DeepSummary
The podcast episode features an interview with Christy Harrison, a registered dietitian and author, who discusses the impact of social media and influencers on promoting harmful diet culture and disordered eating. Harrison defines diet culture as a system that worships thinness, promotes weight loss for social status, demonizes certain foods, and oppresses people who don't fit the supposed picture of health.
Harrison explains how diet culture has shifted its language to focus on wellness, and social media algorithms amplify extreme diets and provoke moral outrage, leading people to disordered eating. She warns against getting nutrition advice from influencers, who may be paid by brands to promote untested supplements or diets, and emphasizes the importance of seeking information from reputable sources.
Harrison also critiques the popular 'What I Eat in a Day' videos, which can mislead viewers into thinking that eating a certain way will lead to a specific body type, ignoring genetic and individual differences. She advises against relying on social media for health and nutrition information and encourages people to stay offline and consult reliable, fact-checked sources.
Key Episodes Takeaways
- Diet culture stigmatizes higher weight individuals, moralizes food choices, and promotes weight loss for social status.
- Social media algorithms can amplify extreme diets, provoke moral outrage, and push users towards disordered eating content.
- Influencers often lack credentials and may promote untested supplements or diets due to brand partnerships.
- 'What I Eat in a Day' videos can mislead viewers about the relationship between eating habits and body types.
- It's important to seek nutrition and health information from reputable, fact-checked sources rather than social media.
- Disordered eating behaviors can create a cycle of restriction and binge eating, exacerbated by diet culture.
- Body size diversity should be celebrated, and genetic factors influence how individuals process food.
- Social media platforms are not held to the same standards of accurate reporting as traditional media outlets.
Top Episodes Quotes
- “Diet culture is very stigmatizing to higher weight people, stigmatizes certain food choices and paints people as virtuous if they make other food choices. It really does have this sort of moralizing tone to it.“ by Christy Harrison
- “And if you have an algorithm that has learned you are searching for particular kinds of health information, too, then it becomes so easy to get fed more of the same content and get put in the path of information that feels especially tailored to you and what your needs are.“ by Christy Harrison
- “I think influencers have an interesting role in society because people have access to them in ways that they often don't to their doctors or to people with real credentials, real health and medical credentials.“ by Christy Harrison
- “I would say that for the most part, I would not recommend getting your advice about food or nutrition or health from social media. I think social media can be useful, certainly for connecting with friends, for finding out what's going on in the world and sort of a limit way. Right. Not necessarily getting all your news there, but staying up on things going on in your local community and things like that. But when it comes to information about food and nutrition and health, I think there's a lot more harm than good there.“ by Christy Harrison
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Episode Information
The Decibel
The Globe and Mail
5/3/24
Diet culture that celebrates thinness, weight loss and supplements, has been around for decades. But the global reach of social media and influencers talking about nutrition trends and advice is something new. And what they’re telling – and selling – to followers isn’t always safe or fact-based.
Christy Harrison is a registered dietitian, certified intuitive eating counsellor and author. Her most recent book, The Wellness Trap, discusses moving away from diet-culture and sifting through disinformation. She’s on the podcast to discuss diet-culture’s presence on social media, the harms of nutrition trends and how to maintain a safe relationship with food today.
Questions? Comments? Ideas? E-mail us at thedecibel@globeandmail.com