Diet Culture: Children and Diet Culture

 In the united states the most impressionable age is children, meaning they are most susceptible to influence from advertising and the culture around them. So, how is diet culture effecting children in the states? 

Where is this happening?

 Whether or not a parent is talking to their small child about dieting does not mean it is out of the child’s sight. Many children’s TV channels advertise diets during commercials, these are targeted towards the parents, but the children are also picking up on these, “I need to lose weight” mantras. Children beginning from a young age begin to demonize certain foods, and question their weight when able to comprehend what they saw as a young child, creating an unhealthy relationship with food. 

Not to mention grade school cafeteria food pyramids telling these children what is bad and what is good, rather than promoting moderation and understanding nutrition value of food. This being in schools is also insensitive to the socioeconomic status of a child, “bad foods” are notoriously more affordable than “good foods”, this makes the child’s sense of worth decline because they may feel that they are not good enough for the healthy food. Diet culture still has a spiral in children it’s just different from that in an adult because they are still developing and understanding the world around them.