January Is Peak Diet Season — Here's How You Can Protect Teens

“Because diet culture is often disguised as concern for health, discipline or self-improvement, it can be especially difficult for teens — and adults — to recognize."

Like clockwork, the turn of the new calendar year always brings a slew of chatter about weight loss, diets and exercise. Whether it’s in the form of a friend’s social media post proudly claiming “new year, new me,” or an influx of ads from gyms, it can seem impossible to escape the topic of dieting this time of year.

For teens who are developing their identities and may already be struggling with body image issues, being surrounded by this pervasive talk of food and weight can be damaging.

“Teens [are] still in the vulnerable stage of figuring out their sense of self, [so] they can be very susceptible to the marketing ploys selling the idea that a ‘new you’ means changing your body,” Edie Stark, owner of Stark Therapy Group and Edie Stark Consulting, told HuffPost.

This issue creeps up every January of course, but in the age of “What I ate in a day” reels, #SkinnyTok and ubiquitous GLP-1 use, it feels like this year’s “diet season” might be louder than ever.

“Long gone are the days of ‘tuning out’ the noise when we live in a society of 24/7 connectedness,” Elizabeth Wassenaar, Regional Medical Director of Eating Recovery Center, told HuffPost. “Diet culture has seeped into our everyday lives.”