Reclaim You- Dieting and Diet Culture's Origins
Our first episode is live! Join us as we dig into diet culture, its origins, what reclaim you means to us and some resources to support you!
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Welcome to Reclaim You, where we explore the journey of healing and recovery from disordered eating, body shame, and trauma. In today's episode, our hosts Sarah Herstich and Casey Koch, trauma and eating disorder specialists, delve into the topic of diet culture, its history and and its impact on our lives.
Casey begins by sharing what "Reclaim You" means to her in her personal life, and how it influences her work with clients. She then shares what exactly diet culture is, its origins, and how it has evolved over the years.
Casey explains how diet culture has permeated our society and become a pervasive and harmful force that perpetuates negative and stigmatizing views of bodies outside of the thin ideal. For those who have experienced trauma or disordered eating, understanding and divesting from diet culture is a critical part of healing. Sarah and Casey explain why this is an important concept for anyone working to reclaim themselves after being inundated with diet culture's beliefs since a young age.
Sarah and Casey also offer helpful resources for anyone who wants to learn more about diet culture and how it disconnects us from ourselves, along with resources that are supportive in recovery.
Join us as we explore this important topic and learn how to reclaim ourselves in the face of diet culture.
Reclaim Therapy provides eating disorder, trauma, body image and grief therapy in Pennsylvania.
Resources discussed throughout the episode:
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[00:00] Sarah: Hi there and welcome to Reclaim You, a podcast published by the Reclaim Therapy team. Join us as we share stories, tools, and insights on how to reclaim you in the wake of trauma, disordered eating, and body shame. Grab your coffee, tea, or beverage of choice and get cozy because we're about to dive in. Welcome to reclaim you. This is our first episode. Reclaim you is a podcast for folks who have experienced trauma or disordered eating and are working towards reclaiming themselves in the wake of all that that can cause. So today we're starting out chatting with Casey, the amazing Casey. Casey is an eating disorder, trauma, and grief specialist at Reclaimed Therapy. And today we're going to dig into a little bit about diet culture, its origins, its history, all of that really important stuff that we talk about with clients a lot and can be really supportive of helping folks reclaim themselves after struggling with food and body stuff for a long, long time.
[01:11] Casey: Yeah.
[01:14] Sarah: So Casey, Reclaim You start out by what does that phrase mean to you in your life or in your work with clients? What does reclaim you? Yeah. What does it mean to you?
[01:28] Casey: It's such a big question. I think the idea of reclaiming myself didn't really happen until I would graduate college. And I think it was this really stark realization that, like, hey, I'm in charge of my own life. And I was so mega confused as to what that actually looked like. And I think being able to have some time before I started delving into therapy work to really think about what happened the last like 22 years of my life, right. What happened? How did I get here? Right. I think in doing this work and then thinking back to what I was reflecting on at that time in my life, I never knew how impacted I was from the outside world. And that sounds like, right? But I can think all the way back to grade school and we were still doing the Got Milk commercials and the food pyramid and all of that stuff. And that was just normal, right. And then it went on to high school, right. And that's where things really start to do this, act like this, don't do this. And I remember a big thing in figuring out how I wanted to show up for myself in the world was realizing how much I compensated for my body. So being in a bigger body, for most of my life, I felt like I needed to compensate by being really intelligent or being really quiet and all of these things where I tried to take up less space, but also try and overcompensate just as a being right. And doing this work. Obviously that goes back to my self worth and all of those things. But the thing that scared me the most was like, that was normal. It was just like, oh yeah, I just have to show up in other ways. Right.
[04:02] Sarah: Yeah. Norman, like, almost expected. Right?
[04:05] Casey: Right. And, like, oh, you're just the quiet one, or, you're the smart one. Right. And I didn't fall too much into wanting to fit in, but I think I tried really hard to just isolate myself, considering I didn't fit in. Right. And thinking about all the crazy diets that people were on in high school and just the way people felt like they needed to be was just it's mind boggling looking back at it now. But scary how normal that was.
[04:45] Sarah: Yeah.
[04:46] Casey: And at that time right. Like, social media was, like, just beginning to flourish. Right.
[04:53] Sarah: It was just blossoming. Yeah.
[04:55] Casey: So I was in this really weird period where there was no technology, and then all of a sudden, it just skyrocketed. Right.
[05:05] Sarah: Yeah.
[05:06] Casey: And that's really where this perception of how you had to be and how you needed to present and how you needed to show up in the world, and then in college, you're an adult. Life shows up. Right. And I think the thing that hit me the most was, like, this hustle culture and this fear mongering of, like, you need to get your shit together. You need to just figure this out. This is too much. Right. So I remember the first six months after I graduated college was really awful for me. I didn't know what I wanted to do, what I could do. I felt like shit about myself. And I remember just taking that time to be like, what do I want to do? Really? It's an opportunity. And I think that flip in the script. Right. And so delving into therapy work, that became another part of me. Right. And that opportunity to explore. And then the pandemic hit, which then rewired every reframed, everything that people thought. Right.
[06:25] Sarah: Everything about everything.
[06:27] Casey: Everything. Right. And so I remember the biggest change, and it sounds like it sounds silly, but it was monumental for me, was I just stopped wearing makeup. I just stopped, like, cold turkey. And listen, I followed every beauty guru, beauty influencer, spent thousands of dollars looking back at it. To do what? I don't know. To fit in, to feel safe, to feel contained. Yeah. And really, that snowballed. I stopped dying my hair. I stopped wearing clothes that I didn't feel aligned with. I feel like I gravitate towards a more masculine presentation, and that felt, like, feels good for me, but never in my life did I feel safe to do that in my past life. And so that then snowballed into, like, what am I interested in? What are my passions? I think it just takes that little step that definitely feels scary and feels risky. Right. But doing it in a safe container and having support and to the point I am today where I can show up in the world and I can be not the smartest and not the most successful and not the richest. And it doesn't matter, right? My worth comes from inside. It comes from this relationship I built with myself. So that's my story. And when I think about how it shows up for clients, it's just like the work that we do, we can really understand what that feels like, right. To normalize. The idea that you do things to feel safe, and whether safe is fitting in or blending in or hiding or escaping. And the idea of the fact that you have all these things inside of you already, right? Like, they just haven't been found yet. And so learning how to be authentic, whatever that is, whether that's I have no idea what I want. That's like, I want to try this thing, and I'm scared whether that's, like, I hate this thing that I do, but I do it because I'm scared of the repercussions of not good, bad, or indifferent. Like, showing up authentically is really hard in the world we live in today.
[09:10] Sarah: It is.
[09:11] Casey: So that's, like, my main take point from my life is to explore what being authentic means. And that's already there. It's just hidden by all this bullshit.
[09:24] Sarah: Yeah, totally. Yeah. So speaking of bullshit, diet culture.
[09:32] Casey: Really?
[09:35] Sarah: Yeah. When you first started reading or learning about diet culture, what stood out to you the most? Because I feel so important in this journey we're always on of reclaiming ourselves in the face of all this shit, our histories and then the cultural influences and all of that. But when you first started concretely learning about diet culture, what was it? What was like oh, like, shit.
[10:04] Casey: There'S a couple of things. I think that just the fear mongering really was front and center for me because I remember growing up in the 90s, obesity was a disease, right? Like, save your children, save your family. And interestingly enough, at that same time that this was really Skyrocketing, it was the war on terror was starting. And all of this just like it was so interesting. The fear in politics and the world we live in felt almost just the same as this war on obesity. Right? And so that was really stuck out for me, the medical model and how people really use it to fear monger people into, like, I am not doing this right. I need to get my shit together. I need to be here for my kids, all of that stuff. Yes. Just, like, contain you. Right? I mean, I think in reading more about the oppressive side of diet culture, realizing that in moments of liberation and political freedom is right. When society tended to say, no, this is the standard now, right? Like, you're not enough. And, I mean, I really think this this is the response to keep people contained, right, and the idea that in reality, society can literally contain and control a population based on not enoughness. Yeah. Right. That just blew my mind. And, like, everybody does, right? I'm like, no, that never happened to me. What? Yeah, that never happened to me. I was above that. And then I look back at all of my life, and I'm like, no, I wasn't. Absolutely wasn't. And I think to realize that every single person is touched by diet culture is astounding, too. So I think there are the things that stood out for me. I mean, obviously, the crazy diets and just the things that people will do to feel enough and to feel like they're doing the right thing, right?
[12:49] Sarah: Yeah. So when we use the word diet culture, it's everywhere, right? It's all over. And thank goodness for that Thanksgiving. Things are growing on social media and all of those things, which is wonderful. I think people get confused about, like, well, what is diet culture? So when we use the term for you, what does diet culture mean? What does that phrase kind of represent?
[13:13] Casey: Yeah, I mean, I think the main thing that I explain to people is diet culture doesn't necessarily mean that you are following a quintessential diet. Right. It's a culture. And I think I really try to tell people that the focus is on the culture of it, right? Because that's where you get the nuances and the hidden messages and all of those things. So I think the main points is that then this is ideal, right? That is a moral standing, a virtue, like a place to be esteemed. And if you are, then you're in good standing or you're, like, healthy or whatever enough, right? Which, if we just all reclaimed ourselves, we would all eventually feel enough. And that's just part of the journey. And with that ideal, is we're all scrambling to figure out how to do that, right? And so there's polarizing and demonizing of how people eat, if they're eating enough, or types of food or what time of the day or whatever, right? That you're a bad person if you eat this or you are a good person and working on yourself, quote, unquote, if you eat these foods. So definitely like a demonizing and a hyper vigilance to, am I doing the right thing? And then overall, just an oppressive environment for people who don't align with that for whatever reason, right? And I think that has definitely been something that's spoken of more, which I appreciate, is, like, naturally, because everybody is different and that's normal and okay, then naturally, this is something to oppress people. And as we try and grow the anti diet, anti fat phobia movement, we need to come together as all bodies, right? And I think even the liberation, there is some diet culture stuck in there right, of this separate nature and all of that. So mainly thinness is ideal, hyper vigilance and demonizing of foods and just the oppressive nature of that thin ideal. And that just is an umbrella for so many different.
[15:52] Sarah: And so the origins of diet culture from what you know or what you've read or listened to or researched and all of those things. Talk a little bit, if you can, about some of the origins of where this started.
[16:06] Casey: This is my favorite question. This is my jam because it spans for hundreds of years.
[16:18] Sarah: I mean.
[16:20] Casey: First things that I have noticed is, like, ancient Greece, right? Before ancient Greece, where there was no transportation and no food preservation, right. Like, everybody fed themselves through the seasons. There was no other options. You either survived or you didn't. Right. And then once food preservation and transportation were available and there was more options for food, then people started to think, like, oh, I have choice. What's that look like for me? And looking towards the future, powers that be will take advantage of any choice you have and give you none. Right. So ancient Greece was where the ideal body first developed, from my understanding. And what's interesting is that it wasn't about the physical shape or physical presentation of someone, but it was of their physical ability. And I just think that's really interesting in looking at how we look at intuitive movement today and, like, the focus on celebrating your abilities right. And being strong and feeling good in your body internally. That's what the Greeks celebrated, which I think is just fascinating. The first diet book was made in the 15 hundreds wow. Which I think is fascinating. And the title was it the Art of Living Long. Wow. So we're already in this mindset right. Of what you put in your body. There's nothing talked about, like, the mind at all. Right. And that was the idea. People didn't live past 30, so living to 40 or 45 was huge. Right.
[18:31] Sarah: Right.
[18:32] Casey: And 100 years later about a book was written that was called, like, Fruits, Herbs, and Vegetables in, like, 1620, and it demonized the dairy and meat and sugar consumption of the British. So at that point, we're already leaning into this demonizing of food right. Which I didn't delve too much into to say, is that what they have access to? Is that what's available? Which if we bring that all the way back here right. That food deserts and food insecurity are demonized by diet culture that doesn't give a shit what your financial situation is or what your availability is. Yeah. Which to say it happens in 1600, that just blows my mind.
[19:32] Sarah: Yeah.
[19:34] Casey: So then you're going into, like, the 18 hundreds, and during the 18 hundreds right. Because food preservation and transportation really started to kick into gear and people had more access to it that they then demonized people not having those things. Right. So if you didn't have those things, you weren't having as much nutrition. And so looking at somebody who has those things and could give themselves nutrients more often, being in a bigger body meant higher status. It meant you were more financially inept. Right. And then that kept going, but there was starting to be these inklings of this thinness ideal. And it started with this man, Lord Byron, who was the first diet influencer, and he started the Vinegar Diet, which we now know today is like those apple cider, cayenne pepper bullshit, right, tastes awful and makes you sick to your stomach. Honestly, you don't want it. And before he had started the Vinegar Diet, he was actually in a restrict binge cycle and talked about that throughout his, like, you know, goings on in his life. And actually, there was a high amount of women who had unfortunately passed away from drinking excess amounts of vinegar. So you're seeing in around, like, 1820s where people are literally dying for this ideal, which is crazy. Then you have a little bit afterwards, you have the first low carb diet, which we now know paleo Atkins, the Caveman Diet. That's where it came from, this idea of carbs are bad, which I just think it's fascinating that the history is now just again repeating itself, right? This information is not new. The scary part is that there is more access to knowing about it and getting yourself in that dark hole, which wasn't there in the 18 hundreds, right? So 1860s, there was a UK weight loss guru, William Bending, and he had created a pamphlet about his weight loss journey. Recipes and restrictions and what you can and can eat. Sold out multiple times. So you're already getting this energy that people are seeking this information, right? So there's a little break in between. And then you get flapper culture in the 1920s, where this is where I think, again, from the information that I have, that this is really when the idea of clothes determining how people's bodies should look came to fruition. Right. And the penny scales came out, which, just to think about, they still existed when I was growing up. The penny scales. And just the idea that I always tell my clients, right, that what little money, particularly women had back then, they would use to participate in using a scale. I feel so sad. That immediately breaks my heart. And so 1920s flabber culture, then obviously, you get the BMI that was created in the early 19 hundreds, which for everybody watching, is statistical collection not supposed to be used for medical information.
[24:03] Sarah: The racist BMI and how it's all just epic bullshit.
[24:09] Casey: Yes. So that really then you get like, boom, boom, boom, boom, boom, diet culture everywhere, right? So in the 1930s, you have the first weight loss medication. In the 1940s, speed was encouraged to be used for weight loss. Then you have, in the 1950s, bariatric surgery. You have the discussion of morbid obesity, right? So this idea of, again, the fear mongering perspective that death is imminent, which obviously, for people who are getting very little information, we're still not at the tech savvy era that people are, oh, my God, I'm going to die. Let's get this together, right? Yeah, I have to do something. And then you get this twist, right, of Jenny Craig came out in the 1960s, which then led to this influx of food associated twelve Step programs. Fatty's anonymous gluttonous anonymous. So just the names, right, that we're coming out with is just like, you're a bad person, you did a bad thing, you need to get your shit together, blah, blah, blah, blah. And then 1970s pop up. And you have civil rights, you have anti war protest, you have all of that. And as I said before, when you get all that liberation, right, then the powers that be want to go, no, you're not allowed to have that. So this is why you're not enough and this is why you feel like shit about yourself, right? So then Atkins came out, Jenny Craig, the whole and again, we're getting more books, we're getting more VHS tapes at that time. We're getting more influx of information. Those shitty what are they? The things that you see in the grocery store, those little magazines that are like right? Like the tabloids started coming out. Tabloids. That's the call, right? And then the medical model starts showing up in this, right? So you have the National Institute of Health in 1992 coming out and saying like, yeah, diets are not sustainable, but two years later, you have facts being required. And then in 2013, obesity was deemed disease. So again, that really just creates this environment that we have today, where every doctor you see, every specialist you see is invested in your health by commenting on your weight. And if you're seeing this or hearing this in just audio, there's quotations everywhere in what I'm saying. I find the journey so fascinating because of the parallels in different time periods and how quickly things change. Right. It's just wild.
[27:18] Sarah: It is wild how it just kind of shapeshifts over time. Yeah.
[27:23] Casey: And just quickly, right? But yeah, that stuff is fascinating and spans over hundreds and hundreds of years, but you didn't get the concentration of it until probably early 18 hundreds. Late 19 hundreds. Early 19 hundreds.
[27:43] Sarah: Yeah. That's really fascinating. I feel like we could do also to add on to that a whole other episode on how race definitely 100% plays into all of this. There's the thin white ideal and where that came from and the roots and the origins and all of that kind of stuff, and how this shape shifting sense what did you say? The 1005 hundreds, right? Like how the intersections are all there. I mean, that should definitely be a whole other episode, for sure. But that's coming, so, yeah, it's really fascinating stuff. Really fascinating stuff. And important for people to know, as they're getting to know what gut diet culture is and to be on the lookout for the next shape shift, like what's coming, how has it formed and weaved itself in and out of our society for so long and keeping your eyes open. What's next? What's next?
[28:38] Casey: Right? And it also normalizes, this idea of when somebody comes into our space and says, I've tried every which way, and this, that, and the third, and it's like, yeah, you're going to if this keeps continuing, you're never going to be never going to be enough in the eyes of society. Because body ideal has changed so many freaking times. And I think that really gives people that space to be like, oh, yeah, this is bullshit. We went from Kim Kardashian to heroine Chic in a matter of like six months.
[29:13] Sarah: I know. It was like a day. Honestly, I was giving in, but it felt like a day.
[29:20] Casey: It almost was, right? And so when you look at it that way, you can't help, but you can't unknow it. Now you're like, oh, okay, obviously this is bullshit. So yeah, it's just wild.
[29:29] Sarah: What have been the most helpful or supportive resources for you as you've done this work and as you continue to kind of find resources for folks that you work with and all of that? What are the standout resources for you? Maybe we can make a little list for people to kind of tap into.
[29:45] Casey: Yeah, I mean, the first things that I give people normally are Anti Diet by Christy Harrison with the adjacent food site podcast. I think that gives a variety of different perspective for people who are just delving in. I also think that the association for Size, Diversity, and health in terms of delving into the medical forced connection between all of this, and they have really great health fact sheets to talk about, like the quintessential medical model, weight focused things in society today. The body is not an Apology really starts delving into the oppressive nature of fat phobia and diet culture. I mean, I think they're like my top. I think the Body Grievers Club is really good body image by Brie in terms of dealing with body grief and stuff. So there's a lot of resources. We'll put some information available to everybody because there's just so many to name.
[30:53] Sarah: I know there's so many to name. Yeah.
[30:55] Casey: Which is wonderful. Let's just acknowledge that. That's so dope.
[30:58] Sarah: Thank goodness. It kind of helps folks stay resilient and kind of keep their eyes open to noticing when things creep in because we're swimming in it all day. Right. Resilience is important and things are going to sneak in and being able to kind of like, whoa, oh, there that is. Let me put it back where it belongs.
[31:18] Casey: Yes. And the inclusiveness of some of the beliefs, right? Like being able to see somebody say, like, f diet culture, that shit's bonkers. And you can say like, oh my gosh, really? Okay. I think that moves mountains in the beginning is just associating yourself with spaces that start to question this stuff. So we have plenty of that.
[31:43] Sarah: Yeah, it's a slow kind of build lots of times, I think. And once you see it, you can't unsee it, for the most part. Thank goodness for that, which is great. What do you feel like are your parting words about diet culture? Anything else that you want to share about diet culture with folks that could be helpful or supportive?
[32:05] Casey: Succumbing to diet culture is normal and diet culture sucks. But be in spaces where questioning is happening and you will reclaim yourself.
[32:22] Sarah: Love it.
[32:22] Casey: I plan it.
[32:23] Sarah: Thank you, Casey.
[32:24] Casey: You're welcome. Thank you.
[32:25] Sarah: All right, everybody, we'll be back next week talking more about diet culture with Abby. So tune in next week and we'll talk to you then. Thank you so much for joining us on this episode of Reclaim You. Be sure to like and subscribe to the podcast and check us out on YouTube at reclaim you. We'll be back next week with another episode, so until next time, take good care of yourself.
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