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The diet industry is the richest industry in the world that doesn’t work

“The diet industry is the richest industry in the world that doesn’t work,” my psychologist informed me as I clutched my knees to my chest, holding back a body-hating breakdown.

If only facts like these had the same influence on my developing teenage self as the beauty standards of our society did. We live in a society that individualizes everything; a society that tells us that we have 100% autonomous power and control over our own lives and our own happiness. It is as if we are assumed to be a super-species of extra-resilient humans. “You’re poor? Get a job! You’re struggling in school? Try harder! You’re fat? Stop eating.” This is the attitude that we millennials have been raised on.

I don’t know about you, but I see a HUGE problem with this outlook. This view is highly ignorant of the fact that there are structural barriers in society that don’t allow people to start their journey to success at the same place. Discrimination against people of a certain sex, race, ethnicity, religion, ability, age, sexual orientation, and health status too often are used as tools by those with political, economic, and/or social power for their own success while those at the bottom struggle to survive on the false premise of equal opportunity. This notion that everyone has equal access to opportunities is unfortunately a myth that convinces us to govern ourselves the way those with political, economic, and social power want us to.

The diet industry and the beauty industry both work exactly in this way. They tell us that we are flawed, but that we can all be equally beautiful and “perfect” as long as we keep consuming their information and products.

Personally, I was fortunate enough to grow up with a strong support system. It wasn’t until I went to university that I felt truly vulnerable to my surroundings. As I fell into a depression, my vulnerability increased. I sought ways to rediscover happiness. Everywhere I looked, there were messages inspiring me to lose weight and find true confidence and happiness in the body I was always meant to have!… “Okay,” I thought, “sounds like a good idea to me.” I started to plan my transformation. I looked at pictures on the Internet of girls with diet success stories. I started to idolize the thin and fit bodies of women in magazines and of the real women around me. After absorbing so much of this information, my body became ugly to me. Suddenly I was willing to do anything to change it, to shed all of that God-forsaken fat.

My journey to happiness was no longer fueled by inspiration; it was fueled by self-loathing and anxiety. The diet industry and the beauty industry had successfully convinced me that there was a “perfect” way for a woman to look, and that if I would only try harder, I could reach it. Every time I reached a goal, I made a new one. In the spring of 2012, life caught up with me and I realized that I was in over my head. I was addicted to the routine of starving, self-loathing, over-exercising, over-planning, bingeing and purging, and I was missing out on everything else I had loved about life.

It has now been three years and I am proud to say that I am actively in recovery. I realize that neither my body nor my mind deserved the abuse that they received, and I do not solely blame myself. I do think that it is a good thing to take responsibility for your actions in a lot of cases, but shouldn’t influential industries such as the diet and beauty industries take responsibility for the harm they have caused as well? As a psychology student, I have learned that your brain shapes how you perceive experiences, and your experiences shape your brain. Doesn’t this simple fact show us how easily we can be influenced by powerful messages without taking the time to be critical?

This patriarchal society has used these industries to normalize the idea of perfection so much that we often shape our lives around it. I am very fortunate to have had the educational opportunities that have allowed me to consider these issues in an abstract way. They have allowed me to make peace with myself and my mistakes.

If you take anything from this article, I want you to know that these unattainable standards of beauty will rob you of your money and potentially the time you may have spent on attainable happiness. You are so much more than the makeup on your face and the number on the scale. “The diet industry is the richest industry in the world that doesn’t work.” So if you so wish, exercise and eat healthy because it is good for your soul; don’t starve yourself into looking like someone other than yourself. Buy makeup and hygiene products that allow you to feel artistic and authentic, but not to try to conform. Your unique self is more beautiful than money could ever buy. You deserve to accept yourself.

Header image credit: aesthetics of crisis/Flickr

Disclaimer: This post was written by a Feministing Community user and does not necessarily reflect the views of any Feministing columnist, editor, or executive director.

I am a senior at Mount Allison University. I am double-majoring in Psychology and Sociology, and I am very passionate about mental health, feminism, and body-image.

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