The 3 Sneaky Lies Diet Culture Still Has You Believing (Even in Recovery)

You’ve done the unlearning. You’re eating the bread. You deleted the tracker. And yet… those old diet-culture whispers still sneak in like glitter in the carpet. Today, we’re dragging the three most persistent lies into the light—and lovingly showing them the door.

Lie #1: “Healthy” means being in a smaller body

Sounds reasonable, right? You’ve heard it from school, the doctor’s office, Instagram, and that one aunt with the forever-diet. But here’s the truth: health isn’t a dress size, BMI, or before-and-after photo. You can be in a smaller body and unwell; you can be in a larger body and vibrant, nourished, and thriving.

Worse, the pursuit of thinness (hello, chronic restriction, weight cycling, and stress) often harms health markers and wrecks your mental health. If maintaining a size requires white-knuckling your appetite and living in fight-or-flight, that’s not wellness—it’s survival in cute activewear.

Try this instead

  • Measure health by how you live, not how you look: energy, sleep, mood, digestion, periods, labs, strength, joy.

  • Choose supportive care: providers who respect body diversity and a weight-neutral approach.

  • Repeat after me: “My body is not a project. My health is not a look.”

Lie #2: “If I just eat ‘normally,’ my body will shrink”

This is the recovery-flavoured fantasy: If I do intuitive eating perfectly, I’ll be thin and healed. It’s ✨diet culture in recovery clothing✨.

Your body feels conditional safety. If freedom has strings—portion-policing, “cleaning up” after a binge, quiet hopes the scale will drop—your nervous system stays on alert. That low hum of anxiety? It keeps food noise loud and trust fragile.

Try this instead

  • Make healing the goal, not shrinking. Nourish without demanding your body perform.

  • Practice unconditional permission to eat and attunement: “What sounds good?” “How does it feel after?” “Am I satisfied?”

  • Trust timeline > thin timeline. Bodies settle when they believe restriction isn’t coming.

Mantra: “I’m not here to micromanage my body; I’m here to build trust with it.”

Lie #3: “I shouldn’t still struggle with this”

Recovery isn’t a movie montage. It’s two steps forward, one wobbly step back, and sometimes a tear over a cupcake you didn’t even enjoy. Slips don’t erase progress; they reveal where more care is needed.

Diet culture taught you to treat any wobble as failure. Let’s rewire that: a binge, a body-image spiral, a tough week with food? That’s a cue to tend, not tighten the reins.

Try this instead

  • Pause → breathe → name it: “This is a conditioned thought. I’m safe.”

  • Offer care: regular meals, enough carbs, gentle movement you like, early bedtime, nervous system resets.

  • Debrief with compassion: What was I needing—rest, reassurance, connection, regulation?

Self-compassion script: “I’m still learning. This doesn’t undo my progress. I can be kind to myself here.”

Journal prompts to kick the lies out of the driver’s seat

  • Where do I still equate “healthy” with “smaller”? What would whole-person health look like instead?

  • In what sneaky ways am I hoping recovery leads to shrinking? What boundary can I set with that hope today?

  • When I wobble, what’s my fastest-acting care plan (food, rest, text a friend, breathwork, a walk, music)?

Your big sister pep talk

You deserve full-spectrum freedom—not just from binges or diets, but from the beliefs that say your body is the problem. Healing isn’t about being perfect; it’s about how gently you treat yourself when you’re not.

You’re not behind. You’re becoming.

Ready to go deeper?

Inside The Break Up, we do the real work: rewiring beliefs, regulating your nervous system, ending the binge–restrict cycle, and building body trust—without hinging your worth on weight.

You’ll learn to:

  • Stop binge & emotional eating (for good)

  • Eat with permission + attunement

  • Calm the nervous system so food noise quiets

  • Feel at peace in your body—at any size

💌 Enrolment is open now- choose between Self-Led or Group Options

Take care!


Nicole 💜