How Diet Culture Fuels Disordered Eating and Eating Disorders
Why a Non-Diet, HAES® Approach Matters for Healing
In a world saturated with messages about weight loss, “clean eating,” and body transformation, it’s easy to underestimate how deeply diet culture affects our relationship with food, our bodies, and even our sense of self. Yet for many people, these cultural messages are far from harmless background noise — they are active contributors to disordered eating and eating disorders.
At Being and Becoming Counselling and Wellness Services in Burnaby, BC, we specialise in supporting people who are struggling with eating concerns through a trauma-informed, non-diet, and Health at Every Size® (HAES®)-aligned approach. Understanding the role diet culture plays in this work is essential, because recovery isn’t just about changing behaviour — it’s about dismantling the cultural messages that fuel self-distrust and harm.
What Is Diet Culture?
Diet culture is a system of beliefs that glorifies thinness, equates body size with health and moral worth, and oppresses bodies that don’t fit a narrow ideal. It promotes weight loss as a way to gain social status, elevates certain ways of eating as “good,” and demonises others as “bad.” Diet culture distracts from the social, structural, and emotional factors that truly influence health, teaching people to distrust their bodies and equate worth with weight — creating a fertile ground for disordered eating (Harrison, 2019).
As anti-diet dietitian and author Christy Harrison explains, these cultural messages are not just harmless advice; they form a systemic framework that pressures people to manipulate their bodies for acceptance and approval, often at the expense of physical and emotional well-being.
How Diet Culture Shapes Our Relationship with Food
Diet culture teaches us to categorise foods as “good” or “bad,” and ourselves as successful or failing based on what we eat. This creates a dangerous emotional landscape:
1. Moralising Food
When foods are labelled as “healthy” or “bad,” eating becomes a moral act. People are rewarded for eating “clean” and punished (with shame or guilt) when they eat foods deemed “unhealthy.” This moral lens transforms eating from nourishment into merit.
2. Restriction as Virtue
Diet culture celebrates self-control and discipline. Restricting certain foods, skipping meals, or obsessively counting calories is often praised as “willpower,” even when it harms emotional and physical well-being.
3. Reward and Punishment Cycles
When restriction inevitably leads to hunger or feeling deprived, people may binge or eat in a way that feels “out of control.” Diet culture then frames this as weakness or failure — which often triggers even stricter rules, perpetuating a cycle of restriction and over-eating.
This cycle is not a sign of moral failing — it’s the predictable biological and emotional response to prolonged restriction and deprivation.
Diet Culture and Body Image
Diet culture tells us that thin bodies are better, healthier, and more deserving of respect. This harms people on many levels:
1. Body Shame and Self-Judgement
Whether someone’s body is big, small, or somewhere in between, diet culture teaches us to see bodies as projects to be improved. This fuels:
Body dissatisfaction
Comparison
Self-criticism
These feelings are often at the core of disordered eating.
2. External Worth Based on Appearance
Diet culture assigns value based on body size. People become conditioned to believe that if their body doesn’t fit a narrow ideal, they are less worthy, less disciplined, less attractive, or less deserving of care.
This undermines self-trust and self-compassion — which are fundamental for healing.
Why Diet Culture Matters in Eating Disorders
Disordered eating and eating disorders don’t develop in a vacuum. They are shaped by psychological, social, and cultural forces — and diet culture is one of the most influential.
1. Dieting as a Gateway
Many people begin dieting innocently — for health, confidence, or control. Yet research shows that dieting is one of the strongest predictors of developing an eating disorder. Diets rarely work long-term, and the ongoing restriction increases:
Obsession with food
Anxiety around eating
Feelings of failure
Cycles of restriction and bingeing
For some, these patterns escalate into clinical eating disorders such as anorexia nervosa, bulimia nervosa, binge eating disorder, or OSFED (Other Specified Feeding or Eating Disorder).
2. Reinforcement by Society
When society praises certain weights and demonises others — promoting thinness as morally “good” and larger bodies as “bad” — disordered behaviours can be reinforced and harm can be overlooked. For example:
Compliments or approval tied to losing weight can validate restrictive eating.
Healthcare providers who equate lower weight with success may overlook eating disorders or encourage extreme strategies, while people in larger bodies may face judgement, stigma, or dismissal of their health concerns.
Fitness and wellness culture often glorifies strict diets and intense exercise as signs of self-control, while larger-bodied people may be shamed or excluded.
These messages make it harder for people to recognise that extreme behaviours are harmful and that health is not a measure of moral worth or body size.
Diet Culture vs. Health at Every Size (HAES®)
The HAES® approach offers an alternative framework rooted in dignity, respect, and self-care. Instead of fixating on weight, it emphasises:
Body acceptance
Attuned eating
Movement for enjoyment
Psychological well-being
Equitable access to health resources
Focus on metabolic markers and overall health, rather than weight alone
HAES® recognises that:
Health is multifaceted and not determined by weight
People can pursue healthy behaviours without dieting
Respect for body diversity is essential
Rather than asking “How do I look?” HAES® encourages people to ask “How do I feel?” and “What supports my overall well-being?”
This approach directly challenges the hierarchical and moralistic beliefs promoted by diet culture.
How Diet Culture Fuels Disordered Thoughts
Diet culture doesn’t just influence behaviour; it shapes internal dialogue, often in subtle, automatic ways.
Some common diet-culture thoughts include:
“I shouldn’t eat this — it’s going to make me gain weight.”
“I ate too much — I need to exercise extra to burn it off.”
“I don’t deserve this food; I’ve already ‘failed’ today.”
“My stomach looks bigger than yesterday — I need to tighten up.”
“If I eat this, I’ll lose control completely.”
“I have to plan every bite so I don’t gain weight.”
These thoughts are instantaneous and often subconscious, shaping behaviour without the person even realising it. They create cycles of restriction, overthinking, guilt, and self-criticism, which are core drivers of disordered eating.
In contrast, a non-diet, HAES® perspective encourages:
Curiosity instead of judgement: “What do I actually want to eat?”
Compassion instead of punishment: “It’s okay to enjoy this food.”
Listening to internal cues: “Am I hungry? Am I full?”
Respecting the body regardless of size: “My worth isn’t tied to the scale.”
This shift transforms eating from a battleground into a relationship with trust, choice, and pleasure.
The Emotional Toll of Diet Culture
Living in a culture that stigmatizes certain bodies and glorifies weight loss takes an emotional toll:
Anxiety and Shame
People often feel anxious about food choices, social eating, or how their bodies look. Shame becomes a frequent, heavy companion.
Perfectionism
Diet culture fuels perfectionism — the belief that there’s a “right” way to eat, move, and live. When these standards are inevitably unmet (because perfection is unattainable), people feel like failures.
Distrust of the Body
When we override hunger, ignore fullness, or follow external rules instead of inner cues, we disconnect from our bodies. This disconnect is a central feature in many eating disorders.
Healing: Beyond Dieting to True Recovery
Healing from disordered eating isn’t about finding the “perfect” diet. It’s about undoing harmful patterns and reclaiming trust in your body and your self-worth.
At Being and Becoming Counselling and Wellness Services, we support people through:
Therapeutic exploration of beliefs around food and body
Mind-body reconnection
Identification of triggers and coping strategies
Work on self-compassion and identity beyond weight
Support tailored to each person’s culture, experiences, and goals
We work from a place of empathy — not judgement. We challenge diet culture’s influence without pathologising bodies. And we help people build sustainable, internally grounded relationships with food, movement, and self-care.
Real Recovery Looks Different Than Dieting
People often think recovery from an eating disorder means:
Restricting less
Eating “normally”
Gaining weight
Exercising moderately
While some of these may happen, recovery is more about experience than appearance. It includes:
Feeling less anxious around food
Reducing fear of particular foods
Reconnecting with pleasure, rest, and nourishment
Reducing self-criticism
Living with more freedom and flexibility
Diet culture might insist that recovery means conformity to a certain body size. We know better: recovery means autonomy, self-trust, and peace with your body — however it’s naturally shaped.
Cultivating Resistance to Diet Culture
Moving away from diet culture is a process of unlearning harmful programming. Some ways to begin include:
1. Challenge the “good/bad” food mindset
All foods can fit into a balanced life — none are moral judgements. Enjoyment is valid.
2. Practice self-compassion
Notice self-critical thoughts and respond with kindness. You deserve respect regardless of weight.
3. Tune into internal cues
Ask: “Am I hungry?” “What sounds satisfying?” “What feels nourishing to me today?”
4. Seek supportive spaces
Therapeutic support, peer groups, and resources free from diet messaging can be profoundly healing.
5. Reject weight stigma
Challenge societal messages that assign value based on body size. Embrace body diversity and treat yourself and others with respect, regardless of weight or appearance.
Closing Thoughts
Diet culture doesn’t just influence what we eat — it shapes how we feel about ourselves. It encourages behaviours and beliefs that can evolve into disordered eating — or hide eating disorders beneath a veil of “health.” At Being and Becoming Counselling and Wellness Services, we meet this challenge with compassion, evidence-informed care, and a commitment to helping people reconnect with their internal wisdom rather than external rules.
Healing isn’t about dieting better — it’s about living better.
If you or someone you care about is struggling with disordered eating or an eating disorder, know that help exists. Recovery is possible, and it begins not with restriction, but with understanding, support, and respect for the whole person.
Reference:
Harrison, C. (2019). Anti-Diet: Reclaim Your Time, Money, Well-Being, and Happiness Through Intuitive Eating. Da Capo Lifelong Books.