the older i get the more disgusted by diet culture i become.
thereās a reason it targets young girls. thereās a reason it hinges on making grown women look tiny and helpless and weak. thereās a reason that it is normalized to the extent that what is ostensibly not a healthy act is seen as being aĀ āgoodā choice and something to be proud of.Ā
young people are just completely submerged in it. adults forget that kids pick up on fucking everything and they hear their parents and their teachers and everyone on this planet not eating red meat this week or on juice cleanses or denying denying denying themselves (āoh good for you! iād never be able to be so well-behavedā). they learn really, reallyĀ fast thatĀ āfatā is a funny, not-good, close-to-a-swear word - to the extent that my usually well-behaved five year olds will devolve into crazy giggles because i askedĀ āpass me one of the fat markers pleaseā. they donāt react like that to anything else, justĀ āfatā which they know is bad/off-limits/terrible.Ā
and we pretend weāre so confused by obesity and by the skyrocketing eating disorder rate - a rate of diagnosed eating disorders, mind you, since disordered eating is now essential to many american eating traditions - and we blame millenials or GMOs or whatever wonāt make us look a multi-billion dollar industry in the eye and realize. they literally teach us from a young age what is essentially a restriction/denial cycle that is veryĀ close to a binge cycle. they teach usĀ āgoodā andĀ ābadā andĀ āsafeā foods but donāt supply the money for us to obtainĀ those foods (and god forbid you live in a food desert) while also selling us Magical Cures For Magical Transformations.Ā
and of course it works. you teach people to crash diet and lo and behold their metabolism becomes entirely dependent on your cycle of starvation/refeeding. the statistic that most people gain back the weight they lost isnāt because people are these terrible people have no self control (but they sell that idea to you, donāt they), itās that their metabolism was trashed and the way they look at food cannotĀ change in the span of a crash diet - if it takes someone with an eating disorder seven years to recover, we understand that, but if someone overweight gains back their lost weight itāsĀ āa shameā. and the diet culture wins both sides,Ā i want you to understand that. they make money of of you either way. they know that youāre gaining the weight back but fucking scrambling - they know youāll try to buy their product because last time it worked to buy atkins or weight watchers, and they know that when youāre losingĀ the weight, well, goddamn, youāre going to be an advertising board for them because we teach each other that this is coffee-break material, isnāt it.Ā
and we sell each other on it. we say,Ā āoh this worked for me, youāve gottaĀ try it.ā none of the people we speak to are nutritionists, but everyone on the internet has a degree in medicine, so donāt worry, if you step outside in a bikini and are not unhealthy levels of skinny (oh but itās healthy if itās the right kindĀ of skinny), you will be reminded to lose weight. we keep our women running on such low levels of carbs/calories/fats that theyāre permanently exhausted, weak, emotionally drained - and then we crow women are just crazy. meanwhile men get the opposite treatment that is unhealthy in a different way ā the obsession with masculinity through food, of all things, that salad isĀ ārabbit foodā and that a realĀ āmanās mealā is red meat and beer.Ā
and god forbid you say,Ā āthis shit is fucking predatory, itās evil, itās controlling peopleās bodiesā because youāll get fifty-sevenĀ āokay, fattyā comments that miss the point completely, because the companies are really, really smart and they learned: if you call someone fat, you can ignore them completely. and anyone who isnātĀ āinto dietingā is therefore fat and incapable of healthy eating. healthy eating, is of course, defined by the company - but hey! you can help that person realize theyāre just a stupid/dumb/ignorant fatty.Ā or if theyāre somehow magically notĀ fat, you can tell them,Ā āwell, one day you will be.ā
and i just know. i know.Ā this shit will continue. it always does.
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