strict diets, they start to feel deprived and have strong cravings because their bodies are not getting enough nutrients. This can cause them to eat a lot of food quickly, known as binge eating. Binge eating can make them feel guilty and out of control, which can lead them to restrict and diet again. Dieting then leads to binging again. The binge cycle can be overwhelming.
Increased anxiety and depression:
Diet culture and strict dieting can cause anxiety and depression. Dieting is unstable and leads to feeling not good enough when people can’t follow the strict guidelines on a diet. Dieting leads to increased negative body image which is also related to higher levels of anxiety and depression.
Health Issues:
Extreme dieting can cause nutrient deficiencies, metabolic problems, and other health issues. It can also mess up your body's natural hunger and fullness signals, leading to an unhealthy relationship with food.
Impact on Eating Disorders:
Diet culture can trigger or worsen eating disorders. The pressure to be thin and the fear of gaining weight can lead to behaviors like extreme dieting, purging, and excessive exercise. People with eating disorders often feel a loss of control around food, and diet culture can make these feelings worse.
Is there anything good about diet culture?
Some people think diet culture can make people more aware of healthy eating and exercise. However, these benefits are often outweighed by the negative effects. Often when people start a diet they feel hopeful as their clothes feel looser and the number on the scale goes down. This reinforces dieting behaviors but because dieting isn’t sustainable it leads to regaining weight and more. This puts people in a cycle of trying to diet again but they find their brain and their body rebels from sticking to all the rules and guidelines that come with it.
Try Intuitive eating instead
Intuitive eating is all about listening to your body and respecting its hunger and fullness. When people first hear about intuitive eating they are immediately skeptical. They believe they’ll eat ice cream all day every day and thus will be neglecting their physical health. You may be surprised to learn that your body craves plenty of nutrient-dense foods and not just ice cream. If you’ve deprived yourself of foods like ice cream or have strict rules around how much and when you can eat it, of course, this is going to be what your body craves for a while until it can trust that you won’t keep restricting it. Intuitive eating is about trusting your body and not labeling foods as good or bad. Intuitive eating is a process and if you have a history of dieting, it may take time for you to learn to trust your body and for your body to trust you.
Binge eating disorder treatment in Utah can help you break free from diet culture
Diet culture is more harmful than helpful. If you are struggling to like yourself and don’t trust yourself around food without binging, working with an eating disorder therapist can help. You don’t have to keep trying to figure this all out on your own. You can feel in control again. You can stop hating yourself and your body. I want you to start feeling better about yourself.
Start working with an eating disorder therapist in Utah
If you're having trouble with disordered eating and the effects of diet culture, it's important to get help. This Utah Counseling Center has an eating disorder therapist specializing in binge eating disorder treatment. To start counseling follow the steps below:
Meet with a therapist for binge eating
Break free of diet culture
Online Eating Disorder Therapy in Utah
Online therapy is a great option because it’s convenient and flexible. You can have sessions from the comfort of your own home, which saves you time and makes it easier to fit therapy into your schedule. People make more progress in therapy when they go consistently and online therapy in Utah makes it so it’s easier to do so. You can work with an eating disorder therapist wherever you are in Utah.
Online counseling means I work with clients in Cedar City, St. George, Provo, Heber City, Logan, Salt Lake City, and more.
About the Author
Ashlee Hunt is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker (LCSW) who holds two bachelor's degrees from Southern Utah University in Psychology and Family Life and Human Development. She earned her master’s degree in Social Work from Utah State University. Ashlee owns Maple Canyon Therapy, an online counseling practice in Utah, where she works with women struggling with eating disorders at all levels of care. Her extensive experience and dedication reflect a deep commitment to helping women achieve better mental and emotional well-being.