Yesterday afternoon, I found myself perusing your store. This is nothing out of the ordinary. It’s rare for me to go a week without shopping at one of my two favorite locations. I truly enjoy spending time there and consider you my #1 go-to for groceries and just about anything else. Yesterday started off normally, until I walked by the kitchen area. I noticed some adorable looking jars and other miscellaneous containers. I just glanced over, until my eye caught one word: calorie. I seem to have laser precision in noticing anything to do with food, exercise, calories, and weight loss. Naturally, I went over to investigate further why this jar had calorie written on it. What I saw makes me sick to my stomach

I’m sure the fact that you chose to stock this in your stores was harmless. A few people probably got some chuckles out of the definition here. Maybe there were some “oh yes, they’re terrible little things” or “I have to watch myself around them.” No matter how innocent or light-hearted the choice to include this was, it is not a laughing matter.

Perhaps most people won’t be ill-affected by this jar. I would guess that maybe a couple even notice it each day. What I want you to see is someone who would be hurt by it. This woman comes into your store and finds this jar. She doesn’t laugh at it, but instead believes the negative view of calories. She buys the jar and puts her favorite treat, chocolate chip cookies, inside. Every time she wants a cookie, the words on the jar deter her. She stares at that jar every single day, long after the treats inside have gone stale. All she can picture when she thinks of some of her favorite foods are tiny monsters who make her balloon out and gain weight.

The woman above may be hypothetical, but trust me there are many out there with similar thought patterns. I, for one, don’t need a jar to remind me of all the thoughts that takeover my mind much of the day. I don’t need anything to make my views of self, calories, and good any worse than it already is.

Calories are nothing but a unit of energy, just like an amp, volt, or watt. They cannot be inherently bad or good. They are a way to measure the energy in food we eat and activities we do. Why then, does this jar you sell give them such a negative view?

The answer is diet culture. Our society is immensely focused on size, weight, shape, good and bad foods, diets, cleanses, on and on. It causes us to be uncomfortable in our bodies and with ourselves. By stocking this jar in your stores, you are perpetuating diet culture and silently stating that thin is the best way to be.

I am not mad at you specifically, but I am angry at the culture that says this is okay. I know that you’ll probably never see my letter, but if you do, please consider what I’ve laid out here. Stocking this and similar items isn’t a joke. You will never know how many it will negatively affect. I urge you to really sit down and think before another item like this one is chosen for your stores.

Sincerely,

Emily