Category Archives: Weight Bias + Stigma

A graphic that reads "2021: A Year In Review" over a stock photo of some pine branches and gifts wrapped in brown paper, on a red background.

2021: A Year In Review

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What a year! 2021 was our second year in a pandemic, and seemed just as chaotic and challenging as 2020 was. Take a moment to pat yourself on the back for making it to the end of this year, it certainly hasn’t been easy, but I’m so glad you’re here. This too shall pass, and until it does, I’ll be here to support you virtually to stop feeling out of control and gain a sense of calm in relationship with food and your body

This year, more than ever, people experienced anxiety and burnout. If you’re feeling like you’re running on empty, you’re not alone. I hope you get some quality time to rest and recuperate this season. It’s always important to rest, but with the constant chaos of existence right now you might be feeling the need to slow down more than ever. I encourage you to lean into it!

You’re allowed to have periods of rest, and it’s important to listen to your body when it’s trying to tell you something. Consider this your permission slip to do nothing but self-care for the rest of the year! 

Every year, I like to round up all of my blog posts from the year in one place. It’s fun to look back on the year through these posts, and I hope you find them useful as you work toward peace with food. 

Here’s what I wrote about this year: 

5 Reasons not to Diet in 2021 (or Ever)

“Unless you are taking a break from social media and the news, you most likely have been bombarded with messages about dieting and weight related New Year’s resolutions. Diet programs are promising the magic bullet for good health and weight loss in the New Year.

Maybe this year you are re-thinking your New Year’s resolutions. Perhaps you are beginning to notice that dieting is taking up too much space in your life or you are tired of worrying about what you eat or what you look like. It could be you are looking to “get off the diet roller coaster” permanently and heal your relationship with food and your body.

If you are ready to give up dieting, you’re not alone. Consider these five reasons to quit dieting for good.”

Anorexia Nervosa: One Size Does NOT Fit All

“Unfortunately, there are many incorrect assumptions associated with eating disorders. One I see a lot is the assumption that in order to have an eating disorder, particularly anorexia nervosa, one has to have very low body weight. This is simply not true.

Sadly these assumptions block those suffering from eating disorders from getting the life-saving treatment they need. In fact, most people with eating disorders don’t necessarily fit neatly into an eating disorder category.

Eating disorders are more about how the person relates to food, exercise, and body than what a person looks like.”

The Body Image-Eating Disorder Connection

“How we perceive our bodies is influenced by many factors, including family, friends, media, gender identity, culture, and the health-care system, to name a few. Body image is not static. It may change depending on our mood, situation, stage of life, or the season.

The majority of those who suffer with eating disorders have a negative body image. One of the key features of eating disorders is the overvaluation of weight, shape, and eating habits on self-worth.

Self-worth is how and what we think about ourselves. In other words, those who struggle with eating disorders equate much of their self-worth with their ability to control their weight, shape, and eating habits. Having a negative body image often keeps the eating disorder going.”

Maintaining Eating Disorder Recovery as a College Freshman

“College can be a difficult transition for anyone, but if you’re in recovery for an eating disorder, it can be a particularly stressful transition! 

Some of the challenges of maintaining your recovery while returning to school include change in routine, increased demands and independence, and exercise/diet culture. 

Remember: it’s normal for eating disorder symptoms to recur in times of high stress and periods of transition. But by taking time to consider how your recovery will be impacted in this period of transition, you can create a plan to cope with stress and continue with your recovery.”

Why You Should Try Body Acceptance Over Body Positivity

“The idea of body positivity has its roots in fighting diet culture, but the term doesn’t resonate with everyone. After all, feeling positive about your body is a tall order for a lot of people. 

First of all, there is a multi-billion dollar diet industry that uses its considerable resources and influence to convince us all that there is something wrong with our bodies. Feeling insecure about how our bodies look is a surefire way to get us to buy products that will “fix” us. However, consider the idea that there was nothing wrong with your body in the first place. 

People who are chronically ill or disabled might not feel like they can be positive about a body that is constantly in pain or not able to move through the world easily. People who are recovering from eating disorders might not trust their body’s cues or might feel distress when thinking about their bodies. 

Body acceptance might feel like a more attainable goal than body positivity.”

4 Tips for Anyone Who Loves an Adult in Eating Disorder Recovery

“It’s possible for eating disorders to initially develop later in life, not just during adolescence. It’s also possible that adults suffering from an eating disorder developed it during adolescence and never fully recovered.  Life stressors (like a pandemic, for example!) later in life can also cause a relapse of eating disorders.

Eating disorders develop for a variety of reasons including genetics, temperament, gender, and dieting history to name a few.

It is less important why and how the eating disorder developed, and more important to focus on supporting your loved one in their eating disorder recovery.”

A graphic that reads "2021: A Year In Review" over a stock photo of some pine branches and gifts wrapped in brown paper, on a red background.

I’ll be back in 2022, writing more about ED recovery, food peace, and weight bias. If there are any topics you want me to cover next year, let me know. You can send me a message here, and you can also follow me on Facebook. Every week, I share resources from myself + other eating disorder experts, so follow if you’re looking for more information. 

Diet Culture, COVID-19, and Weight Stigma: 2020 in Review

Diet Culture, COVID-19, and Weight Stigma: 2020 in Review

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At the end of every year, I like to put together a post that collects everything I’ve published on my blog over the last year. And what a year it’s been. This year is nothing like we imagined it would be. We have lost almost a year of being with family and friends, experiencing new things, and living our ‘normal’ lives. If you’re feeling grief about this year, the lives lost and changed, and what could have been, you’re not alone. 

This year has been hard, sad, lonely, scary, weird, and pretty much any other adjective out there. It can be hard to hold space for all of those things at once, so be gentle with yourself as you work through your feelings about 2020. 

Here’s what I wrote about this year: 

This year, I wrote a lot about the COVID-19 pandemic and how that interacts with folks in eating disorder recovery. 

When things get hard, communities thrive. The eating disorder recovery community is more important than ever with many of us isolated and unable to connect with other ED survivors in real life. I wrote about 5 Ways to Stay on Track With Eating Disorder Recovery During COVID-19, Virtual (and Free) Eating Disorder Support Groups During COVID-19, and Coping With COVID-19 and Eating Disorder Recovery: Tips for College Students.

Rejecting Diet culture

One of my favorite ways to learn about rejecting the diet mentality is through podcasts! I put together a list of my top podcasts to help you break free from diet culture. (I also included a tip for how to find anti-diet resources: “It’s easy to be wary of what you find related to body positivity and anti-diet resources, since the movement has been flooded with people trying to cash in without spreading the actual message of the anti-diet movement. When looking for a trusted resource online, make sure that they mention on their website (hopefully prominently!) that they believe in dismantling diet culture, center larger bodies, and don’t mention weight loss anywhere on their site.”

Eating Disorders

Eating disorders are a complicated subject. One of my goals is to help people challenged with ED and other food & weight-related concerns to move from constantly worrying about food and their weight to being free to create the lives they want. The first step here is understanding what eating disorders actually are. To help, I discussed 3 Important FAQs about Binge Eating Disorder on the blog. While some of us understand the basics of eating disorders and anxiety on our own, it’s rare to see a blog post connect the two and tell you what you need to know if you’re living with an eating disorder and an anxiety disorder. I wrote about frequently asked questions related to eating disorders and anxiety to share what I know!

Weight Bias + Stigma

Weight bias is everywhere we look in our culture. It’s led to systematic discrimination of larger bodies in many areas of life – medical care, job opportunities, social interactions, to name a few. So many folks railing against people in larger bodies don’t realize that what really causes negative health outcomes is a result of stigma, not a result of having a larger body, so I wrote about how weight bias and stigma are the real hazards to health, not body size. 

Diet Culture, COVID-19, and Weight Stigma: 2020 in Review

If there are any topics you’d like me to cover in 2021, let me know! You can message me here. If you’re looking for even more resources, make sure you’re following me on Facebook and Pinterest!Every week, I share resources from myself + other experts in the field on both platforms!

Weight Bias and Stigma: The Real Hazards to Health

Weight Bias and Stigma: The Real Hazards to Health

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Privilege disclosure: I am aware of and acknowledge my privilege as a white, cisgender, heterosexual, thin, and able-bodied person.

What are weight bias and stigma?

Weight-based discrimination is just what it sounds like. It is discriminating against people based on their body size, usually large body size. Other terms used to describe it include fatphobia and sizeism. It is well documented that rates of weight bias and stigma are on the rise. In fact, weight stigma and bias happen at higher rates than discrimination based on age or gender.

Furthermore, weight bias and stigma are socially acceptable and are reinforced in the media through the negative portrayal of those living in large bodies.

Weight stigma and bias are present in most aspects of life including education, business, and healthcare. The effects of weight bias and stigma on physical and mental health are the focus of this post.

Weight bias and stigma can affect physical and mental health independent of body size in various ways:

Increased stress.

Experiencing weight bias and stigma increases chronic stress levels. Chronic stress has been shown to increase the risk of cardiovascular disease and other physical ailments. Additionally, chronic stress can wreak havoc on our mental health and general well-being.

Poorer healthcare treatment.

It has been well documented that weight bias and stigma are pervasive in our healthcare system. Studies show that the most frequent source of weight bias is family and the second most frequent source is healthcare providers. People who experience weight bias and stigma often have a negative experience at their doctor’s office, which often leads to avoidance or putting off medical care, including preventative health screenings.

Often-times large bodies are not assessed the same way thin bodies are, and body weight is blamed for every ailment. I have heard countless stories from clients about the poor healthcare they received. For example, a patient might seek medical attention because of a sore throat, but their body weight is discussed or been pointed out as the problem. (This would not happen to people who are in what the medical community refers to as a “normal-sized” bodies.)

Poorer mental health.

Studies show that weight bias and stigma, independent of body size, can contribute to increased vulnerability to depression and anxiety, poor body image, decreased self-esteem, and increased suicidality.

People who live in large bodies may experience internalized weight bias, meaning that they believe that the stereotypes about them are true. Internalized weight bias can lead to negative feelings about oneself and contribute to poorer mental health.

Additionally, eating disorders often go undiagnosed in people with large bodies because they “don’t look” like they have an eating disorder. People in large bodies do get and are at risk for eating disorders. Furthermore, diets are often prescribed to people in large bodies, which is a known risk factor for developing an eating disorder and exacerbating existing eating disorders.

People living in large bodies are also at high risk for bullying and teasing which also negatively impacts mental health.

Increased problematic eating behaviors.

People who live in large bodies are prescribed weight-loss diets in efforts to “improve health.” There are several problems with this approach.

First, there is little research that dieting is an effective treatment for long-term weight loss.

Second, weight is highly determined by genetics and is not as modifiable as the healthcare system or diet programs lead us to believe.

Third, a larger body does not indicate poorer health.

Fourth, dieting is a known risk factor for problematic eating behaviors such as binge eating, dietary restriction, purging, and even full-blown eating disorders.

Unfortunately, weight bias and stigma are rarely discussed in traditional medical and mental healthcare settings, further perpetuating them. Weight bias and stigma continue to reinforce the idea that large bodies are unhealthy with little to no data to back this up. What we do know for sure is that weight bias and stigma themselves, independent of body size, contribute to poorer health outcomes.

If you are experiencing weight bias and stigma (or want to learn more about it) here are some great resources:

If you are a healthcare provider here are additional resources to consider:

  • Michelle May, MD and Jennifer L. Guadiani, MD (Both provide training on weight-inclusive care.)
  • Project Implicit (Help assess implicit bias.)

For more resources on weight bias + stigma, intuitive eating, and anti-diet culture, sign up for my newsletter!