Unpairing Sustainability from Diet Culture

This article was requested by a follower and I couldn’t wait to write it. This article is a rework of a December 8, 2019 article under the same name. We hope you’ll still enjoy reading and give us feedback about what you think.

Food is more than just nutrients. It is comforting, it represents culture, and brings people together. Sharing a meal together and eating at someone’s table can break down barriers, form new understandings, and feed the body and soul. Unfortunately, this beautiful relationship with food is often disrupted by “diet culture”. Diet culture is everywhere, and leads to millions of people not fully enjoying their food, and living lives of shame and even self-hate. Diet-culture is defined as “a system of beliefs that worships thinness and equate it to health and moral virtue.” We all partake in diet culture, often in ways that we may not even notice. We comment on people’s appearances after not seeing them for weeks, we are statistically more likely to discriminate against heavier people in job interviews, and we are surrounded by magazines of impossibly thin people full of advertisements for weight loss pills and gym subscriptions. 

At first glance, sustainable eating and healthy eating can appear to overlap. At a time when sustainable eating is becoming more popular, the boundary between “sustainable eating” and diet culture can be incredibly difficult to discern. In this article, I seek to debunk the myth that truly focusing on sustainable eating has anything to do with unhealthy ideals, disempowerment or discrimination. 

First, dieting and sustainable eating often both involve meal planning. In a diet culture, meal planning can help individuals restrict their eating and allow them to avoid the “temptation” of foods outside of their diet plan. This can lead to monotonous food consumption, feelings of guilt when eating something outside of the plan, and isolation when family and peers are enjoying other foods together. Meal planning is often encouraged in sustainable eating as a means for reducing waste in your kitchen, and not buying more than you need in the first place. Meal planning can often mean that less produce goes to waste, and families can have an opportunity to eat all of their perishable food before it goes bad. Meal planning can also help you extend your grocery budget and can make sustainable eating affordable. This kind of language around not buying “more than you need” differs from a similar message in diet culture, as it is not in any way trying to restrict the amount of food you eat. If you’re still hungry after eating everything you packed for lunch, you should feel empowered to eat until you’re satisfied! Keeping non-perishable snacks on hand—like nuts, dried fruits and other yummy things (chocolate anyone?!)—to make sure you have enough food on hand to feed your body and brain throughout the day should never induce feelings of shame. 

Second, both diet culture and sustainable eating can make a person overly label-obsessed. Diet culture encourages hyper-focused attention on calorie counting and the nutritional content of every food we consume throughout the day. On the other hand, those of us interested in sustainability can often spend hours reading labels in grocery stores each week because it can be hard to figure out where our food is coming from and how it was produced. We covered some common sustainable food labels to help you answer any label questions you may have while shopping, but even with this knowledge it can still take extra time and energy to check every food label before purchasing. This label obsession can make anyone overwhelmed—on both sides—and that compounded with trends like eating “clean”, or counting calories, or cutting out specific types of food, can cause a lot of stress! We hope you can use labels to feel better about what you’re purchasing and enjoy your food even more, rather than leading to feelings of stress and frustration. 

Because both dieting and sustainability can be “trendy” and “popular”, labels and companies will often cater to consumer interests and twist their marketing to make their products more appealing. As someone who works in nutrition education, I am very wary of labels that promote foods as “healthy” this, or “guilt free” that. Food marketers are always after the next “superfood” or quick-fix diet that will “change your life!” If you can, follow your gut, seek a balanced mix of foods, and move your body however you are able, naturally and joyfully everyday. You can live a very healthy life while still enjoying nearly any type of food. 

Additionally, both “sustainability” and diet culture can often work to maintain systems of white supremacy. Diet culture is part of a white ssupremacist system that pushes white beauty ideals and perpetuates colorism around the globe, along with the thin-ideal. On the other hand, the whiteness of sustainability is the result of white people co-opting a lot of sustainable practices that have been central to a lot of indigenous cultures for centuries. Sustainable food culture has historical roots in native cultures around the world, cultures that have been colonized by white people and promoted as “new discoveries.” This is the case in both sustainable practices and many parts of the culinary world where colonial language is used to share “discovered” foods that have actually been around for centuries. There is also a culture of recognizing veganism as a predominantly white-space, which is untrue and exclusionary to the amazing BIPOC vegan chefs, entrepreneurs and home-cooks around the country. Based on research looking at veganism across populations in the US, it appears that, per capita, there are actually more Black Americans who identify as vegans than white Americans. This is just one case where a diet that is touted for its sustainability but often defined by “whiteness” has created an exclusionary image that just isn’t true. 

We assume that you have taken the time to read articles on Grounded Grub because you want to see systemic change in our food system. By seeking environmentally friendly food options, you are working to support farmers and producers more fairly, support agriculture that is better for our planet, and increase the agency and empowerment of consumers over what they put in their bodies. These changes can support food justice, environmental justice, and make our world more inclusive. Diet culture, however, plays into traditional standards of beauty, is exclusionary of people with disabilities and often people of non-white races, and is completely focused on image. Our obsession with how we look has built multi-million dollar industries that capitalize on us feeling lesser and feelings of self-loathing. Rather than promoting love and acceptance, diet-pills, unrealistic workout plans, and other products of diet culture seek to make money on making people feel bad about themselves. Stay away from this toxic culture and promote self-love and acceptance in yourself and your communities. Rising above our capitalistic society that works to make money based off of people’s self loathing is a radical act. Supporting non-traditional forms of beauty, pushing back against thin ideals and moving our dialogue around food to a more inclusive space is part of changing our system. Take time to enjoy your food and appreciate the way it feeds your body and soul. Rather than following a strict diet schedule, listen to your body and follow your intuition. 

Diet culture is so ingrained in our society that it influences how we make choices as a culture. We are constantly berated with ads and messaging about how to make food “guilt free.” While sustainable eating can also feel like yet another set of rules, we hope that we can promote a space where people can share what they are passionate about and not feel guilty or ashamed if they aren’t perfect everyday. Accidentally accepting a plastic fork every once in a while is not going to kill the planet. The fossil fuel industry is making things much worse than you ever will. And while making personal changes is important, it will take massive policy change on a global level to stop something as massive as climate change. We hope to encourage a new mindset around food and personal habits to help people feel empowered to make change, instead of fostering a rules-focused mindset that inevitably leads to guilt formation.  

We hope that we can use Grounded Grub to promote the celebration of food and a healthy environment, rather than the demonization of food itself. Diet culture has permeated so much of our culture and is part of the societal shift that led to us not understanding our food or where it comes from. As we all move to try and create a better system by advocating for policy change, making personal choices and working with our communities to spread a positive movement, we hope you’ll work with us to unpair diet culture language from sustainable eating narratives. Making sustainable food choices is not about policing what is put in your body, but rather, celebrating food and how it fuels our lives. It is about investing in our system to support farmers, reduce waste, and protect our natural resources. It is about enjoying every bite, and coming back for more. 

We are so grateful for the privilege we have in talking about these issues. Many people do not have a choice over what they eat or how much they are able to afford. We hope you’ll use your privilege to create a better system that serves all, equitably. If you’re looking for food justice organizations to invest in, check out this preliminary list.