The Danger of Diet Culture: Why Restriction is Not the Answer
There was a moment I remember clearly. It started like any other quiet afternoon, scrolling through social media, sipping my Earl Grey. But then I paused. A comment caught my eye: “18-hour fasting is the only way to see results.” My heart dropped. Not out of surprise, but recognition. I knew that voice. I’d heard it before: from diet culture, from my past, from myself.
Diet culture is subtle, persuasive, and endlessly damaging. It slips into our thoughts, our friendships, our food choices. It teaches us that hunger is discipline, that smaller means better, that pleasure should be earned. But here’s the truth: it is not only wrong. It is dangerous.
One of the people who really inspired me to start speaking out about the damage diet culture has done to women – is Emmy from @emmysyummys on Instagram. Her honesty, compassion, and boldness in calling out toxic wellness trends reminded me that our bodies were never meant to be projects. They are temples. She speaks truth with so much grace, and if you haven’t come across her content yet, I highly recommend checking her out. She helped me see that it’s not just okay to reject the lies we’ve been sold — it’s necessary.
The Image That Says It All
Imagine a scale. On one side, burgers and fries. On the other, an abundant pile of fruits and vegetables. The scale balances. The weight is the same. But the calories? Worlds apart.
Burgers and fries: roughly 2,000 calories. Fresh products: around 300 to 400.
What does that tell us? Not that one food is good and the other bad. It shows us how energy density works. That fullness isn’t about calories alone. That food is more than numbers—it’s nourishment, satisfaction, and function.
This isn’t about choosing vegetables over joy. It’s about understanding that balance is more powerful than extremes.
The Trap of Restriction
The promise of quick results through intermittent fasting or extreme dieting is alluring. But at what cost? Hunger is not a strategy. It is a signal. Ignoring it doesn’t build health – it builds resentment, fatigue, and shame.
Your body is not a machine to be tricked. It is a living, feeling organism that thrives on care, not control.
Food is Not the Enemy
Somewhere along the way, food became fear. Carbs became enemies. Fruit was shunned for having sugar. And eating became a performance.
But real health doesn’t come from perfect meals or skipped breakfasts. It comes from connection – to your body, your values, your life. The idea that food must be earned has poisoned how we see nourishment.
You don’t need to fear your plate. You need to trust your body.
What Diet Culture Really Does
Diet culture doesn’t just influence what we eat. It rewrites how we see ourselves. It teaches us that we are not worthy until we shrink. That joy is postponed until a number appears on the scale.
It took me years to unlearn that.
Like many women, I battled disordered eating, exhaustion, and invisible illness. ADHD. PCOS. Endometriosis. I moved to a new country at 19 and carried the weight of unrealistic expectations. And when I couldn’t meet them? I blamed myself.
But it was never my fault. It was the system’s.
Health is More Than Aesthetics (This really happened)
We praise transformation photos. We idolize the “after” shot. But what do those photos not show?
The anxiety. The isolation. The hunger. The deep, gnawing emptiness of achieving a body but losing peace.
True health is emotional resilience. Mental clarity. Trust in your body. Safety in your skin. It cannot be measured in pounds.
That’s why, when I work with clients 1:1, I never have, and never will post before-and-after photos even if my clients fully agree.
Not because there’s shame in the journey, but because these images rarely tell the full truth.
I’ve worked as a Personal Trainer for over two years, including The Gym Group in Peckham and Central London, and I’ve seen firsthand how the industry often celebrates results that come from unsustainable and unhealthy practices (not every PT is like this, keep in mind). I remember a fellow trainer proudly sharing that his client had lost weight on a 1,500-calorie diet – while doing daily intense workouts. He even used her photos as marketing. The truth? That same client felt drained, moody, and trapped in a cycle of fear around food – the price for one hour PTs in Central London is around £70 so you may not have for more than 1500 kcal diet (side joke)
This is not health.
This is not success. Trust me. I started my 13 years old girly journy from food disorder & Pro-Ana. I went through hell to write this article right now.
You know the trend on TikTok?
– Why do you keep telling the same story all over again?
– Because if I don’t… the damage will be just the damage!
My mission isn’t to help you shrink for the summer. It’s to help you feel nourished and grounded all year round. To keep your body and spirit healthy — not just for a photoshoot, but for life.
The Body Keeps the Score
I still remember the night I found The Body Keeps the Score by Dr. Bessel van der Kolk. I was working a late shift at a restaurant, cleaning tables downstairs before closing long time ago. I was lost back then, unsure of who I was or where I was going, overwhelmed by the pressure to “fix myself” in every possible way. Someone must’ve left the book behind – maybe by accident, maybe meant for me.
I picked it up and started reading that same evening. Page after page, it felt like someone had finally put words to the things I had buried for years. It taught me that our bodies carry the weight of our trauma, and that healing isn’t about control – it’s about compassion.
In the same way that trauma reshapes how we live and relate to others, diet culture conditions us to disconnect from our bodies, to silence hunger, and to chase worthiness through restriction. But our bodies are not problems to be fixed. They are messengers, protectors, and homes we can learn to trust again. That night sparked the beginning of my healing – and the work I do now is deeply rooted in that moment.
Building Real Habits That Last
You don’t need to overhaul your life. You need small, consistent shifts. A walk. A glass of water. More vegetables. More Protein. More rest. Kindness toward yourself.
Not perfection. Persistence.
Want to move more? Start with stretching or walking. Want to eat better? Add, don’t subtract.
Habits that support you are habits that stay.
You Are Not the Problem
Diet culture has made us believe we are broken. Lazy. Weak. But we are not. We are tired. Misinformed. Distracted by promises that never deliver.
The truth? You don’t need to become smaller to be loved. You don’t need to fast longer to be healthy. You don’t need to fear food to be free.
A Better Way
Let this be the moment you stop chasing the illusion of perfection. Let it be the beginning of coming home to yourself.
Eat because you are hungry. Rest because you are tired. Move because it brings you joy.
And above all, be kind to the body that carries you.
Because healing doesn’t come from punishment. It comes from permission.
Permission to take up space. Permission to be human. Permission to begin again, with grace.
You’re not alone. I’d love to hear your story. Send me a message. Let’s talk, one woman to another.
Because you are worthy. Not when you change. But exactly as you are.
What Transformation Photos Don’t Show: A Tale of Body Image and Emotional Well-Being
We know this format. The “before and after.” as we spoke before. But what if the story we’re told about these images isn’t the whole truth?
The Truth Behind Transformation Culture
In a world where before-and-after photos are currency, we’re taught that a smaller body equals a better life. But photos can lie. Or rather, they can conceal.
In one image: a woman with soft curves, her face lit with genuine peace. In the other: a leaner version, yet her eyes are distant. Her energy, dimmed.
The weight may have changed. But has she become healthier? Or simply thinner?
Emotional Health Isn’t Measured in Pounds
Let me show you another image.
Same woman. Same comparison. But this time, the “after” tells a different story. She is crying. Her body is smaller, but her heart looks heavy.
What happened to the joy we were promised?
These photos force a question too many of us have learned to avoid:
What are we really chasing when we chase weight loss?
Health Is More Than Aesthetics
Health isn’t a number on the scale. It isn’t the gap between your thighs or the size of your jeans. True health is a life lived in alignment – mind, body, and spirit.
It looks like:
- Emotional stability
- Mental clarity
- Self-acceptance
- Freedom around food
- Joy in movement
And yes, physical wellness—but not when it comes at the price of peace.
You can be thin and miserable. You can carry extra weight and still be thriving.
Thinness does not equal healing. And weight gain does not equal failure.
Conclusion: Be Kind to Your Body
Your body is a miracle. It moves. It breathes. It keeps going, even when you’re at war with it.
It deserves better than punishment.
So give it rest. Give it nourishment. Give it movement that brings pleasure.
And most of all, give it respect.
Stop treating weight loss as your ticket to worth. You never needed to earn your place.
You are worthy now.
Not ten pounds from now. Not once you “clean up your diet.” Not when you finally fit the picture.
Now.
Let’s Talk: Have You Ever Felt Trapped by Diet Culture?
If you’ve found yourself stuck in the loop of:
- Chasing diet trends
- Feeling guilt after eating
- Measuring your value by your body
- Comparing yourself to filtered “transformation” posts…
Leave a comment below, we can support each other 😉
The Skater vs. The Storm – “Focused Flow vs Food Fog”
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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.
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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?”
Here’s the truth:
Diet culture is loud, persuasive, and honestly, kind of exhausting. It’s the uninvited guest at dinner parties, whispering that smaller is better, hunger is weakness, and health is a punishment wrapped in rules, guilt, and kale.
It sells us the idea that worth is something we have to earn by shrinking. That control equals success. That if we just try harder, we’ll finally feel “enough.”
But what if you didn’t need to shrink to belong?
What if your healthiest life doesn’t begin with restriction,
but with permission?
✔ Permission to eat, without guilt.
✔ Permission to rest, without proving anything.
✔Permission to take up space, in every room you walk into.
✔ Permission to grow, heal, and change — gently, slowly, and in your own time.
Because here’s the truth no one profits from telling you:
You are not the problem.
The system is. And you have every right to step outside of it.
You can unlearn what diet culture taught you.
You can come home to your body, with grace instead of pressure.
You can stop being the “before” picture – and start being the main character of your own story.
So take a breath.
Get quiet.
And ask yourself:
What would it look like to care for myself — not control myself?
That question changed my life.
It might change yours, too.
💛 Ready to start?
Download my free PCOS & hormone-friendly 7-day meal plan and mini eBook – rooted in nourishment, not punishment.
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And for now? I’m going to make myself a snack. Because healing includes that, too 😃
This Blog post was created by Angela Swaan, a Registered Nutritional Therapist & Personal Trainer and proud part of the Alloweat family — the science-based health app created to become the best in the world. Based in London,UK
Angela’s mission is to help women heal from within – physically, emotionally through evidence-based nutrition, movement, and a gentle, faith-led lifestyle. She supports women struggling with PCOS, insulin resistance, endometriosis, and hormonal imbalances, using science-backed tools blended with real-life simplicity (also deeply rooted in biblical values)