As The Year Closes Out, Resist The Diet Pressure

The pressure of diet culture is in full swing. Here’s how to resist

Njikwe
In Fitness And In Health
4 min readDec 30, 2021

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As the year closes out, an inescapable thing imminently happens; the pressure to ‘get in shape’ by going on a new healthy diet gets into full swing.

Truth be told, for a lot of us, this is a triggering time of the year and the best of us fall for the trappings of this seemingly innocuous aspiration.

Who can blame us? On the surface, the idea and messaging behind taking on a ‘new healthy diet’ is centered around self-improvement and bettering ourselves.

However, dig deep enough and you’ll soon find that the carefully crafted messaging of improvement, shrouds the seedy hands of the capitalistic machine designed to profit off your insecurity.

Beyond that, it is a deeply fatphobic, racist, and misogynistic ideal that continues to perpetuate the male gaze, and frankly, no one needs all that mess

It's no secret that more than 80% of new years resolution fails, 54% of people fail at adopting a healthy diet. We know this. It isn't news. Yet somehow we still fall, hook, line, and sinker for the siren's call of diet culture and new year's resolutions.

In our bid to be our ‘best selves, we shell out dollars to get that elusive body that we so desire. And when the body fails to materialize or you fail to meet your target within the unrealistic time frame you’ve created for yourself, you feel like a failure. So then you shell out more money to get to the goal, thus, beginning an endless brutal cycle, that keeps you spending money, whilst being unhappy in your body.

But what's the solution? How do you resist the call to take on a diet or a restrictive fitness regime?

Here are some ways to protect yourself from the pervasive diet culture pressure

Understand the truth

You are never going to win the battle.

Diet culture is a multi-billion dollar industry. From slimming teas to waist trainers, to never-ending diet programs, the entrenched agenda is focused on maintaining the status quo.

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Njikwe
In Fitness And In Health

Self-Development, Self-Improvement, and Marketing Writer. Voracious Learner, joyful coffee addict.