Diet culture bombards us with messages that tell us how our bodies "should" look, demanding we maintain a certain BMI, avoid fat around our stomachs, or achieve some other ideal that changes with the trends.

We are constantly reminded that we are not enough as we are. This pursuit of a so-called “perfect” body doesn’t promote health or self-love; it deepens our insecurities and keeps us in a perpetual state of dissatisfaction.

When we are conditioned to believe that our worth is tied to achieving a particular aesthetic, we start to see our bodies as projects to be fixed rather than cherished. We focus on the external, striving to meet an ever-elusive standard of beauty that is often unrealistic, unsustainable, and, for most people, unattainable. We measure our value in inches, pounds, and percentages, hoping that if we just look a certain way, we’ll finally feel good enough. But this pursuit of external perfection disconnects us from our true essence - our inner selves, where our true worth lies.

Instead of nurturing a relationship with our bodies based on respect, appreciation, and love, diet culture encourages us to punish ourselves with restrictive eating, excessive exercise, and negative self-talk. It tells us that we must wait to love ourselves, that we can only be worthy of love, joy, or self-acceptance once we’ve reached a certain size or weight. This mindset fosters a deep sense of inadequacy and makes us feel perpetually flawed, leading to a cycle of self-criticism, guilt, and shame.

In reality, waiting to love our bodies until they are “perfect” is like waiting to live until everything in our lives is perfect... it’s a waste of our precious time and energy.

Our bodies are incredible, capable, and worthy of love just as they are, in every stage of our lives. When we focus solely on appearance, we miss out on the opportunity to connect with our bodies in meaningful ways: appreciating their strength, their resilience, and their capacity for joy.

True body love comes from within, from understanding that our worth is not defined by our weight or shape but by who we are at our core. When we release the idea that we must change ourselves to be worthy, we open up to the possibility of feeling whole and contented, just as we are. We learn to honour our bodies for everything they do for us, rather than condemning them for not looking a certain way.

Diet culture’s obsession with “perfection” is a distraction from the real work of self-love. To truly love our bodies, we must reject the idea that we need to earn that love through a certain aesthetic. Instead, we must choose to embrace our bodies in all their uniqueness and understand that we are already complete, just as we are.

Glenys x