Top 10 Diet Culture Moments of 2023
So long 2023! But before we bid adieu to you, I wanted to look back at moments that made me cringe, scream, and drop my phone out of shock and desperation.
Diet culture’s pervasiveness in the media is not going anywhere anytime soon thanks to the complex interplay of psychosocial, cultural, and economic factors that keep it alive and well.
While there is no formal definition of diet culture, I appreciate Chrissy Harrison’s interpretation, the author of books Anti-Diet and The Wellness Trap, and the Susbtack Rethinking Wellness. Here’s a condensed version of her definition:
Diet culture is a system of beliefs that worships thinness and equates it to health and moral virtue…promotes weight loss as a means of attaining higher status…demonizes certain ways of eating while elevating others…and oppresses people who don’t match up with its supposed picture of “health.”
The continuous stream of images, opinions, and lifestyles in the media can shape our understanding of health and beauty, often leading us down the rabbit hole of unrealistic expectations and harmful practices.
Some diet culture moments mentioned below demand attention and reflection, others should’ve just been shut down ASAP. But an honorary mention goes to the following top 10 moments that diet culture made me want to BLEH! in 2023.
#10 Cottage cheese every.freaking.where
2023 was the year of cottage cheese on TikTok; cottage cheese pancakes, cottage cheese pasta sauce, cottage cheese as sour cream replacement. This, this is a trend I can get behind. I love cottage cheese, it’s high in protein and a great source of calcium and B12. HOWEVER, cottage cheese ice cream is something I cannot champion. I tried it, and I think you’re better off not doing so.
Just eat your Ben and Jerry’s and call it a night!
#9 Erewhon Market and its celebrity obsession
The L.A. supermarket became the new hot spot this year, partially thanks to TikTok videos and creators such as celebrity chef, Chef Bae sharing their expensive grocery hauls. The chain has teamed up with multiple celebrities this year to make healthy smoothies.
Notable collaborations include Hailey Bieber’s Strawberry Glaze Smoothie, Bella Hadid’s Orange Creamsicle Smoothie, Kourtney Kardashian’s Poosh Potion Detox Smoothie, and their newest good 4 ur GUTS Smoothie by Olivia Rodrigo.
Is there anything inherently wrong with this? Not really, just know that one single smoothie won’t make you “healthy,” no matter how much, “sea moss, collagen, organic aloe,” it has. And at $18-22 a smoothie, you can probably make your own at home for a fraction of the price, just saying!
#8 Selena Gomez and body-shaming
I just hate the fact that she felt the need to go online and talk about her weight gain, and defend it due to her chronic illness and medication use. She’s addressed body shaming comments time and time again, and it’s truly none of our business; her comment section should not be filled with nasty comments about her weight or looks (or with people expressing disapproval of her current BF, iykyk)!
#7 Kroma Wellness’ “detox”
Kroma Wellness was all over my TikTok feed earlier this year. The company promoted a “5-day Detox,” plan with various creators and influencers worth $500, and get this, it’s just a bunch of powders. $500 for 5 days of powders?! What are they made of, gold?
But seriously, do you know how much food you could eat for $500? Save your money and invest in sustainable solutions towards health, because if your day looks like powder and water, and powder and water, you might just be starving and eating half the fridge come 5 P.M. They claim to help with “energy” and “adrenal balance” and “better sleep” but with what energy if you’re having barely any calories during the day?
Eat real foods and let your organs take care of natural detoxing processes.
#6 Rebel Wilson and restriction
The “Pitch Perfect,” star talked to Daily Mail about how she lost a significant amount of weight by cutting out her portions, adding that in the past she has struggled with emotional eating.
“The truth is your body doesn’t need a lot of calories and I know that might sound crazy to some people, but if you eat right and you eat small portions, you’ll be just fine…I learned that you really only need about 600 calories a day — you don’t need 1,500 or 2,000.”
However, she later states she doesn’t recommend this diet to people, so why then state 600 calories? It’s a blanket statement, and claiming so to a large audience can be dangerous, as it’s impossible to know who’s going to read this and interpret it and what their medical needs are (side note-you do, you do need more than 600 calories, and that’s okay).
And I do empathize with her, her character was called Fat Amy, I can see how stigmatizing and shaming this can be, but I’m sure she was never previously asked what she ate in interviews, how curious, right? All power to her for feeling healthier and happier, I just wish she didn’t say so much.
#5 The rise of CGMs
I’m sure Glucose Goddess has something to do with this one…but we can get to her another day.
Continuous Glucose Monitoring (CGM) systems are medical devices that monitor glucose levels in real-time. These tiny sensors that are placed on the arm have revolutionized diabetes care by providing information up to the minute that can prevent harmful blood sugar spikes or dips that can at times be life-threatening.
For most of us, our bodies know what to do and how to take care of blood sugar regulation, and it does so without our intervention. It’s just unnecessary data, and there is no evidence to prove it is beneficial for folks without diabetes to invest in CGMs (and I say invest because these can be expensive…)
As tempting as it may be to gather information about your body, you are just feeding your illusion of control. Remember your body has a regulatory mechanism to keep minor fluctuations from happening day-to-day (unless you have health conditions that affect said system).
Just because you can measure something, doesn’t mean you should.
#4 Zhanna Samsonova (or Zhanna D’art)
Zhanna was a vegan influencer who passed away in August, I truly hope she rests in peace. The cause of death isn’t known, but accounts from family/friends online attribute it to malnutrition. Zhanna promoted a “raw vegan diet,” and stated she ate only fruits and had not drunk water for the past 6 years. I think there’s no need for me to explain this one, but following such a restrictive diet, can indeed be life-threatening.
If you’re looking to follow a vegan diet, consider meeting with professionals to safely tailor it to your own specific needs.
#3 Ozempic, a star of its own
Curious about this one? Go to the archive and read part 1 and 2 for more thoughts, but Ozempic sure was a star of its own this year!
#2 Oprah, oh Oprah!
“I’m absolutely done with the shaming from other people and particularly myself,” but are we done talking about her weight and weight loss struggles? Oprah talked to People about her decision to use medication to aid in her weight loss journey.
The piece forgot to mention Oprah owns a 10 percent stake in WW (known before as WeightWatchers), or the fact that they just opened WeightWatchers clinic, which prescribes weight loss drugs. It all seems a little too timely to not be a marketing scheme if you ask me, but I liked how Virginia Sole-Smith put it in her Substack Burnt Toast, “Everyone who profits from diet culture is also, in some way, its victim.”
All this to say, you can be the most successful, richest woman in the world, and still see how the grasp of diet culture clings to your flesh as you profit from it ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.
#1 The Goop Queen, Gwyneth Paltrow
The queen takes the crown, Goop Girl, Gwyneth Paltrow.
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So, coffee, broth and veggies is all you eat in a day?
Ehhhhm, can we get this girl some actual food, please? This is extremely restrictive and disordered.
This culture of celebrity worship makes us sicker mentally and physically, and if you ask me I think we know a liiiittle too much about each other.
Sure, she might not be imposing her regimen on anyone, but in the culture we live in, one which glorifies thin able-bodied, white cis-women as the epitome of health, I am so sure someone saw this and called it “wellness” and not disordered, and followed it in hopes of getting smaller/healthier/prettier (insert any adjective you’d like that aligns with diet culture values).
So, congrats Gwenyth, for taking the crown and being the reason my jaw and my phone dropped at the same time this year (just like when Kim Kardashian tried to fit into her MET Gala dress in 2022).
That’s all for today, folks! Remember to take things with a grain of salt, and ask, is it really healthy or is it just disordered? And though diet culture might not be going anywhere, hopefully next year you’ll be able to recognize it and say “AHA!” when a sneaky ad or interview pops up on your feed.
As the year comes to an end, I’d also like to say, THANK YOU DEAR READER, for being here and taking some time out of your day to share with Something To Chew On and support my writing. You have no idea how much I appreciate you opening up my emails and sharing them with your friends. See you in a few weeks to kick-start a healthier, happier, and more inclusive year!
If you have any topics you’d like to read about this upcoming year feel free to shoot me a message or comment on this post!
Keep chewin’!
Lol 2023 was my year I tried and started to love cottage cheese. No cottage cheese ice cream though.