When I was going to Penn State for my bachelor’s in nutritional sciences, I was the only Latina. I remember there being one Black girl and a few Asians. We were the outliers. My senior year was 2009–2010, peak Michelle Obama’s Let’s Move! campaign time. The fight against “obesity” was going strong, and as future dietitians, my classmates and I were in it. We were going to save everyone—at least that’s what I believed. Now, there is nothing wrong with the ideas in the campaign: healthier school meals, more physical activity, healthier families, better access to affordable and healthy food, public–private partnerships promoting healthful behaviors, and childcare improvements—those are all great things to strive for. The issue with this and many similar campaigns is that the people on the ground, the ones who really need it, don’t get the benefits. These ideas are too broad to actually fix the systemic issues, and unfortunately, diet culture ends up taking those healthy behaviors to the extreme.
