'I see our culture treating money and wealth exactly the same way we treat food and bodies'

An interview with personal finance writer Dana Miranda on the parallels between budget and diet culture.

Thanks for reading Almost Sated, a newsletter about appetite and empowerment. I write about the messy process of detoxing from diet culture and the personal growth that comes from it. If you like what you’re reading, please consider subscribing and sharing! It’s free to join, and subscribing ensures you never miss a post.

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I’m back with my second profile for Dared to Ditch, a Q&A for people who said no to diets. This time I’m featuring personal finance educator and journalist

Dana Miranda

, who writes about the parallels between finance and diet culture. This connection was pretty mind-blowing to me at first, but it makes sense on so many levels. She believes managing money should be easy and not a source of shame and guilt. Her Substack

Healthy Rich

has a wealth of information for people looking for an alternative to most of the mainstream personal finance folks out there.

Dana Miranda is a Certified Educator in Personal Finance® (CEPF®), an author and a personal finance journalist. She writes Healthy Rich, a newsletter about how capitalism impacts the ways we think, teach and talk about money. She offers training and resources for financial educators, coaches and advisors who want to deliver personal finance guidance without restriction, shame or greed.

Dana has contributed to Forbes, Insider, Culture Study, the New York Times, CNBC, Money magazine, NextAdvisor, USA Today and Inc. magazine, among others.

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“I still struggle with internalized fatphobia and body shaming, and I have a long way to go to get anywhere near accepting my body. But I’ve been able to fight diet culture by drawing a parallel to a similar phenomenon that’s much easier for me to recognize and reject: budget culture.” —Dana Miranda

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Questions for People Who Dared to Ditch Diets

How long have you not been dieting?

I stopped dieting around 2021 after intentionally dieting for weight loss for about five years.

Why did you initially decide to stop dieting?

I was awakened to the impact of diet culture in 2020, first by Virginia Sole-Smith’s Burnt Toast newsletter and the Maintenance Phase podcast with Aubrey Gordon and Michael Hobbes. I was in the most extreme phase of dieting and weight loss in my life in response to the stress of the early pandemic, so it was clear how my behavior was connected to the diet culture and anti-fat bias they discussed.

What is your “why” now? What keeps you from not dieting again?

I still struggle with internalized fatphobia and body shaming, and I have a long way to go to get anywhere near accepting my body. But I’ve been able to fight diet culture by drawing a parallel to a similar phenomenon that’s much easier for me to recognize and reject: budget culture.

I write about work and money, and I see our culture treating money and wealth exactly the same way we treat food and bodies. I’ve never been attracted to wealth, so it’s easy for me to reject the ways budget culture wants to police my relationship with money. When I get caught in justifying dieting behavior, I can compare it to budgeting and recognize that it’s diet culture trying to police my body in the same way.

What has been the biggest benefit of not dieting?

Not thinking about food all the time. Dieting leaves you hungry and forces you to question your own hunger, so it’s basically wanting food and scolding yourself for wanting food 24/7. Food is pretty much one of my greatest joys in life, and it’s been wonderful to enjoy it without the hours of planning and questioning around every bite.

How does not dieting affect your relationships and social choices?

Externally, there hasn’t been much change. But internally, it’s a new challenge. I’m a cis, white woman whose social circle is mostly other cis, white women, and diet culture and fatphobia infects everything we do. I still struggle to reject dieting, and constant exposure to conversations about diets and body size is tough.

How has not dieting impacted how you view diet culture and anti-fat bias?

I’m definitely the kind of convert who joins a cause and is immediately like, “How is everyone not supporting this cause?” I’m constantly surprised to hear comments about dieting, even though they reflect exactly the kind of behavior I was on board with just a couple of years ago. Mostly, I resent the persistence of diet culture and anti-fat bias, because it means I’m at a disadvantage for not pursuing thinness, even though I know divesting from diet culture is best for me.

How does how you were raised impact your relationship with food and body image?

I came of age in the late 90s/Y2K era of “heroin chic” and a growing awareness of eating disorders that had us culturally talking about bodies with a lot of dissonance. I grew up in a very thin body, and adults and classmates commented on my body size more than anything else — hair, clothing, academics, talent, etc. Whether it was positive or critical feedback, I was definitely trained at a young age to understand thinness as part of my identity, and that came to haunt me as my body changed with age.

How do you handle the societal pressure around dieting, diet talk, body talk etc.? Do you have any tips to share?

I wish I did! Virginia Sole-Smith does a great job of offering scripts to respond to common diet and body talk. My favorite is simply “We don’t comment on people’s bodies,” which is a good line to have ready around kids. But mostly I still find myself going mute when diet talk comes up among adults, not participating in the conversation but not challenging it, either. I have stopped congratulating people when they say they’ve lost weight, and instead I ask, “How are you feeling?” I’ve been surprised how often someone who was celebrating weight loss will take that opening to share they’re feeling weak, tired or hungry.

If you have kids, how do you minimize the impacts of diet culture on them?

I’m not a parent, but I spend a ton of time with several young siblings, and I never stop thinking about this. When we go out to eat together, I make a point to order dessert alongside my entree. When I’m in charge of their meals, I tell them explicitly they don’t have to “clean their plates,” and I challenge any whiff of categorizing foods as “good” or “bad.” I tell them they don’t have to earn certain foods at our house. I’m not their go-to for the big stuff, like diet culture in schools, but I use what influence I do have to be an anti-diet presence.

Do you have any advice or encouragement to share for those who haven’t yet broken free of diets?

It sucks that our culture makes us feel like we have to police our bodies. That’s an experience we all share, regardless of our relationship to diet culture. You have to do what you need to take care of yourself and feel safe in this world, and it’s completely understandable that anyone might struggle to divest from the status quo. But it’s so, so awful that surviving in this world might mean ignoring what our bodies know to be true for us.

Share Your Story of Ditching Diets

If you’ve found freedom from dieting, I’d love to share your story so that it may inspire someone else…or simply make them feel less alone. Comment below or reach out at at kristik @ substack.com.

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