Diet culture needs to go- how to improve your experience on social media and your relationship with food and your body

"It's just so easy to compare yourself with people online"

Emily Rose, 20, Lancaster University Student

Written by Charlotte Beattie

Content Guidance: The purpose of this article is to understand the ethics of social media and its presentation of beauty standards and fad diets which may have knock on effects for audiences to develop unhealthy behaviours in relation to food and their bodies. 

#RiotsNotDiets

It’s 2026, it’s a new year and we must avoid slipping into diet culture resolutions that consume the internet. Last year, Dr Charlotte Markey released Adultish: The Body Image Book of Life where she discussed the importance of cancelling diet culture. If you are going to strive for a resolution this year, then make it #RiotsNotDiets! We are living in an era on social media where body positive content, which entered the mainstream in the 2010s, is still being pushed aside by widespread circulation of toxic diet culture, so it is more important than ever to ensure a win for body positivity. In her book, Charlotte mentions that she’s in her most healthy frame of mind when it comes to her body. She says that being rid of fitness accounts on social media played a key role in this as “most of what you’re seeing isn’t real!” 

I interviewed Lancaster University student, Emily Rose, who confirmed the toxicity of social media and its impact on women’s relationships with their mental health concerning food and weight. In response to this topic, she explained- “I think when you see so much contrast online, you just naturally compare yourself”.  She explained how, instead, she follows accounts that promote a positive outlook on authentic bodies and eating habits. “I follow Bree Lenehan and Spencer Barbosa on Instagram who normalise things about your body that aren’t seen as ‘conventionally attractive’ or that fit with societal beauty standards, and they show them as a positive thing about yourself that you should feel confident and happy living with. I appreciate how they encourage a mindset of seeing insecurities as beautiful things.” 

Diet Culture Over The Years

It is a significant time to discuss these deeply personal topics because we are seeing a decline in feminist media. In an article for NBCU Academy in 2023, Nylah Burton stressed the closing of Teen Vogue, Glamour, Self and Seventeen’s print publications and how we need to push for the publications left to write more constructive articles than bulking magazines with what she referred to as ‘fluff.’ Therefore, by writing this article, I am trying to encourage students interested in journalism and storytelling to consider the way they write about women’s health and fitness.  

Women’s beauty standards have been fluctuating for years which comes with the circulation of diet trends and fitness challenges that promise specific end goals. Research by Guillen and Barr in 1994 for the Adolescent Health journal has shown that popular magazines for young girls began to shift their focus more towards fitness and an ‘ideal’ body shape between 1970 and 1990 revealing how this toxicity has been prevalent for decades. 

Stop the fluff, we want education

Fad Diets in Disguise

In an article for the Guardian in 2017, food and culture columnist, Ruby Tandoh, explained the evolution of wellness culture as society began to realise the dangers of diet promotion in the media which encouraged influencers to promote healthier eating habits on social media. This was coined by the media as ‘clean eating’ which developed into another fad diet in disguise as something body positive and wellness motivated. 

We are subject to online harms and misinformation on social media in terms of the convincing way that fad diets are promoted online. Especially when we see 'health professionals' and 'doctors' highlighting the supposedly healthy benefits of these diets. Therefore, the Online Safety Act was passed in 2023 to encourage social media to be more regulated, and responsible in the content they publish. However, platforms still have a lot more to change in order to enforce these measures. So for now:  

Always think twice after reading something online

In an article for Eating Recovery Center in 2024, Rebecca Pacun explains research found that 70% of women were editing their images due to dissatisfaction with their natural appearance. A study revealed that ‘50% of its participants reported changing their diet based on a social media post’ which highlights how toxic social media has become for the vulnerable mind. When, in reality, every body is different and listening to your own body is what you should practice rather than focussing on anyone else. 

In their analytical report concerning young people with eating disorders and their experiences online in 2023, the EPPI Centre concluded that online content was easily accessible for young people with eating disorders which posed a threat because this content was encouraging comparison in terms of food portions and weight loss correlated with achievement. This inflicted the feeling of failure and triggered negative thoughts and actions of these vulnerable, online consumers. 

We need to normalise promoting authentic content of ourselves without labelling it under wellness, diets or as a representation of health online because physical health is individual and should correlate with a healthy mind. We need to see normal bodies; imperfections that society has created being turned into perfections by the people we consume online. No diets, no wellness culture, no clean eating- just living. 

Pass It On

As female students in a modern culture of global technology, we are drowning in new fad diets and TikTok trends that, on the surface, seem light-hearted but they are encouraging toxicity and stigma concerning body positivity. For example, the new Sabrina Carpenter trend where girlfriends get their partners to lift them up to reveal that they are ‘jacked and kind’. It may appear to be wholesome couple content but really it feeds the stereotype that heterosexual women must be smaller than their male partners. However, we should begin to fight these stereotypes and enforce the message that being larger than your significant other doesn’t subtract from your worth as a partner. In an era of increasing social media content online we should be aware of participating in toxic trends and understanding the impact that these videos can have on audiences and their mental health.  

In an article for Saveur in 2022, Kate Nelson reveals the mindset of mothers who grew up in the 90s and 00s- “for us, the era’s long-lasting impacts—disordered eating, body dysmorphia, an affinity for packaged foods with purported perks—are the worst kind of throwback”. With this in mind, we want to ensure that our future generations, your daughters, don’t grow up consuming the toxicity that we did growing up with mothers from a period where diet culture was beginning to impact women and their mental and physical health.  

During my interview with Emily Rose, I thought it would be impactful to hear what a gen z university student would have to say about the way that they aspire to raise their daughter in a world of mass technology and toxic diet culture online. She explained that: 

“I would encourage her [my future daughter] to accept herself and not feel as though she needs to change to fit into a societal expectation of the ‘norm’. 

If I’m struggling with something related to food then I wouldn’t express that around my daughter. And I think normalising chats about body image with her and making her feel comfortable to come and speak to me if she’s not feeling the best about her body.” 

It should be your number one priority to share this positive mindset with yourself and your future children to prevent further toxicity online in future generations.

Checklist to improve your relationship with your body, mind and social media experience: 

• Build your own healthy algorithm- evaluate your reaction to different accounts in your social media following. Unfollow the ones that are impacting you negatively and follow the ones that reinforce positive body image and accepting your ‘imperfections’.  

• Be aware of misinformation- research and think twice before you believe ‘facts’ online about fad diets and wellness even if they have been written by someone with a convincing title 

• Remember that your relationship with food and your body is individual- as hard as it is, try not to compare your journey to others online or around you. 

• Report accounts on social media that promote negative eating and exercise habits or that contribute to toxic diet culture- remember #RiotsNotDiets! 

If we enforce these practices in our day-to-day social media use, then we can rebuild a healthy relationship with social media and have access to a body positive algorithm. 

If we start promoting body positive accounts more often and calling out friends, family and accounts that promote unhealthy habits then we can rebuild a society that strives for happiness within itself rather than always feeling as though achieving happiness is only enabled from a certain body or consumption of food.  

Let us take a stand against diet culture and promote what is real, authentic and normal for the lives of women and students in 2026. 

NEED HELP NOW?

Text Shout to 85258 

To find out more:  

• Visit Beat Eating Disorders online and donate to their charity

• Visit your local GP and schedule a free assessment on the Eating Recovery Centre website