The Three Biggest Myths Keeping You Stuck in Food Drama
Every holiday season the same tired advice appears everywhere — avoid the buffet, watch your portions, burn off your indulgences. But the real mistakes keeping women stuck have nothing to do with what they eat. Here are the three cultural myths that actually keep you famished, frustrated and stuck.
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 Photoshop Isn’t Actually the Problem
My graphic designer Photoshopped one of my images — just barely. And honestly it looked great. As the Happy Calories Girl I asked him to change it back. But here’s the thing — Photoshop isn’t actually the problem. Here’s the more empowering perspective that changes everything about how we see media images.
Photoshop Isn’t the Problem — This Is
Everyone’s blaming Photoshop for body image issues. But Photoshop isn’t the problem — and neither are the magazines. Here’s what’s actually going on, and why it matters more than the retouching debate.
How Diet Culture Builds the Prison You’re Living In
Marianne Williamson once said something that stopped me cold: “Just because your prison is self-made doesn’t make it any less of a prison.” I think about that constantly when it comes to women and their relationship with food. Here’s what’s actually building those walls.
How Diet Culture Marketing Destroys Your Self-Esteem (And What to Do About It)
A lot of what we believe about our bodies isn’t based on reality — it’s based on marketing designed to make us feel bad enough to buy something. Once you see that clearly, something shifts. Here’s what I mean.
Why Advertisers Keep Making You Feel Bad About Your Body (And How to Stop Them)
My husband plays piano in bars. His job is to read the room and play whatever keeps people happy and spending money. Advertisers work exactly the same way — and once you see that, their power over you completely changes.
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.
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 Before and After Weight Loss Photos Are Meaningless
Someone emailed me saying she’d trust my program more if I had before and after photos. As an actress who has been paid to appear in ads for products I’ve never used — I have some thoughts on that. Here’s what those pictures are actually proving.