FOOD, BODY IMAGE, AND THE WHOLE DIET-AND-EXERCISE DRAMA
There’s a lot more to our struggles with food and our bodies than calories, willpower, or trying harder.
Here, I explore the assumptions behind the traditional diet-and-exercise model, why so many familiar solutions keep us stuck, and what changes when we approach food, exercise, and our bodies from a completely different perspective.
Some posts are personal. Some challenge conventional wisdom. And some might make you laugh.
Browse the articles below. Start wherever you're curious.
Why Food Freedom Is the Zen of Weight Loss
I finally went looking for Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance — and ended up with Alan Watts instead. What I found in his first lecture about the Tibetan Wheel of Life explained everything I've been trying to teach about getting off the diet and exercise teeter-totter. Here's the connection.
How to Stop Comparing Your Body to Other Women’s — And Actually Mean It
91% of women hate their bodies according to the film Embrace. And while body image movements do important work, lasting change requires something more — actual skills and tools to break the comparison habit. Here's where to start.
Why Self-Help Can Make Your Relationship With Your Body Worse
I've explored virtually every psychological, spiritual, and self-help approach to healing. And I've fallen into every trap each one hides. Here's the one that's most dangerous — and what the road to actual peace looks like instead.
The Real Price of Happiness (It’s Not What the Self-Help World Tells You)
I was 45 minutes into a 90-minute commute for 12 miles when something unexpected washed over me — a sense of peace I hadn't felt in years. That moment taught me something about happiness that none of the self-help work, therapy, or pillow-beating had managed to. Here's what it was.
You Will Never Get “A Body Like Hers” — And That’s Actually Good News
Meghan Trainor pulled her music video because her waist had been retouched without permission. Everyone's fighting about Photoshop again. But here's what we're missing while that argument keeps us distracted — and the one sentence from Shape Magazine's own editors that says everything.
Why Shame Never Works — And What Actually Does
Company executives keep calling me to help shame their employees into participating in wellness programs. And I keep gently telling them the same thing — shame doesn't work. Here's what Rotary's Four-Way Test taught me about motivation, accountability, and why positive reinforcement is the only approach that actually sticks.