Being a teenager is a time of self-discovery, change, and learning to navigate increasing independence. However, it can also come with many challenges — including pressure to “fit in” and act or look a certain way.

As a teenager, a person’s body naturally transitions from a child’s body to more of an adolescent or adult body. With all of these changes—both physical and emotional—some teens may turn to dieting.

While it may seem harmless, dieting can be very harmful for teens and have bigger impacts than many realize.

The Pressures Teens May Feel to Diet

Diet culture and teens collide everywhere — on social media, in traditional media like TV shows and movies, in conversation, and sometimes from misinformed or self-declared professionals. Diet culture may also exist under other names. However, regardless of what it’s called, diet culture is simply that.

Body image struggles and dieting behaviors (also known as disordered eating behaviors) are almost never caused by just one factor. Rather, a range of factors can contribute to them.

Teens may feel pressure to diet for a wide range of reasons, including:¹

• A societal overemphasis on thinness
• A societal equation of thinness with beauty and self-worth
• Media and social media that highlight one (often thin) body type
• Normalization of disordered and dieting behaviors or diet “tips”
• Misinformation and misleading so-called “experts” who share unhelpful, unhealthy, or even dangerous information promoting diet culture and thinness
• Struggles with navigating a changing body
• Internalized messages around how they should look or feel
• A range of social, economic, and other factors
• And more

Other research has found that being a teenager and going through puberty with increased hormones was linked with a higher risk of developing an eating disorder.²

Teen Dieting Dangers: The Impacts of Dieting on Physical and Mental Health

Teen body image issues are fairly common. On the surface, dieting may seem like a pretty “normal” and harmless way to navigate those feelings. However, no amount of dieting is “normal.” Teen dieting dangers are real.

All dieting involves restricting your body, whether specific foods, entire food groups, or the amount of food, and the impacts can be serious. You may think that trying to lose just a few pounds is okay — however, there can still be impacts to your health, even if it may not seem obvious.

Dieting is also a slippery slope, and may lead a person to consistently think they or their body is not “good enough.”

Physical Risks of Dieting

Dieting, even when it may not seem “serious,” can have real impacts on a person’s physical body. Risks of calorie restriction in teenagers (and individuals of any age) can include:³

• Stunted growth or development
• Decrease in bone density
• Digestive issues like constipation, nausea or bloating
• Dizziness
• Fainting
• Hair loss
• Fatigue, or lack of energy
• Low immunity
• Loss of periods (amenorrhea)
• And more

Mental Health and Dieting Risks

In addition to impacting your physical health, diets can have consequences on your mental health and well-being, including:

• Anxiety
• Depressive thoughts
• Increased focus on body image
• Higher body dissatisfaction
• Lower self-esteem
• More stress
• And more

The Link Between Dieting and Eating Disorders

In addition to the physical and mental harmful effects of dieting on teens, there is lots of research linking dieting with an increased risk of developing eating disorders in adolescents.⁴ Our bodies want to weigh an amount that’s healthy for us. Even if we all ate the same amount and moved our bodies the same, they would be different! 

Dieting can cause what’s called “weight cycling” — when a person’s body shifts weight up and down. This is linked with how our bodies try to hold on to all the nutrients we eat when we restrict them, and why a person may stop losing weight even when eating the same amount they were eating when they previously lost weight. When they begin eating a more “normal,” or unrestricted amount, they often gain weight again. This is our bodies’ way of protecting us — but this cycle can cause even more shame, guilt, and body dissatisfaction, causing more dieting and disordered behaviors.⁵

One study involving teens ages 14 and 15 found that female teens who dieted at a “severe level” had an 18 times higher chance of developing an eating disorder.⁶ Another study found that young people who were about to begin a diet by choice were at “high levels” of eating disorder risk.⁷

While all dieting is a disordered behavior, not all disordered behaviors are a full-blown eating disorder. However, dieting can definitely lead to more disordered behaviors and contribute to an increased risk of having an eating disorder.

What to Do Instead of Dieting: How to Promote Healthy, Holistic Adolescent Eating Habits

Learning what that means and how to navigate those messages can be key to living a life of food freedom and body acceptance.

Stopping dieting or not engaging in any disordered habits that may come along with it can be scary. It’s totally normal for this to come with a feeling of a loss of control, anger, frustration, guilt, shame, and so much more.

However, know that it’s also incredibly worth it. While dieting may seem like a fairly normal thing to do, there is nothing normal about depriving our bodies of the essential energy they want or need. While this may seem overwhelming, know that you’re not alone, and you deserve to feel your best.

Intuitive eating is a holistic approach to nutrition. With 10 core guiding principles, this mindset encourages individuals to eat a wide range of foods, gently nourish their bodies, reject diet culture, enjoy mindful movement, and more! This is an incredibly powerful practice and can completely transform a person’s relationship with food — for the better.

The HAES mindset — or Health at Every Size — is a powerful model that teaches that all bodies of all shapes and sizes can be healthy! This is also a great way to appreciate the true diversity of the world we live in, rather than fixating on the often thin stereotypes that diet culture presents as being “ideal.”

Another great way teens can step away from diet culture is to overhaul their social media feeds. Unfollow accounts that make you feel anything less than your best, search for those that promote diversity and body neutrality or body positivity for teenagers, or consider taking a break from social media altogether!

There is also lots of helpful media that will encourage sustainable, nourishing habits and represent the diverse world we live in! For example, there are dozens of books that embrace an anti-diet culture mindset.

Supporting a Teen Through Food or Body Image Struggles

If you’re the parent of a teen who is struggling with their eating habits — whether they’re wanting to diet or engaging in other disordered behaviors — know that you play a powerful role in their journey and avoiding teen dieting dangers.

If you’re wondering how to support teens with food, one of the most powerful things you can do for your child at any age is to lead by example and not engage in diet culture yourself. This may seem difficult, especially if you’ve spent much of your life influenced by it. However, do not underestimate the profound impact your actions, words, and behaviors can have on your child. Encourage healthy eating habits for teens by practicing them yourself!

How to Break Free From Diet Culture

Everyone — including teens — deserves to live a life free of diet culture, enjoying a wide variety of foods that both fuel your body and bring enjoyment!

If you need help navigating nutrition or want to support your child through their journey, Life Cycle Nutrition’s experts can help you walk a life of food freedom! Click HERE to schedule an appointment and break free from diet culture today.

Citations;

1. Paediatrics and Child Health. 2004 Sep;9(7):487–491. doi: 10.1093/pch/9.7.487
2. Barakat, Sarah, Sian A. McLean, Emma Bryant, Anvi Le, Peta Marks, National Eating Disorder Research Consortium, Stephen Touyz, and Sarah Maguire. 2023. “Risk factors for eating disorders: findings from a rapid review.” Journal of Eating Disorders 11 (January). https://doi.org/10.1186/s40337-022-00717-4.
3. Habib, Ashna, Tooba Ali, Zainab Nazir, Arisha Mahfooz, Qurat-ul-Ain Inayat, and Md Ariful Haque. 2023. “Unintended consequences of dieting: How restrictive eating habits can harm your health.” International Journal of Surgery Open 60 (November). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijso.2023.100703.
4. Stice, E., Gau, J. M., Rohde, P., & Shaw, H. (2017). Risk factors that predict future onset of each DSM–5 eating disorder: Predictive specificity in high-risk adolescent females. Journal of Abnormal Psychology, 126(1), 38–51.
5. Rhee, Eun-Jung. 2017. “Weight Cycling and Its Cardiometabolic Impact.” Journal of Obesity & Metabolic Syndrome 26, no. 4 (December): 237-242. 10.7570/jomes.2017.26.4.237.
6. Patton, G C, R. Selzer, C. Coffey, J B Carlin, and R. Wolfe. 1999. “Onset of adolescent eating disorders: population based cohort study over 3 years.” British Medical Journal, no. 318 (March), 765–768. 10.1136/bmj.318.7186.765.
7. Pehlivan, Melissa J., Mirei Okada, Jane Miskovic-Wheatley, Sarah Barakat, Stephen Touyz, Stephen J. Simpson, Kristi Griffiths, Andrew Holmes, and Sarah Maguire. 2024. “Eating disorder risk among Australian youth starting a diet in the community.” Appetite 203 (December). https://doi.org/10.1016/j.appet.2024.107685.