Somewhere along the way, food stopped being just food. It became a moral test—a reflection of discipline, worth, and control. We live in a culture that quietly teaches us that what we eat says something essential about who we are. A salad can feel like virtue, a cookie like failure. A “good” day or a “bad” day can hinge entirely on what went into our bodies. Over time, many people stop simply eating food and start evaluating themselves through it.

Diet culture thrives on this moralization. Food is labeled as “clean” or “junk,” eating is framed as something to earn or deserve, and exercise becomes a way to atone. These messages don’t stay confined to food choices; they quickly turn inward. A thought like “I shouldn’t have eaten that” often becomes “I have no self-control” or “Something is wrong with me.” Food choices transform into judgments about character, and once food is moralized, bodies are, too—especially bodies that don’t match cultural ideals of thinness, health, or discipline.

What often reinforces this shame is the belief that health is primarily, or even solely, determined by what we eat. We’re told—explicitly and implicitly—that if we........

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