Many of us are interested in improving our health and when that topic comes up it commonly involves food. It has been my experience that this typically includes a conversation about avoiding takeout from Chinese restaurants or complaints about how curry cannot be a diet food. I have always felt lonely in these conversations because I want to live a healthy lifestyle, but I do not want to resent the food of my food that diet culture often deems unhealthy. Eating a non-western diet is nourishment. In the workbook, “Nourishment Beyond Food” by TRILUNA, “diet culture makes us believe that certain foods are bad and others good without any understanding of bio-individuality.” Diet culture has created a toxic message for many people with ethnic backgrounds with the love of their cuisines being unhealthy.
Triluna 2021 Summer Intern - Nafisa Hossain
This topic is personal to me because it is suggested that ethic foods do not provide enough nutrients to function throughout the day. There was one time in middle school were I decided to bring my favorite curry my mom made the night before with some rice and some of my friends at the time hurled insults such as “wow that's not good for you” or “I can’t believe you eat this everyday”. Because of these words, I brought sandwiches with a bag of grapes or carrots. Growing up in the west, many ethnic cuisines are deemed unhealthy and lacking nutrition. Due to this demonization, many healthy food plans by dietitians and nutritionists, particularly the ones with western backgrounds, make no room for people who want to be healthy and be able to eat their culture’s foods. Often, on the cheat days of diets or healthy meal plans (days where the dieter can eat anything they want rather than restrict), many opt to eat ethnic foods such as curries, soul food, tacos, or sushi. Despite what this behavior suggests ethnic foods are actually incredibly nourishing, delicious food with many health benefits--perhaps even more so than the traditional western diet
Non-white dietitians say that if you opt for bland food instead of your culture’s food the chances are high that the diet will not be sustainable. These dietitians, such as Dr. Kera Nyemb-Diop (@black.nutrionist), help their clients make healthier choices by creating food plans that are tailored to their culture. On an Instagram post on June 2nd, Dr. Nyemb-Diop mentioned how her clients have a hard time finding a perfect meal plan and so often opt for bland chicken and broccoli. She then talks about how that approach is not sustainable because it can lead to binge eating because they are unsatisfied.
In the book “Anti-Diet,” author Christy Harrison touches on how diet culture hinders people with cultural backgrounds and how many become detached from their heritage. Harrison states that this approach is sad and unnecessary. I too have noticed the disconnect. At cultural festivals I have seen participants get salads rather than the other foods offered because we have been conditioned that a big plate of vegetables is better than having rice and meat as a meal. Harrison also touched upon how diet culture influences people in the way they approach eating the abundance of food placed in front of them at family gatherings and feeling bad for not eating as much as they want since diet culture created this way of thinking. Because of this, many do not create human connections and lose a sense of self when they are dieting intensely.
The best way to maneuver through the toxic standards of diet culture, in my opinion, is to find recipes made by BIPOC chefs or food content creators. There are many BIPOC dietitians, such as Dr. Kera Nyemb-Diop and Dalina Soto MA RD LDN (@your.latina.nutritionist), that help guide many who grew up eating their ethnic dishes and have a hard time eating healthy. Another BIPOC content creator is @eatsbyramya on TikTok that helps out people who like healthy-ish and easy South Asian foods. Another South Asian food content creator that helps curate different cuisines recipes is @fatimasfabulouskitchen on instagram. For anyone who is vegetarian or vegan, @okonomikitchen on instagram makes healthy vegan Japanese recipes that can be simple to make.
It's important to consider mental health when it comes to diet culture. Some people who want to diet but refuse to reject their cuisines will be lost on their journey. Some will have anxious thoughts and deem that their foods are unhealthy and they should eat salads instead of a plate full of their cuisines. By embracing the food from our heritage, we can decolonize our way of thinking about what is and is not diet food and look at our food as nourishment.
Written by Nafisa Hossain