In a society that favors physical appearance and aesthetics, the word “diet” is ceaselessly coursing through our social media. This phenomenon is perpetuated by societal standards that favor thinness and body shape over one’s health and well-being, also known as “diet culture.” This perfectionistic lifestyle has curated distorted habits followed by skewed perceptions of health as seen in magazines, movies, TV shows, books, social media, etc. In correlation, these platforms promote restrictive eating, which defines itself as an eating disorder in which the individual significantly limits the volume or variety of foods they consume. Restrictive eating  gives food the moral high ground by deciding whether it’s “good” or “bad” and further fosters hyper-fixation on our body shape and size. This delusory content enforced upon us regresses back years into our history of human evolution, which is amongst all ages, genders and ethnic groups. Before diet culture, our society was in tune with holistic health principles, which is an approach to wellness that simultaneously addresses the physical, mental, emotional, social and spiritual components of health. The past is not repeating itself, rather it is evolving to maintain an unattainable body shape that society favors; while your mental health deteriorates, your internal health pays the ultimate price.

To comprehend the evolution of diet culture, we must revert back to the emergence. The Social Health Research Center states the first ideas within the fitness and health realm were cultivated by the ancient Greeks. Their motive behind this lifestyle held pure intent, in which they believed that sustaining a healthy body was parallel to a healthy mind. In addition, ancient Greece was the birthplace of the modern Olympics, where fitness and strength shaped their culture. In contrast to society’s renowned definition, the ideal body of the Greeks was not based upon a person’s visual physique but rather their physical abilities.

The contemporary media has displayed this discourse within the 2024 Olympics amongst several athletes, where their varying body types have been assessed and scrutinized to an impractical figure sculpted by society. The Olympic games are considered the world’s foremost competition, featuring a variety of the most elite athletes within 40 different sports. Athletes train consistently throughout the year to reach optimal health and fitness in order to compete, though that does not mean they do not endure society’s pressure due to their athletic significance.

World renowned Olympian, Ilona Maher, is known for her talent as a female, American rugby player and a body positive enthusiast who has struggled her entire life with labels such as being “overweight” and displaying a more “masculine” physique. Numerous athletes face this scrutiny as a consequence of not complying with the “ideal body type.” In obedience to this ideology, Eating Disorder Hope claims that athletes are uniquely vulnerable to disordered eating and exercise behaviors due to the relationship their athletic performance has with their nutritional intake and training schedule. Alarming statistics show that 13.5% of athletes struggle with an eating disorder, and 42% of female athletes competing in aesthetic sports demonstrate eating disorder behaviors. The prevalence is even higher at the collegiate level, where 84% of college athletes have at one time engaged in disordered patterns of eating or weight control behaviors. Athletes are constantly being shamed for being too muscular as women, or being too petite as men, which infiltrates the desire—the addiction—to favor physique over physical health.

While we continue to evaluate the transgression of health, these paradoxical stereotypes arose in the mid-1800s, where health suddenly became in unison with beauty, and women began attaining unhealthy figures; where their happiness relied on how small their waist appeared. In harmony with aesthetics, the Social Health Research Center states that “diet” refers to the total amount of food and drinks consumed. It wasn’t until the early 1900s that this word redefined itself as a means to restrict food intake with the intent to lose weight or alter one’s physical appearance. As the thin ideal grew more popular, the first male influencer to embody this physique was Lord Byron. The British poet was adored by many and was even considered the most beautiful man by the Victorians. This appeal fed his unhealthy desire to cultivate a diet of starvation, binge eating, and an excessive amount of exercise, which we commonly see today.

A female figure that began the initiation of this warped culture was the Victorian empress of Austria, Elizabeth Amelie Wittelsbach. Her daily regimen encompassed strenuous physical activity, starvation and using emetics to maintain a sickly thin frame. Similar to Lord Byron, she was notorious for her beauty amongst women in the 19th century of Europe. Her demanding beauty routine externally gifted her a slender, slim frame, while it simultaneously stole her internal health and happiness.