Why the “Diet and Exercise” Model Is Based on a False Cause and Effect
A friend challenged me when I called diet and exercise “a lie.” She had a point — so I looked up the definition of lie. What I found, plus a story about a banana and a tunnel, changed how I talk about this forever.
How Ice Cream Ads Are Secretly Shaping How You Think About Food
I was watching a TV ad for ice cream when I realized the company wasn’t just trying to sell me dessert — they were reinforcing the belief that ice cream is bad in the first place. Here’s how advertising shapes your thought process around food without you even noticing.
Why Exercising to Burn Calories Is Keeping You Stuck
A producer on a commercial shoot called me an athlete and I nearly laughed out loud. I don’t train for marathons. I don’t push through workouts I hate. I only move in ways that feel good — and apparently that’s exactly what athletes do. Here’s what I mean.
The 5 Steps to Healing Your Relationship With Food and Your Body
A reader wrote to me about celiac disease, food allergies, and feeling like she wanted to trade her body in. Her situation was unique — but the path forward was the same one I’d recommend to anyone. Here are the five steps that change everything.
Why Women Bond Over Body Shame (And What It’s Really Costing Us)
A reader asked me to dig deeper into something I noticed — that the diet culture small talk I receive changes completely depending on what I’m wearing. Here’s what I think is actually happening, and why it matters more than it seems.
Why Being Smart Doesn’t Make You Thin (And What That Says About Diet Culture)
I heard a radio host say “if you’re smart and you’re not rich, something’s wrong with you.” I turned it off immediately — because I recognized the exact same assumption hiding inside every diet culture message. Here’s what it is and why it keeps women stuck.
What a Pile of Women’s Magazines Reveals About Our “Weight Problem”
A friend tagged me in a photo of a store display — women’s magazines piled up with the words “Shed Your Weight Problem Here.” The Facebook comments it sparked were pure chaos. And that chaos tells you everything about how broken our cultural conversation around weight really is.
Why Women Tear Each Other’s Bodies Apart (And What It’s Really About)
Leaving the theater after The Avengers, I overheard a group of women critiquing Scarlett Johansson’s body. Not teenage girls — grown women in their thirties and forties. And what struck me wasn’t the comment itself. It was what it revealed about how we see ourselves.
“You Earned It” — How Casual Small Talk Reveals Diet Culture’s Deepest Lie
A cashier saw my workout clothes and told me I’d “earned” my Diet Coke. He meant it as a compliment. But that one throwaway comment reveals everything wrong with how our culture thinks about food, exercise, and our bodies.
It’s Not Your Weight That’s the Problem — It’s How You Relate to It
From a diet and exercise perspective, you’re supposed to face your weight problem head on and solve it. But what if the way you’re relating to the problem is actually the problem? A story about a blind jazz pianist changed how I think about this entirely.