Gym and diet cultures entone responsibility, declaring that appearances resemble a choice of our own making, not the product of misleading advertisement and genetic dispositions. Anthony Warner’s work on the deceptive sphere of diet culture urged me to question the direction of his anger. Are we really no more than puppets, manipulated under the skillful hands of food prophets?
Self-blame and comparisons draw us as the villains in denounced narratives of weight gain and imperfect bodies. That “No one will ever be able to perform a definitive experiment to prove which diet is the best” (Warner, 2018) perfectly encaptures the way advertisers force down the throats of consumers a generic recipe depicted as universally applicable. Incomparable results trigger a 
toxic cycle of self-blame, directing anger towards their own supposed laziness, implying that appearances are a choice and that the ‘right’ sort of consumerism is the solution, not the problem.
But it isn’t. Our bone structure isn’t a choice nor are our genetics. A sudden medical condition that causes you to gain weight? the industry implores that it is your choice as well, that you could and should do something about it, and that you are not special but an average who fits within a full-proof equation. False prophets blur the line between responsibility and choice, and as Warner says, our anger must be directed at such actors. At the same time, we should be angry at ourselves, because somewhere along the line we chose to abandon unconditional self-love. Our bodies may not always be our choice, and we have a right to be angry about it, but it’s our own attitudes that are the true villain.
Warner, A. (2018). Heart of the Problem. Retrieved from https://angry-chef.com/blog/heart-of-the-problem
It’s disheartening to see just how successful these “false prophets” are. There’s an alarming number of people falling victim to these fad diets in the desperate hope to fit that unreachable image of ‘perfection.’ For those of us born in the age of the internet, these “false prophets” affect us deeply and, in some extreme cases, can cause disordered eating with lasting psychological issues.
You’ve raised a significant point of discussion about our relationship with food. Your blog post was insightful and intriguing. Body image and body positivity have been a topic of discussion for a while now, yet in reality, there has been little change in how society demonstrates this. It is illegal to advertise false information about a product on TV, so why are there so many false prophets with even larger platforms and spheres of influence who have the freedom to promote their ‘cures’ and diet plans without a University Degree or scientific backing? It is even more concerning that young people are being readily exposed to these social media false ‘prophets’ and in some cases, they have more influence over young people and the food they are consuming or aren’t consuming than doctors, parents, teachers, and people that personally know them. Young people are comparing themselves and their bodies to adults with entirely different genetic makeup. The image you included of the child imitating her mother shows how young people pick up on behaviors of those their role models. If a child does not have a body positive role model, this can lead to negative self-esteem in the future. This toxic cycle carries down from generations of not feeling like they are enough. As so many believe these false ‘prophets’, we encourage others to do the same, enabling this unhealthy culture about dieting. For our parents, it was unrealistic photo enhancement in magazines of models movie stars. In our generation, it is augmented and biased portals of dieting on social media. This is why representation of all body types is so important. It is essential for us to question who is to blame for the toxicity of dieting in our culture, those who spread false information or those who believe it to solve this problem.
First of all, I just wanted to say thank you for this post! I 110% endorse everything you’ve written (this is a topic I am highly passionate about!). There are so many people I know (including myself) who have fallen victim to the notion of taking “responsibility” for their appearance so that when their efforts don’t resemble perfection, this is taken on as a personal reflection of their character. I would argue that this attitude of “don’t wish for it, work for it” within the context of gym and diet culture is more harmful than helpful since it ultimately encourages people to fight their biology. DISCLAIMER: it doesn’t work! Trust me; I’ve tried it!