Diet Culture in January: Why It spikes and How To Tune It Out
January 1st marks the beginning of the New Year, and therefore, individuals and their families settle back into their routines and start their journeys of starting new chapters and making memories.
Additionally, with the establishment of resolutions, one of the more common ones is individuals wanting to achieve weight loss or engaging in diets. Consequently, diet culture becomes amplified in January, making the noise challenging to avoid for those in recovery.
Navigating New Year’s Resolutions Without Falling Into Diet Culture Traps
The beginning of a new year brings endless opportunities to try something new, find a hobby, make changes, and more. However, the concept of setting resolutions can be good in theory, but alas, coming up with these goals can often make individuals feel pressured or dissatisfied if they don’t fulfill their achievements by the end of the year. For example, one of the major resolutions individuals set for themselves is to go on a diet or lose weight. Diet culture in January amplifies this pressure, creating unnecessary stress and unrealistic expectations.
The Impact of Diet Culture In January on New Year’s Resolutions
However, these resolutions can amplify the noise surrounding diet culture in January, which can be triggering for individuals who are struggling or are in recovery from an eating disorder. As a result, this can create a challenging environment during what should be a hopeful time of year. As Amy McCarthy writes in an article for Eater, “January has become synonymous with an onslaught of weight-loss advertising and content, both from companies and media outlets, turning the month into a minefield for people who have struggled with disordered eating or a desire to lose weight.”
Therefore, to avoid the harmful effects of diet culture in the new year, here are a few helpful tips for noticing the signs of negative talk.
Filter Your Content To Reflect Body Positivity And Intuitive Eating
Social media is a gateway to unlocking diet culture in January pushed by creators and the algorithm that can trigger individuals. Specifically, the push for “detoxes” and “cleanses” can affect how individuals view their relationship with food and their bodies.
Danielle Sinay, in an article for Glamour, writes how, for the past few years, there has been “the rise of diet-pushing almond moms trending on TikTok, a rash of A-list celebrities publicly praising their drastic weight loss, the mainstream appropriation of injectable diabetes medications to emulate that very transformation (the demand for which is now so high that many people who need the medicine have since lost access), and mainstream media depicting body types as trends.”
To counter this, individuals should filter their social media content to reflect the positive side of healthy eating and body image, especially amid diet culture in January.
BALANCE eating disorder treatment center™, located in New York City, offers free consultation calls to help you explore next steps. We provide in-person programming seven days a week and are in-network with UnitedHealthcare (UHC), Cigna, Emblem, and Oscar, with Aetna coverage coming soon. Support is available, and recovery is possible. Schedule a free consultation call with our admissions team here and stay connected with BALANCE on Instagram here.
References
McCarthy, A. (2022, January 10). Christy Harrison explains how to survive January’s diet messaging. Eater. https://www.eater.com/22870258/diet-culture-january-christy-harrison-interview
Sinay, D. (2023, December 8). New Year’s Resolution Diets Don’t Work—Why do we keep trying to make them happen? Glamour. https://www.glamour.com/story/new-years-diet-culture\
This post was written by BALANCE Blog Contributor, Regina Colie (she/her).
Regina Colie is a blog contributor for BALANCE, whose previous work has been featured in Project HEAL and Nourishing NY. She is an alumnus of The New School of Social Research, where she received her Masters in Psychology. After attending Marymount Manhattan College, she had the opportunity to be published in Dr. Nava Silton’s book, The Impact of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Child, Adolescent, and Adult Development.
