In this post I would like to think about how dieting has become the new religion in the west. Michael Pollan mentions this topic in his presentation at google. In this example I will use christianity to make my point. But any other religion could be considered here. I would like to state outright that this post is in NO WAY promoting christianity but rather highlighting how we have changed the rules for what is right and wrong.
Until recently, in the west, people would spend their free time going to the church, reading the bible and listening to the advice of priests. These sources of information provided a basic set of rules on how to best live your life. For example, thou shall not steal or treat someone as you would want to be treated etc. The majority of people went to church and followed these rules. A consequence of this was that there was a large amount of pressure to conform to these rules. Society would develop in a way that forced people who did not follow these rules to be punished. As a result laws (in western countries) are largely based off these basic set of rules. For example, if you steal you are convicted of a crime. But pressure to conform to these rules could also be more subtle. If you did not follow these rules you would lose friends, people would gossip about you and you would be ostracised. All because you were not considered a ‘good christian’. If this was the case you would find it hard to get by in life.
Today our focus and free time is spent in other pursuits. We no longer go to church, read the bible or listen to priests. Today, people now flock to the gyms, read glossy magazines and watch TV. These sources of information are the best method for learning what is right and what is wrong. Media tells us constantly that what is right is to be thin and what is wrong is to be fat. Today, the majority of people listen to and adhere to these new sources of information. Now people are told they must eat properly (ie. healthy) and be thin. Just like in the past, if you do not conform you are considered as bad and not a good citizen. As a result people gossip about you, ostracise you, and don’t want to be your friend. Read any glossy magazine on the shelf and most of the time they will be subjecting fat people to this. This shames, scares and guilts overweight people into conforming and trying to be thin. If they do not conform they are considered as lazy, greedy and selfish. You can almost tick off most of the 10 cardinal sins. The only problem is that with overweight people, even if they want to conform, it is near impossible to be thin and thus become acceptable.
Is this any different than the old belief system of christianity? People used to be burnt for not believing in god. Thankfully overweight people are not burnt (yet) but they do need to burn a lot of calories in order to conform. We used to spend our lives trying to be good christians. You were a respected societal member if you did. Now its about been a good dieter. People respect you if you are thin and eat well.
Where this analogy breaks down is that you can give lip service to the christian beliefs and as long as you don’t get caught blaspheming, no one will know that it’s only lip service (atheists can be moral, but not christian, as long as they don’t come right out and say they are atheist, how would anyone know?). But the cult of dieting/thinness has no way of giving lip service, since even if you do everything they expect of you, you may not be able to attain that thinness and it shows prominently. And by only giving lip service, it’s obvious that one isn’t losing weight and attaining the perfection of thinness.
It’s one of those “damned if you do, damned if you don’t” situations. Personally, I’d rather be fat and happy and not obsessed with food/calories/weight in order to get/stay thin. And I’ve finally reached the period of my life where I don’t really care what anyone has to say about my weight or anything else in my life. As long as I’m happy, who cares if others think my life must suck because I don’t fit their idea of what I should be/want/have.
Agreed!
Dan,
I found your blog through Juliet’s Eating my Cake, and this post made me think of a book I read a number of years ago. I’m fairly certain it’s out of print, and it’s also geared towards women, but the thoughts are the same. It’s called “Am I thin enough yet?” by S. Hesse-Bibber. It’s how thinness and dieting are really a cult- and it’s SO TRUE!
It really helped me understand the difficulties in breaking out of the diet mentality so much better.
Thanks Carrie. I believe what you say is true. But because it is so mainstream it goes from cult status to a religion, I think. I love reading books that expose it for what it is so I might have to look into it.