Diet Culture Takedown - the one where I respond to a troll
I do a regular segment on Instagram called “Diet Culture Takedowns” to show how most of what we learn in diet culture is not helpful and is in fact harmful to our physical and mental health. (Click here to follow me on Insta). Recently I received this very lovely comment on one of my Instagram posts.
Comment on Instagram from a user named Shareen that says, “Yes we do, stop fucking eating so much”
I had to laugh because it was on a post I made wishing everyone a happy new year and I didn’t mention diets at all. But this comment represents a slight drop in the ocean of the abuse that fat people receive online (and in real life) all the time. For some reason, fat people can make other people very angry.
Is it because of the unsubstantiated idea that fat people cost the health system more? I say unsubstantiated because the studies in this area don’t usually factor in the over-treatment of fat people due to weight stigma and the under-treatment of “normal” sized people due to the assumption that thin people are always healthy.
Or is it because society doesn’t want to see fat bodies? Is it because we prefer to objectify bodies and try to force them into the latest fashion? Is it because thin people who have had to turn their lives upside down to stay thin are jealous of people who can be in a larger body and be happy?
I’m not sure. We’ll never know because we can’t read “Shareen’s” mind, but when I clicked on their profile it said, “big dick bobby”, so I guess at least we do know Bobby has a big dick.
Anyway… I created a video to respond to Shareen/Bobby’s comment:
I didn’t have quite enough time in 90 seconds to explain all my points so I thought I would expand on them here.
First of all, kindness never killed anyone (not sure where the saying “killing them with kindness” came from!) So, in my response to Shareen/Bobby, my first priority was to stay kind. Sometimes people are having a bad day and that can make them lash out so I didn’t want to assume that the commenter is always so crude. I will always speak with kindness and that means to others, even if they are nasty, and to myself.
“Eating less” can lead to harm and one way is not being able to think straight and another is to not be able to moderate mood. It’s possible Shareen/Bobby is on a diet themselves and is finding it hard to moderate their mood or their actions. Although this might seem fairly benign, being cranky (or hangry) can impact relationships and mental health, which can cause long-term harm.
Just “eating less” will not help people to lose weight over the long term. Our bodies are hard-wired to protect us from a lack of food so if we start eating less, our hormones will kick in and our appetite will go through the roof. It’s not a lack of willpower that stops you from being a successful dieter, it’s biology. Because of this physical reaction to diets, up to 98% of people who “eat less” will put weight back on and 66% will put on more weight than where they started. No long-term studies support more than 1-5% weight loss for the small percentage of people who can keep it off so that means someone who is 100kg might be able to lose 1 - 5 kilos and keep it off. Is all the stress and heartache worth it? I guess only you can answer that. The other thing to point out here is that weight cycling (losing weight, putting it back on, losing weight again etc. etc.) is associated with a lot of health problems including an increased chance of death. But it’s not something we talk about because it doesn’t fit in with what diet culture is selling. Plus, people can be in large bodies for other reasons than “eating too much” - genetics, medication, long term stress, disability, illness are some examples.
Research shows that taking a kinder approach to health & fitness goals makes it more likely they will stick. So using that profanity is not helpful from a physical or mental health perspective. In fact, weight stigma promotes a higher allostatic load (chronic stress) which increases the risk of mortality. We think it’s the size of the body that matters, but in fact, the treatment of people with larger bodies also makes them more likely to experience illness and early death.
I would love you to think about when you might have spoken to yourself in the same way Shareen/Bobby spoke to me. Notice how it’s not helpful for all the reasons I’ve mentioned above. The best way to be the healthiest version of yourself (knowing that we can’t all be thin or perfectly healthy, and really, imagine how boring it would be if we were all exactly the same!), is to exercise regularly, eat a balanced diet, stop smoking, drink in moderation and get enough rest.
And honestly, I think it all comes back to kindness. Taking care of yourself with kindness will always be the best choice and it will be the most effective too.
I’m excited to announce that starting in March, I will be hosting a free fortnightly Zoom get-together called “The Kindness Space.”
Each fortnight I’ll lead a themed discussion about being kind to ourselves, our community, and the world around us. You’ll be able to just listen or join in on the conversation (I’d love that). The first one will be at 5.30pm WA time on Thursday 2nd March 2023.