There once was a girl who loved to run. She loved to play with her friends. Being active was part of her life - it was fun, pure, and simple. As her teen years approached, something changed. She started to notice the way she looked didn’t match the women she saw on the covers of her favorite magazines or the stars of her favorite TV shows. Was it her? Why didn’t her legs have that same long, lean look? Why didn’t her hair fall the same way? Suddenly, when she looked in the mirror, she no longer saw a girl full of joy. She saw someone who didn’t quite fit; someone who had to earn her place in the world by becoming more. Running became a to-do. Exercise became a must. Her favorite food became what her magazines called a “guilty pleasure.” Titles like “10 Ways to Get Abs,” “15 Secrets to Slim Down in a Week” became her thoughts, her daily “truths.” Somewhere along the way, simple joys got replaced by shame.

The Hidden Chains

My journey has been a long one. I have struggled with ea...

Diet culture boggles my mind.

Over the months of her first year of life, I experienced some very negative comments and lies about my daughter's beautiful baby chub. She has a lovely, wise body, which stored away as much chub as it knew it needed to support her growth and development.

As a baby who was exclusively breastfed up to 6 months, and continued to be breastfed alongside solids beyond that point, I know my child's body has been given ample support to grow strong and healthy.

This isn't a criticism of people who feed their children differently, it's just a fact that you can trust your child is getting exactly the amount they need when they have been breastfed like mine - at least, that is what professionals have told me.

I find it very sad that I already find myself needing to defend a body's wisdom in a child who was not even a year old. We live in a culture fixated on controlling bodies in a way that is simply not healthy or good.

I know this is a complex and nuanced di...