Body positivity was just gaining speed and then -WHAM- GLP1s hit the market. For some people with certain medical needs, these medications have been life savers. However, they have also drastically changed the diet landscape. For some, these medications seem to be the evidence that smaller bodies are always better bodies. We know for a fact that this is not true; health is NOT one size fits all and is not solely determined by weight. If you want to keep the focus on behaviors and not appearance, here are some simple and practical ways to reject diet culture.

1. Filter your social media settings so that you are not being inundated with ads for diet products/medications/plans
2. Stop commenting on other people’s body sizes and weights and, instead, use words like ‘happy’, ‘beautiful’, ‘glowing’, ‘relaxed’ to describe them
3. Look into the Health at Every Size (HAES) movement, which prioritizes healthy behaviors over certain body sizes. Clinicians from many different disciplines are involved in this movement.
4. Stop weighing yourself at home. If you attend regular medical appointments, you are being weighed there. There is no actual clinical need to know your weight between appointments. (The exception to this, of course, is if you have medication that is weight-dependent and you see your doctor virtually.
5. Stop speaking about food or eating as ‘good’ or bad’. If you have an allergy or intolerance, that’s one matter; but having a piece of cake isn’t ‘bad’ simply because it doesn’t contain tons of protein or fiber. All foods can be incorporated into one’s diet in moderation- and that IS healthy.
6. Move towards intuitive eating. So much can be said about this, and I encourage everyone to research this concept. It’s much more than just eating when you’re hungry and stopping when you’re full. It’s eating what you are craving because you trust your body to crave what it needs-salty or sweet; hot or cold; crunchy or smooth, etc. Research shows that when we allow ourselves to eat what we crave when we crave it, our all-around diet is much more balanced.  

All of the above ideas take time to implement, so please be patient with yourself! We live and breathe in a diet culture society that rewards thinness at all costs. We absolutely can make positive changes but they may not be easy and will never be perfect-and that’s okay!

By: Emmi Barnoski, LCSW