Disordered eating is no easy thing to talk about. Countless numbers of people have had a run-in with it sometime in their lives.
It’s an uncomfortable subject matter. Not only that, it’s personal. And, more often than not, it’s misunderstood.
“Most women I know have struggled with some form of disordered eating,” says Emmeline Clein, the author of Dead Weight: Essays on Hunger and Harm, on the Mindvalley Book Club with Kristina Mänd-Lakhiani.
She knows this well because she, too, has walked the walk. She’s lugged around the same “dead weight”—the burden of impossible expectations that society dumps on us, especially us women, without a second thought.
Her book, thank goodness, is a bold and absolutely necessary wake-up call. And it pushes us to reevaluate beauty, health, and the price we have to pay to meet such unrealistic standards.
It’s time to lighten our load, ladies. And Emmeline is showing us how to do just that.
Beauty standards and diet culture: The fuel of disordered eating
Diet culture may grab attention with shocking headlines about eating disorders, and rightfully so. However, there’s another issue that Emmeline insists we focus on—disordered eating.
It shares the same ground as anorexia and bulimia. However, unlike the two nervosas, it often manifests as unhealthy habits that fly under the radar.
“It’s really just any type of kind of pathological relationship with food or your body and what consuming food has meant for the way your body is received by society,” Emmeline explains. That includes (but is not limited to):
- Chronic dieting,
- Skipping meals,
- Food anxiety, or
- Using food as a coping mechanism.
These behaviors have become so normal, they’re practically the 11th commandment: Thou shalt constantly obsess over thy food and body.
Our mainstream media is still really reinforcing an incredibly dangerous beauty ideal, incredibly rigid ideas of discipline and exercise.
This twisted gospel is everywhere—from social media influencers promoting “wellness” trends and “thinspiration” content to doctors stubbornly sticking to the Body Mass Index (BMI) as if it’s the holy grail of health.
But the message they’re sending is clear: smaller bodies are better bodies.
Research has found that more people are developing disordered eating attitudes and behaviors. And the scary part is, they’re starting at younger ages—as early as 12.
Who’s to blame?
Capitalism, misogyny, and racism are the culprits, according to Emmeline. “Our mainstream media is still really reinforcing an incredibly dangerous beauty ideal, incredibly rigid ideas of discipline and exercise.” And it ultimately creates a suffocating environment where disordered eating thrives.
To make matters worse, we’ve been sold on this bogus idea that there’s a clear line between “healthy” diets and eating disorders. But in reality, what’s praised as “disciplined dieting” can be just as harmful as a full-blown eating disorder.
Take orthorexia, for example—an unhealthy fixation on eating only “healthy” foods. While it might seem like a good thing on the surface, this obsession can spiral into a negative mind-body connection that can disrupt your life and harm your well-being.
The fact of the matter is, when the focus is solely on matching a certain body size, there’s a higher risk of falling into a cycle of extreme dieting, bingeing, and self-loathing. And more often than not, we fail to recognize that it takes a toll on our mental and physical health.
Why Emmeline Clein is exposing the dead weight of diet culture
Dead Weight is rooted in Emmeline’s own painful experiences. While it’s not centered around it, it’s clear that her own struggles, plus the suffering she witnessed in others like her, are what fueled her passion to tackle this issue.
As a society, we care more about women being beautiful than we care about their lives.
She touches on a lot of important points in her book, but these are the main ones she highlights in her sitdown with Kristina:
- Women, not society, are blamed for internalizing these harmful ideals. Even worse, it pits women against each other—resenting skinny women for their size, yet striving to be like them because we’re told that’s what we should want.
- Diet culture and the weight loss industry profit from disordered eating. In her research, she uncovered how diet culture and the weight loss industry—a sector projected to reach over $290 billion by 2027—profit from keeping people trapped in cycles of disordered eating.
- The medical system fails to provide proper support. The tragic part is that those struggling with body image issues and unhealthy relationships with food are often left without proper support. The medical system doesn’t really recognize or treat disordered eating until it has crossed the line and become a full-blown eating disorder.
“People with eating disorders have been so, like, condescended to and mocked and maligned by the medical establishment,” Emmeline says. “So I wanted to level with people who have struggled with this and say, you know, ‘You’re not crazy. In fact, you’re really smart, and I understand why you’re doing what you’re doing, but I think it’s really hurting yourself and other women.’”
She’s sparking the conversation, for sure. And by doing so, she hopes to help women break free from harmful cycles and question the damaging stories so many of us have believed for so long.
Emmeline Clein’s 3 tips to take charge and reclaim your body
“As a society,” says Emmeline, “we care more about women being beautiful than we care about their lives.”
The question is, what can you do to dismantle these toxic beliefs and behaviors? No, you don’t have to write a book or rally or burn bras (although you could if you think it’d make headway).
There are more simple yet truly effective ways to make a difference. Here’s what Emmeline advises:
1. Start talking about it
“It sounds so simple,” she says, “but I think it’s really powerful.”
Have open conversations about your struggles and pressures. Whether it’s at the dinner table or among friends, sharing experiences helps build mutual support and reduces the stigma surrounding disordered eating.
“Once you start those conversations and everyone realizes they’ve felt such a similar type of deeply crushing pain, you can kind of build this solidarity.”
When women realize they’re not alone in their feelings, they can start to heal and push back against the unrealistic expectations imposed on them.
2. Be mindful of the content you consume
Emmeline suggests actively diversifying the media you consume. Seek out and follow content creators who promote body positivity and represent a wide range of body types.
“If you actively follow accounts of people with different sizes, the algorithm will learn that [you want] to see bodies of all sizes and not just one size body,” she explains. “Whereas if you don’t, you do have to actively seek it out because the algorithms are coded to uphold the beauty ideal.”
A more diverse and realistic portrayal of beauty on your social feed can help you unlearn the narrow ideals that have been ingrained in us for so long. And it can be the shift in how you view yourself and others.
3. Think beyond yourself
Striving for perfection is a trap. Especially when it’s framed as self-improvement.
For example, you might think that obsessively counting calories or working out to exhaustion is just part of becoming your “best self.” But in reality, these behaviors can lead to burnout, anxiety, and an unhealthy relationship with your body.
According to Emmeline, opting out of these types of harmful behaviors not only helps you; it helps others, too. “Once you realize how prevalent this thing is, you realize that we can all do it together, and you realize that you don’t want to be contributing to it.”
By rejecting these harmful ideals together, we create more room for empowering definitions of beauty and health.
Great change starts here
Dead Weight by Emmeline Clein isn’t just another book on the shelf. It’s one that can spark a revolution in how we think about beauty, health, and self-worth.
If you’re interested in more like it that challenges the status quo and inspires real transformation, check out the Mindvalley Book Club with Kristina Mänd-Lakhiani.
There are books that entertain. There are books that inform. And then there are books that change the way you see the world.
Plus, you’ll get to hear directly from the authors as they dive into topics like self-worth, resilience, and living authentically.
Ready to join the conversation and find your next must-read? It’s easy—just click the button and become part of the club.
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