06/09/2026
So today I did a nutrition talk at a Women’s Empowerment event and I accidentally made people cry…
Women’s nutrition is complicated, especially for women in my age group.
We’re the millennials who grew up watching normal-sized women being treated as “fat” in films. Renée Zellweger in Bridget Jones, Martine McCutcheon in Love Actually...
We had gossip magazines circling every roll and dimple in red. And let’s not forget The Simple Life, where Nicole Richie was “the fat one”.
So it’s unsurprising that we’ve been through a LOT of diets.
For many of us, that started frighteningly young. Some of the women today talked about dieting from around 12 years old.
Twelve.
We had absolutely no business worrying about shrinking our bodies at that age.
My plan today was simple: list the diets we’d tried, talk about why they “worked” (spoiler: they basically all put you into a calorie deficit), why they didn’t work long term, then give some practical advice on losing weight without ridiculous rules.
Except… that isn’t what happened.
It got deep.
We talked about labelling foods “good” or “bad”. Feeling guilty for eating certain things. Being terrified one meal could undo all your progress. How years of putting so much pressure on food can ruin the enjoyment of it. And that constant feeling that losing weight is something we should always be trying to do.
And there were tears.
I’m so grateful the women today felt comfortable enough to share their experiences, because we ended up unpacking something much bigger than calories and macros.
Nutrition is science, but our relationship with food is shaped by years of experiences, diet culture and other people’s opinions.
I just wish we’d had more time.
So let’s carry the conversation on here.
**Women — what did you grow up believing about food, dieting or your body that you’ve had to unlearn?**
Share below if you feel comfortable, or message me if you’d rather stay anonymous.
I have a feeling a lot of us are carrying around the same stories.
And if sharing them makes another woman think, “Oh… it wasn’t just me,” then it’s a conversation worth having.
