(CW: diet and weight loss language)
Why is December so ripe for diet culture?
Sometimes December feels like marine recruitment.
But whereas the Marines scout young adults with high school diplomas who can complete a 300 yard obstacle course, diet culture recruits women who’ve been told their bodies are wrong all their lives.
In fact, I WAS that very recruit on a recent shopping trip to buy my husband socks for Christmas (get excited, honey!). I noticed two cutesy home decor signs celebrating diet culture.
“Christmas Calories Don’t Count.”
“Merry Fitmas and a Happy New Rear”
Can’t I shop for a couple of candles without encountering comments about my butt? Leave me alone!
But they won’t leave us alone, so let’s dig in.
Here’s why December diet culture reigns strong, and what you can do about it.
- Celebrations, with or without big crowds, typically involve food. And many of these celebrations feature food from beloved holiday traditions that mean something special to us. Your aunt’s famous mashed potatoes and your grandfather’s homemade cider are centerpieces of your positive memories, and that’s okay.
- But our stress levels are rising. On the heels of one of the most anxiety-ridden years, we’re warned about a dark, lonely winter with kids cooped up in the house. This stress is multiplied by a holiday season that relies heavily on the unpaid emotional labor, mental energy, and painstaking, detailed planning by women. Would Christmas, Hanukkah, and New Year’s Eve even happen without women? We’ve added more “to-dos,” often at the sacrifice of habits that nurture mental health and full-body nourishment.
- COVID weight gain jokes continue with no let-up in sight. Many of us are taught to be uncomfortable (or even fearful) when our bodies change, and the body shame industry knows it. Companies and wellness groups capitalize on harmful jokes about “The Quarantine 15” in return for your dollars. The Thanksgiving pie-shaming continues, and the industry beefs up your insecurity to prime you for January shaming.
- The body shaming industry is massive and intentional, and doesn’t want you to know these 3 things.
So how can you combat holiday diet culture, and instead give your body and spirit the love they deserve?
1. Be ready for it.
You need serious mental preparation to survive the heavy-handedness of end-of-year body shaming. This doesn’t mean we attack other people who are trying to lose weight, of course.
It means that you need to be prepared for the group text from college friends who want to form a “fit club.” You must be ready for your favorite actor to post “before and after” photos. Be prepared for your neighbor to promote their new “nutrition plan” or “lifestyle change” a/k/a diet. When you know it’s coming, it’s easier to attach less importance to it.
2. Know that fat phobia can impact anyone.
Remember that diet culture can impact anyone, even your most seemingly confident friends. And it’s NOT a personal failing. It’s simply a result of systemic pressures rooted in fat phobia, white supremacy, and misogyny.
I’ve watched in mild disappointment, but not shock, when feminist/activist acquaintances of mine posted before-and-after photos detailing their new lifestyle change. Here’s the thing – their business is not my business (thank you, Tabitha Brown, for that frequent reminder) and weight loss is neither good nor bad – it’s neutral.
But the smiles, the glowing energy, the supposed radiant skin and feelings of strength don’t always stick around. Because…
3. Most cleanses and nutrition plans have adverse consequences
It’s easy to be enticed by promises of feeling fresher, lighter, and more energetic after the holidays. But most of these purported “lifestyle changes” at their core use restriction, maintain food rules, and label certain foods off-limits. And most of all, they shift you away from self-intuition to external reliance, where following a program is deemed more important than following your own instinct.
Plus, even if these plans work for a short time, most diets fail. After people drop weight, approximately 80% gain it back, sometimes more. This is called weight cycling. While the health community often cites obesity as an independent risk factor for several conditions, there’s evidence to show that dieting and weight cycling are actually associated with metabolic and cardiovascular risk variables. Translation = your diet may actually be hurting your health.
4. Create compassionate rituals now
Don’t wait for January to start “taking care of yourself.” If you shower kindness and grace upon yourself now, you’ll be less likely to get sucked up in whatever fad fasting ritual plunks itself in your Instagram ads in January.
Start small. Can you journal for 2-3 minutes a day with affirmations and gratitude as soon as you wake up? What if you hold 5 minutes for yourself while you look out the window or sit quietly?
Can you be selective with the news while still sticking to your principles? How about you say no to something today?
Exercise self-compassion now so that you feel less apologetic or shameful later. Use these tips: 5 Ways to Be Kind to Your Body in the New Year.
5. Understand that diet culture is rooted in anti-blackness.
Please listen to authors like Sabrina Strings detail why fat phobia is rooted in racism. Strings details how 18th-century Europeans wanted to uphold so-called rational self-control and differentiate themselves from Africans whom they considered sensuous, enjoying sex and food.
“And so eating and body size became two of the characteristics that were being used to suggest that these are people who do not deserve freedom,” Strings said on NPR.
If you posted a black square in June or used the hashtag BLM, please read more about the connection between diet culture and racism. I first heard Strings on the Love Your Bod Pod, and plan to work my way through the rest of these podcast appearances.
6. Think beyond yourself
If you find yourself overwhelmingly fixated on your appearance, your body, and how to change it, think about others. Channel that energy into your community. How can you help people who are grappling with true food insecurity, or those who lack a warm home or sufficient income?
One thing is for sure – there are many people in need right now. When you focus on giving back to your community, it’s easy to spend less attention fixating on ourselves.
7. Enjoy your traditions.
Finally, relish in your holiday traditions, both the ones with food and without.
Because here’s the thing. That cutesy sign in the store was wrong.
Christmas calories DO count. But not as something for which I need to feel shame or guilt. Not as a means to propel me into restriction.
They count as delicious meals made with love. They count as yummy hot cocoa following my 5 year-old’s snow angels and snowball fights. They count as a big smile that follows licking the cookie bowl with my daughter.
They count as memories.
Related:
Can I prevent my daughter from hating her body?
Oprah, Jenna, Hoda: diet culture is everywhere and it’s keeping women down
Leave a Reply