Can Dieting Create Meaning in our Lives

Diet and weight have come to define purpose and success in our lives. The clear data that prove the ineffectiveness of diets and various weight loss regimens never appear to sway the underlying premise of our collective goal. The fundamental concern isn't medical. It's psychological. 

We live in a world where only thinness is normative. The most widely accepted weight scale, BMI, skews heavily towards the lower end of the spectrum and does not take into account the variety of body shapes and makeup. Weight bias pervades all aspects of our culture from media to fashion, business to healthcare. Professionals of all stripes adhere closely to the expectation of thinness. Most people are not at all aware of how weight bias colors their perception every day. 

New movements to counter this insidious fat phobia are more and more prevalent. Body positivity espouses the concept of accepting and appreciating the body you have regardless of size. Health at Every Size, a successful government-sponsored program, has been shown to improve overall health significantly without focusing on weight loss. Yet successful alternatives to weight bias do not affect the central psychological driver for our collective belief. 

Daily life tends to isolate us in our small worlds and to limit our ability to see the overall benefits of our existence. More often than not, those lucky enough to be free of illness or immediate threats to our well-being struggle to find meaning or urgency in our lives. 

The human yearning for purpose has persisted over centuries, and we all struggle to latch onto a tangible meaning for our lives, especially in the modern post-industrial, digital age. One clear salve for the masses is dieting and weight. The daily struggle gives direction for each day. The success or failure of following a diet or losing weight structures an otherwise aimless life. 

So the purpose of dieting is only purportedly to lose weight. The meaning runs deeper and the need for daily structure is even more important than the outcome. That's why people diet or focus on food and weight their entire lives. With this background, what comes next? I'll continue in the next post.