Reporting that Diets Fail Isn’t Enough: A Manual for Health Reporters

Finally, the message that diets don’t work seems to be seeping into the mainstream media. The risks of long-term food restriction and of chronic intermittent starving have made an impact on those who write about our food culture.

However, the effect of these articles still seems to be minimal. The pressure for thinness remains as strong as ever, and the incidence of eating disorders and disorders eating is as high as ever.

Reporters may be willing to debunk the well-honed message of the diet industry but have yet to tackle the overall thinness complex of our society. As long as thin privilege dominates our culture undeterred, everyone will seek out thinness as a necessary sign of success, no matter the risk and long-term costs.

Conflating thinness with other forms of bias is risky though. Although there are similarities in discrimination against fat people, many people believe thinness is attainable for everyone even if it means using drastic measures such as medications or Bariatric surgery. Thus, people tend to see being fat as a character flaw rather than an attribute. 

The truth is that we all come in different body shapes and sizes. Using one’s body shape as a way to discriminate is just a way of sorting people out into the haves and the have-nots. Thinness is not a sign of success, persistence or value. It’s largely how your body is built.

The media needs to take the next few steps to make a more significant impact.

Redefine the language of weight, specifically about fat and obesity. These terms are not interchangeable. One simply describes a body type and the other pathologizes weight in the medical vernacular.

Second, take the conversation about diets failing another step to include the significant risks of dieting, namely disordered eating and eating disorders.

And third, name the industries that profit from these myths: the diet, exercise and food industries.

The disempowerment of people, mostly women, through this longstanding fallacy needs to stop. Dissemination of the truth around these risky behaviors is one important way to change the pattern of eating in our culture.