One thing that has become incredibly clear to me is that GLP-1 medications are not just changing conversations about weight.
They’re exposing how deeply diet culture is embedded into our healthcare system, our relationships, and the way many people view themselves.
Not just in people taking the medications.
In everyone.
I’ve watched conversations around GLP-1s become emotionally charged almost instantly. People are debating who “deserves” them, who’s taking the “easy way out,” who’s body positive enough, who’s anti-diet enough, who’s doing recovery “correctly,” and who’s somehow betraying the intuitive eating community.
And honestly? I think a lot of that reaction says more about our collective discomfort around bodies than it does about the medications themselves.
Because beneath all of it is something much bigger:
our culture’s obsession with thinness.
For decades, people have been praised for shrinking themselves. Weight loss has been treated like a moral achievement. Smaller bodies are often assumed to be more disciplined, more attractive, more successful, more healthy, and somehow more worthy of respect.
So when medications enter the picture that can potentially create weight loss on a larger scale, it forces people to confront a lot of complicated feelings all at once.
Some people feel hopeful.
Some feel angry.
Some feel triggered.
Some feel pressured.
Some feel left behind.
Some feel relieved.
Some feel confused.
And many people feel all of those things at the exact same time.
That complexity deserves space.
As an intuitive eating counselor, I think one of the most harmful things we can do is reduce people down to simplistic narratives around their body or healthcare decisions.
Someone taking a GLP-1 is not automatically “giving up” on intuitive eating.
Someone choosing not to take one is not automatically morally superior.
And someone feeling conflicted about all of this is not failing.
Humans are allowed to hold conflicting emotions.
I also think this conversation has revealed how unfamiliar many people are with truly unbiased healthcare.
So many individuals are used to being shamed by providers that they almost expect judgment the second weight enters the room. They expect lectures. Assumptions. Fear tactics. Pressure.
That’s part of why these conversations feel so emotionally loaded for many people.
At Find Food Freedom®, our role is not to shame clients for taking medication or pressure them into avoiding it. Our role is also not to pursue intentional weight loss as the goal of care.
Our work centers on helping people improve their relationship with food, body image, movement, and overall well-being through a weight-inclusive lens.
That means helping clients rebuild trust with themselves after years of disconnection from their body cues, chronic dieting, and internalized stigma.
And honestly, I think one of the hardest things for people to sit with is that healing your relationship with food does not always provide the certainty diet culture promises.
Diet culture loves rules.
Certainty.
Before-and-after photos.
Clear outcomes.
Formulas.
But healing is usually much messier than that.
It’s learning how to care for yourself without constantly trying to earn your worth through body size.
It’s untangling years of fear around food.
It’s learning how to exist in a body without spending every waking moment trying to control it.
And for many people, that process can exist alongside complicated feelings about GLP-1 medications.
I don’t think people need more shame in this conversation.
I think they need more room for honesty.
More room for nuance.
More room to ask questions without fear of judgment.
And more providers willing to hold space for complexity instead of forcing people into ideological corners.
Because behind every conversation about GLP-1s is an actual person trying to navigate food, health, body image, identity, and belonging in a culture that has spent decades teaching them their body is a problem to solve.
And that deserves compassion.
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If you’re navigating questions around food, body image, chronic dieting, or GLP-1 medications, our team at Find Food Freedom® offers virtual, weight-inclusive nutrition counseling rooted in evidence-based care, body respect, and compassion. You can check your insurance benefits to see whether sessions with our registered dietitians and certified intuitive eating counselors are covered through your plan.
