DIETAINMENT: Unhealthy diet messages disguised as harmless entertainment.
Are your kids exposed? Mine are…Every. Single. Day.
In their Instagram feeds. Commercials. Music videos. Ads. Dietainment is everywhere.
“Get skinny in just one week”
“Are you bikini season ready?”
“10 celebrity secrets to a hot body”
What kind of messaging is this sending our daughters and sons?
Bikini Bridge is the new Thigh Gap…
I didn’t know what a bikini bridge was until I heard my teen and tween girl discussing it. A bikini bridge is when a swim bottom is suspended between the two hip bones. A thigh gap is when ones legs are so thin – they don’t touch above the knees. And they are all over teen magazines.
Related: Young girls speak out about dietainment (video)
What do you think of that? I asked them. It’s not natural said one. It’s not healthy said the other. *insert my sigh of relief here* See, we are big fans of healthy living. Eating pretty balanced. Active lifestyles (ok – the kids more than me – I’m working on that). Lots of open discussion about what’s going on in everyone’s lives. Cheering when someone earns success and being there for them when they hit a roadblock. Kicking dietainment one conversation at a time.
We often chat about our opinions on diet messages we see out in the world. What do they think? Who is the message intended for? Is that a healthy message?
Examples of Dietainment include messages or advertisements that do the following:
- Promise unrealistically fast weight loss that sounds too good to be true
- Lack valid scientific research to support claims
- Use over-the-top, implausible headlines like “slim down your belly fat in just a week” or “lose 30 pounds on this new liquid diet” to attract viewers
It’s important, as parents, to be aware of unhealthy diet messages (dietainment!) and talk about it with our kids. It can affect their self-image, confidence, body image, physical and mental health.
Now, that you know…I wonder how many “dietainment” messages you catch on TV tonight…
Great post! It’s extremely important for all parents to talk to their kids about this…and start the dialogue when they’re young.
I could not agree with your more! I believe that this kind of advertising is partly responsible for my own eating disorder(s). I make sure to let my daughters and granddaughters know they are beautiful no matter what size they are, etc.
I just tell our girls to eat healthy and exercises. All this mind washing on being skinny is ruining peoples lives 🙁
I absolutely despise this. Girls have more than enough body issues due to their hormones and own self doubt during the teen years. The last thing they need is to be told they need to be a size 1.
This is so important. Enough is enough. Everyone is different. People come in all different shapes, sizes etc etc. It needs to know known and accepted.
Dietainment is the perfect word for what we are exposed to. There is so much of it out there and this can really affect how our children feel about themselves.
I completely agree with this! They really need to stop. Children should be out there having fun, and not thinking about how they look.
These are great points. I’ve noticed a lot of this kind of advertising lately. It’s definitely a thing!
Such a great message. Thanks for sharing this message.
Advertising and dietainment effect the youth of this generation so powerfully. It’s scary because often times we don’t realize it’s happening.
We become numb don’t we?…
This is a great post! I hate how media has become such a bad influence on what “pretty” is defined as.
As Beyonce says “pretty hurts”
It really is sad what girls have to face with the media these days. Hopefully more is done to control some of the advertising.
Totally agree Vera!
Being a girl is hard. Especially with all the media about how girls “should” look
Boys have it just as hard I think. Media tells them they either need to bulk up muscle or trim down husky-ness. Must be frustrating.
I hate this stuff. It’s every where. I hope I can raise my kids to be confident and smart enough to see through this stuff.
We have to promote healthy body image for young girls!
I hate the message that these companies are putting out there, it’s stupid and no one should have to walk around looking like a twig, another thing that irks me is the Pennington commercials, it’s a big lady store but the models are skinny, hmmmm…The message should be eat healthy, exercise and look and feel great no matter how big or small you are, love yourself, everyone is different and special!!!
I am thin and quite often get “what’s your secret?” questions – my reply is the same as your comment…eat healthy, exercise and feel good about myself.
awesome post. it is extremely important for parents to discuss this with their children to make them aware. thanks for sharing.
🙂 thank you for your support!
I have seen a lot of Dietainment lately. It is everywhere for kids to see. We need to stop this and teach kids they are beautiful no matter what.
I have noticed this a lot lately. It is terrible that kids are being bombarded with advertising that is telling them they are not good enough. We need to make some changes.
I looked at the magazine stand today…so many “slim down” features.
Commercials have really changed in the last few years. They seem to be so negative now. We need to stop Dietainment before it damages our kids.
Commercials really do seem to be body centric don’t they? What happened to empowerment?!
You would like to think this was not an issue anymore. So sad our girls are still faced with this.
You are so right. We need to continue to remind advertisers that the messages that resonate with us are the ones that build our girls up, not the negative or unrealistic ones that are breaking down the generation of girls growing up today.
This is so important. Everyone is different. We are all different sized and its important to be seen that way. People come in all different shapes,
So true. Great article. Unfortunately we are surrounded by this garbage every day. Every where you go it’s in their faces. So sad.
Yes, I would like to see the media include a wider variety of people in their ads – not everyone is young and thin.