What is Diet Culture?

It's October somehow! I hope you are settling into some kind of school routine . . . whatever that means for you. I also hope you've been able to find some peace when feeding your family. 

Hopefully, you've been planning your meals, eating as a family as often as possible, and trying to use the division of responsibility when feeding your kids. If not, please don't stress. 

Raising a family is a marathon, not a sprint. If you need some help with any or all of these things, you can reach out to me anytime.

I talk about mealtimes and language around food and bodies for a very important reason. It's because the way we talk about food and bodies shapes the way our kids feel about food and THEIR bodies.  

As children grow and the focus on physical appearance intensifies during adolescence, we want our kids to have some protection against the societal influences telling them their body isn't okay. 

You can be the protective factor. 

You can amplify or tone down the volume of the influence of diet culture on your children.

You can learn about diet culture. 

What is diet culture? It's a system of BELIEFS that equates thinness with health. But because it's no longer cool to straight-up diet, it pretends to be about "wellness" (think kale smoothies and grain-free crackers), instead of weight loss.

Tricky huh?  It's even trickier for kids.  

• "Drink this detox tea"  

• "Only eat organic food"  

• "Don't eat inflammatory foods"  

• "Take this test for food sensitivities" 

• "Eat clean"

• "Processed food is junk"

Far from harmless, these misleading and non-science backed claims cause negative relationships with food, become identities to some and cause disordered eating to many. 

Diet culture elevates certain ways of eating and demonizes others. . . . all for profit, of course.  If you're new to the idea that what we eat is actually only a small part of the equation of true health, I invite you to follow my Instagram for parenting help around the nuances of child feeding, weight, and health outcomes.

And until I get the chance to write a book, I highly recommend Anti-Diet. It confronts all the things you thought you knew about diet, weight, and health.

If you're a fan of podcasts, The Full Bloom Project includes so many episodes full of amazing tips for your parenting journey towards raising body confident kids.

Thanks for reading! Don't forget to share this with another parent that cares as much about their kids as you do!