The Dangers of Diet Culture: Why Restrictive Eating and Extreme Fasting Sabotage Your Health

Dangers of diet culture

Let me tell you a story that had me spitting out my kombucha in sheer disbelief (just kidding, I am a huge fan of Earl Grey with milk). It all started with a casual scroll through my Facebook feed. You know the drill—harmless procrastination, catching up on funny memes, and suddenly, I stumbled upon a post that made my eyebrows shoot up faster than a caffeine kick.

A woman posted in a health-focused group about her weight loss struggles, saying, “I’ve been doing this 12-hour intermittent fasting thing religiously, but I’m not losing weight!” Now, before I could even sip my Earl Grey tea (with a dash of honey, thank you very much), the comments were flooded with well-meaning advice, but one stood out like a neon sign in a yoga studio: “Girl, you need to go for the 18-hour fasting window. That’s where the magic happens!”

Um, what?

Let’s pump the brakes here. I’m all for being mindful of what we eat, but suggesting someone needs to starve themselves longer to achieve some mythical weight-loss goal? That’s the diet culture talking, and it’s as toxic as a flat tummy tea endorsement.

🍔⚖️🥦 Same Weight, Very Different Calories – What This Image Teaches Us About Food

At first glance, this image (yes, talking about the first image/drawing) might look like a simple sketch: burgers and fries stacked high on one side of a scale, and fruits and veggies piled generously on the other.

The scale balances perfectly. But here’s the kicker:

The calorie content? Not even close.

Let’s break it down:

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🔥 Estimated Calories: Left vs. Right

🍔 Left Side – Burgers & Fries

Let’s assume:

• 3 cheeseburgers = ~1,200–1,500 kcal

• Large fries = ~400–500 kcal

• Extras (sauces, buns, cheese): add ~200–300 kcal

💥 Total: ~2,000–2,300 kcal

🥕 Right Side – Fruits & Veggies

Let’s estimate:

• Apples, carrots, celery, tomatoes, lettuce, onions, and a few other veg

• Roughly 10 full servings = ~300–400 kcal total

🌱 Total: ~300–400 kcal

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🧠 What Can We Learn?

This isn’t about saying one side is “bad” and the other is “good.”
It’s not about glorifying salad and demonizing burgers.

💡 This is a metaphor.
Just because two things weigh the same doesn’t mean they’re equal in impact.

1. Energy Density Matters
   Processed, high-fat foods like burgers and fries pack a LOT of energy into small volumes. They’re calorie-dense.
   Fruits and veggies, on the other hand, are mostly water and fiber—meaning you can eat a lot of them and still stay within a low calorie range.

2. Fullness ≠ Calories
   That pile of veggies may fill your stomach more, keep you fuller longer, and offer tons of nutrients for fewer calories—while the burger meal might leave you still craving more later, despite the high calorie load.

3. It’s About Balance, Not Extremes
   No, this doesn’t mean you should eat only fruits and vegetables and never touch a burger again.
   It just means being mindful: when you’re eating high-calorie, low-nutrient foods regularly, they add up fast—and your body might not even feel satisfied.

This image is a perfect reminder that volume isn’t everything—sometimes the smallest choices carry the biggest impact. Whether you’re working toward fat loss, energy, or hormonal balance, understanding energy density helps you make empowered, informed choices.

🥦 Eat your veggies. 🍔 Enjoy your burger now and then.
But remember: what’s on the scale isn’t always the full picture.

The Restriction Trap: Why Less Isn’t Always More

The problem with this kind of advice is that it reinforces a dangerous cycle of restriction. The idea that we need to constantly eat less, last longer, and push our bodies to the brink is not just unhelpful—it’s harmful. Sure, intermittent fasting might work for some people, but it’s not a one-size-fits-all solution. Your body isn’t a machine where you can just adjust the knobs and dials until the “ideal weight” pops out like a vending machine snack. It’s a complex, beautiful, living organism that thrives on balance, not deprivation.

And let’s be real for a second—have you ever met anyone who’s truly happy when they’re hungry? (If you have, please attach their contact in the comments down below I NEED to know their secrets!)

Food Shouldn’t Be the Enemy

Remember when food was just…food? Something we enjoyed, shared with friends, and maybe even looked forward to? Somewhere along the way, diet culture swooped in with its green juice cleanses, “clean eating” mantras, and made us believe that food was something to be feared, controlled, and manipulated.

Let’s get one thing straight: food is not the enemy. Carbs aren’t lurking in the shadows waiting to sabotage your health. Fat isn’t a villain conspiring against your fitness goals. And for the love of avocados, can we please stop demonizing fruit because of its sugar content?

The Damage Diet Culture Does

Here’s the ugly truth—diet culture is like that bad ex who leaves you questioning your worth. It messes with your head, tells you you’re not good enough, and leaves you feeling insecure, hungry, and just plain miserable (and I’ve been into a toxic relationship with a man and a toxic relationship with my body – food disorder, so I know what I preach)

How many times have you heard someone say, “I’ll be happy when I lose X pounds”? But here’s the kicker—even if they do lose the weight, that happiness is usually as fleeting as a fad diet. The issue isn’t the number on the scale, it’s the mindset that’s been drilled into us by an industry profiting from our insecurities.

🎀 This is where I borrow a little inspiration from one of my favorite Instagram gems, @emmysyummys. Emmy keeps it real with her audience, reminding them that food is to be enjoyed, not feared. She shares drool-worthy meals without a side of guilt, and her feed is a feast for the eyes that doesn’t leave you feeling like you need to run a marathon afterward. She is the inspiration as well to write the post. She shows you could be enough, look awesome, and not be HUNGRY all the time 😉

The Key to a Healthier You: Balance, Not Banishing

The truth is, being healthy isn’t about how long you can go without eating or how much you can restrict your diet. It’s about finding what works for your unique body, embracing the foods that nourish you, and maybe most importantly, treating yourself with a little kindness. Imagine that—being kind to yourself in the pursuit of health!

The next time you find yourself caught in the clutches of diet culture—whether it’s a well-meaning Facebook comment or a slick Instagram ad—take a step back and ask yourself, “Is this really serving me?” More often than not, the answer is no.

Let’s Ditch the Rules and Embrace Real Food

Instead of chasing the next big diet trend, let’s go back to basics. Eat when you’re hungry, choose foods that make you feel good, and don’t stress over the occasional indulgence. A donut is just a donut—not a gateway to dietary doom.

So, here’s my challenge to you: Break up with restrictive diets and get back to enjoying your food. Cook a meal that excites you, savor every bite, and remember that your worth isn’t tied to your waistline. Let’s make food fun again—and leave the ridiculous restrictions where they belong: in the trash with the old diet fads.

Habits and Mindset are Everything – They said

but also:

How to Build Habits That Actually Stick (Even When Life Sucks)

Let’s talk about habits—those sneaky little routines that quietly run our lives, often without us even realizing. You’ve probably heard the saying, “We are creatures of habit,” and let me tell you—it couldn’t be more true. Habits shape our daily choices, our energy levels, our mood… even our health. They’re like that one friend who always shows up uninvited but somehow becomes part of the furniture.

But here’s the tricky part: you can’t just throw out an old habit like it’s a pair of shoes you no longer wear. Habits are sticky. They love their routine. And they’re more than happy to haunt you every time you try to make a change.

Why Changing Habits Feels So Hard

If you’ve ever tried to start eating healthier, working out, or even sleeping better, you’ve likely faced the frustrating truth: building new habits takes time, patience, and a lot of self-compassion. (Borrowing some wisdom from James Clear’s Atomic Habits, you don’t need discipline as much as you need consistency.)

From my own experience, I know how overwhelming it can feel. I’ve lived on the rollercoaster of life: starting horse riding as a child, inline skating at 15, then struggling with food disorders, ADHD, PCOS, and endometriosis (undiagnosed that time) in my 20s while trying to navigate life in a new country (moved to the UK when I was 19). Imagine waking up in your 20s with the energy of a 90-year-old who just ran a marathon.

The Turning Point: Building Sustainable Habits

One day, I hit a wall. I didn’t want to live like that anymore—drained, disconnected, and constantly stuck in survival mode. So I made a decision: I would rebuild my life, one small step at a time.

And here’s what I learned: you don’t change your life by overhauling everything at once. You change it by building better habits—slowly, intentionally, sustainably.

Start Small, Stay Consistent

Think about it like learning to play guitar. You don’t start with complex concertos—you begin with simple chords. Or training for a marathon: if you’ve been glued to the couch for years, you don’t suddenly sprint 26.2 miles. You start with a jog around the block.

(I still remember the time I couldn’t even run for one full minute—ONE! I thought I’d never make it. But fast forward to today? I can run 10 kilometers. That’s over 6 miles. It didn’t happen overnight—but it happened because I kept going.)

So why do we expect ourselves to instantly overhaul our diet or lifestyle? It’s like jumping into the deep end of a pool when you don’t know how to swim. It’s overwhelming—and it’s why most resolutions fail.

How to Build Healthy Habits That Last

Want to eat healthier? Don’t cut out carbs forever (because let’s be honest—bread is life). Start by adding more veggies to your meals. Want to move more? Start with a walk instead of committing to a workout routine that makes you want to cry before you even begin.

• ✨ Start small

• ✨ Be consistent

• ✨ Celebrate progress—not perfection

• ✨ Give yourself grace

Change doesn’t happen overnight. But you can rebuild your health, your energy, and your mindset—one habit at a time.

The Climb Is What Makes It Worth It

There’s a quote from Unfck Yourself* by Gary John Bishop that I come back to often:

“Everyone wants to be at the top of the mountain, but few are willing to make the climb.”

It’s a powerful reminder that reaching your goals—whether it’s losing weight, healing your gut, managing your PCOS, or rebuilding your focus with ADHD—isn’t about shortcuts. It’s about the climb. The messy, imperfect, day-by-day climb.

And the best part? Once you start to change your health habits, you’ll notice that same “change mindset” starts applying to everything: your relationships, your career, your self-worth.

You don’t need to be perfect. You just need to be persistent. Sustainable change happens through small, repeated actions—not massive, unsustainable overhauls.

So give yourself permission to start slow. Nourish your body. Build habits that support the future you want.

And remember: you’re not lazy. You’re just not yet fueled by the right habits.

Why does Time mean nothing?

Quick Weight Loss Isn’t Always Healthy:
Rapid weight loss often involves extreme diets, unsustainable habits, or unhealthy calorie deficits that can harm the body. It might lead to muscle loss, nutritional deficiencies, or metabolic damage, undermining long-term health.

Physical Results Don’t Equal Mental Peace:
Even if someone achieves their “goal weight” quickly, it doesn’t necessarily mean they’ve addressed underlying emotional or psychological struggles. Without a positive mindset and self-acceptance, weight loss can feel hollow or fleeting.

A Tale of Body Image and Emotional Well-Being: What Transformation Photos Don’t Show

Let’s take a closer look at two powerful visual representations that reveal the often-overlooked side of health and transformation stories—the emotional cost behind the physical change.

In both images, we see two young women standing side by side, seemingly posed for a typical “before and after” comparison. But instead of celebrating weight loss or muscle gain, these visuals dig deeper. They challenge the very foundation of what we often celebrate in fitness culture.

The Truth Behind “Before and After” Photos

In the first image, the woman on the left is slightly overweight, yet she radiates joy, peace, and confidence. Her smile is genuine, and her presence is grounded. On the right, her slimmer, fitter counterpart might tick the “after” box in a traditional weight loss post—but something’s missing. Her face is neutral, her energy subdued, her expression emotionally disconnected.

This subtle contrast breaks down the myth that losing weight guarantees happiness or self-worth. Spoiler alert: it doesn’t.

Emotional Health Isn’t Measured in Pounds

In the second image, the contrast becomes even more emotionally charged. Again, the woman on the left—slightly overweight—smiles with genuine happiness. There’s light in her eyes, ease in her posture. She’s clearly at peace with herself.

But on the right? A slimmer version of the same woman is crying. Her face shows distress, anxiety, and emotional fatigue. And suddenly, the reality of body transformation culture hits you: the pursuit of the “perfect body” can sometimes come at the expense of your emotional well-being.

These images force us to question:
What are we really chasing when we chase weight loss?

Health Is More Than Aesthetics

Society has trained us to measure success by numbers: pounds lost, calories burned, inches trimmed. But real health is holistic. It includes:

• Emotional stability

• Mental clarity

• Self-acceptance

• Food freedom

• And yes, physical well-being—but not at the cost of your joy.

Being thin doesn’t automatically mean you’re healthy or happy. And being slightly overweight doesn’t mean you’re not thriving. True health includes the ability to enjoy life, food, relationships, movement, and rest—without guilt, obsession, or constant restriction.

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Conclusion: Be Kind to Your Body

Your body is pretty incredible. It carries you through life, heals, grows, and adapts—even when you’re not treating it with the kindness it deserves. So instead of starving it into submission, skipping meals, or overtraining in pursuit of a number on the scale, try something radical:

💛 Be kind to your body.

Nourish it. Rest it. Move it with joy—not punishment. Listen to its cues. Respect its limits.

And most importantly: ditch the idea that you need to earn your worth through weight loss.

Because here’s the truth:
You don’t need another diet. You need balance, compassion, and healing.

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Let’s Talk: Have You Ever Felt Trapped by Diet Culture?

If you’ve ever found yourself stuck in the cycle of:

• Fad diets

• Guilt after eating

• Measuring your worth by your body shape

• Obsessing over “transformation” photos…

…you are not alone.

In fact, I’ve been there too. And I’d love to hear your story.
💌 Send me an email—really. No pressure, no judgment, no sales pitch. Just a real conversation with someone who gets it. Sometimes all you need is someone to remind you that food can be delicious, nourishing, and 100% guilt-free.

Now, if you’ll excuse me…
I’m off to make myself a snack. Because healing includes snacks, too. 😉

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Tell me below in the coments section: Have you ever been hurt or confused by transformation culture? How did it affect your relationship with food or your body? Let’s open this conversation. ❤️

❄️ The Skater vs. The Storm – “Focused Flow vs Food Fog”

• Right side (on the phone bottom picture): a graceful figure skater gliding effortlessly across a frozen lake under soft, golden light. She’s free, in the moment, eyes focused, arms open—fueled by peace, practice, and nourishment.

• Left side (on the phone top picture) : same skater, but off the ice. She’s hunched over a table cluttered with diet books, empty wrappers, a phone open to calorie-tracking apps. Her expression is anxious, lost in thought—trapped in obsessive food thoughts and fatigue.

“One body. Two realities. What are you feeding: your freedom or your fear?”

So here’s the truth: diet culture is loud, persuasive, and really, really boring at dinner parties. It convinces us that being smaller makes us more worthy, that hunger is a sign of weakness, and that health comes in a one-size-fits-all box — usually wrapped in guilt, shame, and kale.

But what if you didn’t need to shrink yourself to feel enough?

What if your healthiest life doesn’t start with restriction — but with permission?

Permission to eat.
Permission to rest.
Permission to take up space.
Permission to change — slowly, imperfectly, and on your own terms.

Because here’s what I know for sure: you are not the problem. The system is. And you get to opt out of it.

You get to unlearn.
You get to heal.
You get to rewrite the story — one where you’re not the villain, the project, or the before picture.

✨ Let this be the moment you stop chasing a version of yourself that was never meant to exist.

Take a deep breath.
Get quiet.
And ask yourself: What would it look like to care for myself, not control myself?

The answer might just change your life.