Diet Culture in the workplace - How to create a safer work environment for yourself
I started a new job in January and on my third day in the office a coworker told me all about her intermittent fasting diet and daily exercise routine. When asking my boss whether people use the break room to eat lunch, she replied with “if you can find the time.” There is a sign in the elevator that says “Burn calories, not electricity. Take the stairs.”
Diet culture is everywhere, and it often seeps into our work environment. The average person spends 92,000 hours of their life working, so it is likely that you will come across some food and body talk at some point in your career.[1] Spend some time reflecting on what your work culture is like. Do people talk positively about food and their bodies? Are breaks at lunchtime supported? What do people eat at lunch? Are workplace wellness routines encouraged? It is important to recognize when diet culture is popping up and how to protect ourselves from it.
If you notice conversations or situations at work to be triggering, here are some things you can do to keep yourself safe:
- Walk away from the conversation. It may not be easy or appropriate to say something in the moment. Leaving the area or room gets you out of a hard situation.
- Change the topic of conversation. Focus on conversation topics such as hobbies, upcoming trips, pets – anything of interest away from dieting, weight loss, and body image.
- Talk to your boss or HR in private about what happened. Be honest about how the conversation affected you and ask how they might be able to support you.
- If you do feel comfortable saying something, set firm boundaries. Approach your colleague from a point of compassion and non-judgement, but state how what happened made you feel and what you would like to have happen in the future.
It may be challenging to change your work culture overnight. But you can work to create a positive environment for yourself. A healthy work environment can help an employee focus more on their work and engage more with their colleagues. Here are some suggestions to improve your workplace culture around food and dieting:
- Create an office where the employees eat together rather than alone at one’s desk. I once had a job where a colleague would ring a bell, signaling lunchtime, and everyone would stop what they were doing to break for lunch, gathering around a table to eat together. It fostered friendships and inspired a mental break leaving us energized for the second half of the day.
- Make sure people have time in their day for lunch and snacks. Don’t schedule meetings over lunchtime or have back-to-back meetings all day. Allow time to rest and refuel.
- Avoid workplace wellness programs that promote dieting, exercise, and weight loss. Some programs that encourage positive mental and physical health can be beneficial, but participation should not be mandatory, and the program should not be focused on weight loss.
- Keep conversation light and as mentioned before, avoid topics of dieting, exercise, or body image. The more you get to know your colleagues outside of diet culture, the deeper the connection will be.
[1] Marcus, Madalyn. “Addressing Food and Eating Disorders in the Workplace.” National Eating Disorder Information Centre Bulletin Volume 24, No. 2, (April 2019): 1-6. file:///Users/emilygrannemann/Downloads/uploaded_28489_NEDIC_Bulletin_Vol._34_No._2_April_2019.pdf
