Dear Diet Culture Letter: You Deserve to Have Food be Joyful Part of Your Life

Dear Diet Culture,

It’s me, Sunday.

It’s fall and with that ushers in the beginning of a whole season of you continuously fear mongering people about their food; we literally cannot get a break from you. In the summer you make people feel scared of wearing their bathing suits, or other summer clothing, and encourage them to change their bodies just to be worthy of existing (btw hard no to all of these beliefs and your tactics). But, in the fall it shifts a bit and I have heard you whispering around already.

You start to tell people to “watch out for their indulgences” and “monitor their intake”. You tell people that seasonal foods are ok “in moderation” and every one needs to “be careful.” You start recommending disordered eating tactics like using fiber-rich foods to “fill up” which doesn’t work because you cannot trick the body, but you repeat the same shit every year. This shows up in particular on fall holidays like Halloween and Thanksgiving. But it also shows up daily in other ways during the fall season when you are talking about sweet warm beverages, fruits, cookies, bread and so much more.

Basically, you never leave us alone which is pretty annoying.

It also makes everyone SO stressed out which really goes against all of your proselytizing about how being “healthy” is so important (yep, we know you mean thin and not healthy. You’re not fooling anyone).

Could you just give us a break, even if only for a season?! But I already know the answer to that question: we cannot get rid of you that easily because you are everywhere and you are too powerful.

Even in times like right now in September of 2020, when people would like to be focusing their attention on what’s going on in the world, you steal that attention from them. Even in times when people want to be baking their grandmother’s cookie recipe, you steal that experience from them. Even in times when Halloween means having a bit of joy for a day or week, you steal that from kids and adults alike.

You are a life stealer, even in the fall. You distract, manipulate and gather money along the way. And we’re not havin it this season.

Sincerely,

Sunday, aka your most annoyed non-diet Dietitian Katherine who wants you to know that fall food is fun, pleasurable and such a joyful part of life and that you deserve to experience all of it