There’s a reason you might feel like you’re constantly failing at this whole “health and fitness” thing. And no, it’s not because you lack willpower, discipline, or knowledge. It’s not because you’re “doing it wrong” or because you haven’t found the right workout, meal plan, or supplement stack.
It’s because the system is designed for you to fail. And keep failing.
Diet culture, a tool of the patriarchy, was never built to make you healthy, strong, or thriving. It was designed to keep you exhausted, hating your body, and endlessly distracted from what actually works.
Why? Because the worse your body image, the more likely you are to spend money on the millions of “solutions” the wellness industry has to sell you.
In short, the wellness industry’s goal is to make you a consumer for life, always chasing the pot of gold at the end of the rainbow instead of doing the things that actually work but don’t make them shit loads of money.
What is Diet Culture, Really?
Diet culture is a system of beliefs that worships thinness, equates it with health, and places morality on food and body size. It thrives on the false promise that if you just eat less, exercise more, and chase the ever-elusive “ideal body,” you’ll finally be happy, worthy, and accepted.
But here’s what diet culture doesn’t want you to know:
- Skinny is not the same as health.
- Losing weight won’t necessarily make you happier.
- The “health” industry is a multi-billion dollar machine profiting off your insecurities.
Diet culture has roots deep in racism, patriarchy, and capitalism. It was built on the idea that self-denial is virtuous, that larger bodies are inferior, and that women should remain small—physically, mentally, and emotionally. And now, in its modern form, it morphs into new disguises: wellness trends, biohacking fads, “clean eating” obsessions, and fat-burning workouts that leave you depleted rather than empowered.
The Cost of Believing the Lie
Let’s talk about what happens when you buy into diet culture’s rules:
- You waste money on things that don’t work. Every year, people spend thousands of dollars on green powders, supplements, meal plans, weight-loss programs, and boutique fitness memberships that promise transformation but leave them burnt out and empty-handed.
- You spend time obsessing over things that don’t really move the needle. Trying to eliminate all “chemicals” and “toxins” from your diet, doing “problem area” exercises to “snatch your waist” and “tone your thighs,” and following some influencer’s “hormone-balancing” protocol—meanwhile, you’re still exhausted, hungry, and wondering why nothing’s working.
- You lose connection with your body. Diet culture teaches you to ignore hunger cues, skip meals, focus purely on calorie burn, and override what your body actually needs. It tells us to mindlessly follow strict rules and relentlessly pursue “optimization” to the point where there’s no joy or spontaneity in life.
- You get caught in the burnout cycle. Extreme workouts, food restriction, and the relentless pursuit of weight loss create a vicious cycle of exhaustion and self-blame. White-knuckling your way to health won’t work. If you can’t keep doing it, it can’t help you in the long-term.
And the worst part? None of this crap makes you stronger, more resilient, or more capable. In fact, most of it will only lead you further from physical and mental health.
The Alternative: Work Smarter, Not Harder
If you want real health, real strength, and real energy, you have to reject diet culture’s bullshit and focus on what actually works:
- Train for strength and durability. Stop chasing calorie burn and start lifting, sprinting, hopping, and moving in ways that make you more resilient.
- Eat for energy and performance. Ditch the obsession with slashing calories, cutting carbs, demonizing foods you enjoy, and “clean eating” and instead focus on fueling your body properly.
- Prioritize recovery and sleep. The most overlooked, most effective tools for real health. If you’re not getting enough rest, a cold plunge or green powder isn’t going to make a difference in your life.
- Play the long game. Real results don’t come from quick fixes. They come from consistent, intelligent, REPEATABLE effort over time.
The Forecast: We’re in a New Era of Women’s Health
For decades, women have been sold the same recycled diet culture garbage—just wrapped in new, more palatable packaging. But it’s clear we’ve entered a new era.
More women are rejecting diet culture and demanding better. They want strength, endurance, and vitality. They want training that builds them up instead of breaking them down. They want nutrition that supports their energy instead of depleting it.
And it’s time we demand the wellness industry change by rejecting their body-shaming, “get skinny at any cost” approach to marketing and the development of “solutions” that aren’t likely to make any difference in our lives—except perhaps lightening our wallets.
Your Choice: Keep Playing the Game or Opt Out
So here’s the real question: Are you ready to stop playing the game that was designed for you to lose? Are you ready to shift your focus to the things that actually matter—your strength, your energy, your resilience?
If you’re nodding along, if this is hitting home, then welcome. You’re exactly where you need to be.
And come check out our 1:1 and group coaching programs at Miles To Go Athletics where the principles outlined in this piece are our core tenets and are integrated into every aspect of our coaching and our community.
Because we don’t have to do diet culture. We can do strong, capable, and unshakeable.
The choice is yours. Are you in? —Alison
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Alison Heilig is the Editor-in-Chief at FBG and Head Hypewoman at Miles To Go Athletics. She divides her time between running, lifting, hiking with her dogs, snuggling with her dogs, and supporting strong women in the world (and coaching up those who aspire to be). You can find and connect with her on IG @itsalisonheilig.