Opinion: NYU’s Nutrition Curriculum Should Not Promote Diet Culture
For a class titled “Nutrition and Health,” the professor and the syllabus promote rather unsettling, unhealthy eating attitudes.
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by Annabelle Thompson
This story was originally published on New York University’s Washington Square News.
Content warning: This article contains mentions of eating disorders.
My heart sank when I read my Nutrition and Health syllabus. I thought that as a nursing major, I would be learning about proper nutrient intake for myself and my future patients. Instead, I saw assignments regarding calorie counting — the professor makes every lesson about weight loss.
One of the course readings is course instructor Lisa R. Young’s “Finally Full, Finally Slim: 30 Days to Permanent Weight Loss One Portion at a Time.” After supporting a loved one through eating disorder recovery, I know what a toxic eating message looks like when I see one.
The title of Young’s book promotes the idea that eating decisions should be made in order to lose weight and be skinny, rather than to give your body what it needs. Rory Meyers sophomore Ryan Pierson, a fellow classmate, also wondered why the course focuses more on weight loss instead of health concerns.
“Why is so much of the nutritional information we have guided towards losing weight rather than getting the right amount of nutrients and the right amount of energy that you need?” Pierson said. “The focus should be on meeting your body’s nutrient and energy needs, not on looking a certain way.”
Read the rest of the story at Washington Square News.