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My Article Was Rejected Because It Exposed “Diet Culture” Instead of Promoting “Healthy” Eating
News Flash: Giving up diet culture IS healthy.
It takes a lot to make me feel palpably angry, but yesterday, I went there. I wrote a piece on, essentially, food neutrality by bringing diet culture to light, and it was rejected. I am no stranger to rejections, so that isn’t what infuriated me. What did was the underlying message of why it was rejected.
The rejection consisted of, “We’re gonna pass on this one unfortunately, as those food related articles haven’t worked well for (publication name).”
That very day, two of the featured articles on their page were not only “food-related” but had a fatphobic feel as they were promoting diets with outcomes of weight loss. It’s not my place to judge anyone’s lifestyle or eating choices, but for a publication geared toward mental well-being, I was shocked they didn’t see that the toxicity of diet culture is far more detrimental to health than enjoying a cupcake at a birthday party. There is not one version of health, but few want to go there. I suppose the detox article isn't one of “those” food-related articles.
