From Gimlet Media, this is The Knoc, a show about black culture from Black and

cis biggest fans. I'm Brittany Lewis.

Okay, so let's go back down memory lane for a second. So it's 2005 and I'm at my high school

lunch table talking with some friends about our upcoming spring break trips and our

conversation were from beaches to bathing suits and then diets. Weight watchers, low

car, all of them. I saw one of my friends count out 20 almonds, 20 almonds. I'm guessing

because 21 might have been too much, but she was trying to stick to the South Beach diet.

It wasn't the first time I've been exposed to what some called diet culture. This was around

the same time my parents were on this really big Atkins diet kick and mom, dad, I love you.

But that year we ate a lot of George Foreman grilled chicken breast and back salad from Costco.

And I was hungry. I was a student at the weight. I needed something to eat. But anyway, I say that

to say dieting wasn't new to me. But talking about it so openly with my friends was it was so

weird to me that some of the people I spent so much time with in the drive-through of the Taco Bell

on Orchard Lake Road were suddenly talking about eating less. I mean, for what it's worth

after spring break, we were all back in the Taco Bell drive-through line anyway. So it's not like

it became this major thing for my friend group. But it was suddenly there. That was the moment I

realized that conversations about dieting and thinness were always going to be a part of my life.

And since then, it's been 14 years of so many more spring breaks and breakups and weddings

and New Year's resolutions and office weight loss challenges. Something I haven't had a lot of

real conversations about though is why? Why do we diet? The answer is that a lot of people fear being

fat. Consider the way fat people are treated. Fat people earn less money, receive

worse treatment for medical professionals and even just have a harder time finding clothes

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