Diet Culture Letters
Diet culture can be tough to navigate when in recovery from an eating disorder. Perhaps you spent a lot of time breaking free from the idea that you ever needed to change your body or follow a restrictive diet. Maybe you see just how harmful the diet industry is and recognise the detrimental effect it had on your relationship with food and body image.
This week two of our recovery warriors have chosen to share their letters to diet culture with us all. As well as being thought-provoking and impactful, these are letters that deserve to be shared and celebrated.
If you have been affected by diet culture, we hope these letters will provide you with comfort and help you to realise that we are all in this together.
Letter 1
Dear Diet Culture,
You were once my best friend, but I have since ended our friendship and it is the best thing I have ever done.
For a long time, I thought we were on the same side. I thought you were helping me get to where I wanted to be. That you were guiding me to a happier life. But recently I have learnt it was all a lie.
You tricked me into believing that starving myself was the answer to all of my problems. That smaller = better, happier and more worthy. You slowly chipped away at me over the years and eventually you succeeded in breaking me.
But not for long. I was lucky enough to be able to fight back with the help of the best support system I could ever ask for.
Sadly, not everyone is as fortunate and you continue to destroy the lives of so many people who deserve to be free and happy. Slowly but surely, the world is changing and you are being seen for what you truly are– deceitful and damaging.
Without a doubt your world will become smaller and smaller. Eventually, I pray that one day you will be non-existent. I pray that we will all live in a world without diet culture.
I can proudly say I am no longer blinded by you. I’ve found self acceptance, and am slowly working towards self-love.
You will never be able to take that away from me again.
– NFT Recovery Warrior
Letter 2
Dear Diet Culture,
I see through you now. You have fooled me for long enough, but I finally see you for what you are. You conditioned me and millions of others from childhood. Brainwashing us to believe we would only ever be happy, confident and successful if we achieved unobtainable ‘perfection’.
I was pulled in by you, and you have dominated my life for too long:
– Making me doubt my value.
– Encouraging me to restrict the things I love.
– Buying into dangerous products
– Dominating my thoughts so I couldn’t be present with loved ones.
– Leaving me with so much guilt each time I failed to meet your expectations.
It is not just me you have affected; I see the impact you’ve had everywhere I look.
Conversations with the beautiful, smart women in my life are dominated by diet talk. Putting ourselves down, discussing the latest ways we are depriving ourselves, comparing ourselves to each other.
Why are you forcing us to waste this precious time together???
You thrive whilst the rest of us suffer. You earn billions by making us feel insecure about ourselves, then sell us the ‘quick fix’. The worst thing is that you know the solution you sell us won’t work. And when it doesn’t the blame is on us, not you. It is our fault for not being disciplined or controlled enough to fit into the little boxes you want to put us in. You steal more than our money, you steal our lives, but enough is enough.
It is time our children grow up being celebrated for their uniqueness. For their values and thoughts. Not for their bodies. It is time we saw there is no one ‘perfect’ body– the perfect body is our own truest body.
We will only ever find this when we listen to and trust ourselves to fuel and exercise our bodies for nourishment and joy, and not for punishment.
Now I have finally seen you for what you are, I promise you I will strive to help others see it to.
– NFT Recovery Warrior
Click here to learn more about diet culture.
