Plus my Number One Tip to Find Your Food Confidence

Do you feel like your weight or appearance defines your worth? Do you feel like a failure for not eating "healthy enough"? If so, your self-confidence might be under the control of diet culture.

What You'll Learn in This Post:

• How diet culture can strip away your self-confidence.

• How low confidence keeps us trapped in a stressful dieting cycle.

• The key to feeling confident around food—no more second-guessing or guilt.

What is Diet Culture?

Diet culture is a system of beliefs that dictates how our bodies “should” look and how we “should” eat. It varies across cultures and trends, promoting different “ideal” diets—from keto to vegan—and pushing body ideals centered on thinness or muscularity.

The problem? Every body is unique. Even if we all ate the same foods and exercised the same way, we would still look different. Diet culture’s unrealistic standards create an oppressive system that harms our relationship with food and body image.

How Diet Culture Destroys Self Confidence

This is how diet culture destroys your self confidence:

1. Creates a Problem That Doesn’t Exist – It tells you that your natural body size and intuitive eating habits are wrong, making you believe you need to fix them.

2. Feeds Off Emotional Vulnerabilities – It convinces you that losing weight or eating perfectly will solve life’s problems.

3. Fosters Restriction and Control – By following rigid food rules, we lose touch with our body’s natural cues, leading to cravings, food obsession, and eventual loss of control.

4. Undermines Body Trust – Every diet cycle weakens your confidence in your own body, reinforcing reliance on external rules instead of internal signals.

The Cycle of Dieting and Poor Self Confidence

1. Diet culture convinces us we need to control our body.

2. We follow restrictive food rules.

3. Short-term success reinforces the belief that dieting works.

4. The body fights back with cravings and hunger, leading to overeating.

5. We feel guilty and blame ourselves, turning to another diet.

6. With each cycle, our food and body confidence erodes further.

My #1 Tip to Find Your Food Confidence

Diet culture has conditioned us to fight against our bodies. It has taught us our bodies cannot be trusted and we must go against our own innate cues that guide our eating. And while we continue to fight against our body, we will continue to feel stressed around food.

Your body is working as it should. When you experience food thoughts and behaviours that feel unsupportive, it is just your body trying to communicate what it needs or fight back against the diet and restrictions. If we ignore this, our body will keep fighting back.

Instead, try this mindset shift: “My body is on my side.”

 It really is. It is not trying to sabotage you. It is responding to food restriction and what it feels is unsafe.

Rather than forcing control, ask:

• Am I hungry?

• Have I eaten enough today?

• Am I feeling any emotions?

• What do I really need right now?

Meeting your body’s needs—eating enough, moving in a way that feels good, resting, and practicing self-care—builds body trust over time. While dieting offers the illusion of quick fixes, true food confidence comes from working with your body, not against it.

Want More Support?

If you’re stuck in a dieting cycle, I’ve created a free e-book just for you: “Stop Stressing Over Food - The 5 Steps You Need for Joyful Eating.” This guide will help you reconnect with your body and eat with confidence.

Download it here.

Or, if you're ready for personalized support, check out my self-paced courses or book a free discovery call to explore 1-on-1 intuitive eating counseling.

Final Thoughts

Remember, your body is not the problem—diet culture is. Your body is working just as it should, and together, you can rebuild trust and confidence in your eating habits.