Building Resilience Against Diet Culture with Diabetes

Trying something new is hard.  Especially when your brain has been wired by years of diabetes routines, diet culture rules, and pressure to “get it right.” 

Yeah. Think of this as a force, like gravity. This force, we’ll call it the Force of Familiar, is doing what you’ve always done, even if it doesn’t work anymore. It might sound like:

• “But I’ve always tracked everything.”
• “I don’t know how to eat without judging myself.”
• “It’s scary to trust my body when it feels like it’s always ‘wrong.’”

Here’s what to remember:

• Familiar ≠ Better. Familiar isn’t always better, healthier or helpful. It just feels safer.
• Unfamiliar = Growth. But it’s also uncomfortable.

So, if you’ve been taught to obsess over numbers, chase weight loss, or only see your body through the lens of “what’s wrong with it,” this next part may feel like walking into a fog.  At first, it is hard to see what is different.

Diet Culture + T1D = A Heavy Load

Let’s call it out:  Living with T1D means your body is constantly monitored—by you, by tech, by doctors, even by random strangers. Now add weight stigma, “wellness” pressure, and diet culture to the mix. That’s A LOT.  You might have heard or thought:

• “If I could just lose weight, my A1C would be better.”
• “I shouldn’t have eaten that.”
• “I can’t eat that…!”
• “I need tighter control.”

These ideas aren’t just harmless thoughts. They’re shaped by a system that makes you feel like your worth is tied to your body, food choices, or numbers.  This is called diet culture, and it shows up in diabetes care all the time.

Diet culture—a social environment that idealizes thinness, moralizes food, and equates weight with health. Living with diabetes, especially type 1, requires you to juggle food, medication, technology, and blood glucose all day. If you’re in a body that’s already been labeled as “wrong,” this can make every choice—from grabbing a snack to skipping a workout—feel like a judgment.

How To Challenge Diet Culture: The IIRR approach

Say it like a pirate if it helps: I-I, R-R!

I – Identify Diet Culture

Watch for these red flags:

• “Clean eating” rules
• Fears around specific foods, carbs, or food groups
• Programs that sell “health” but focus on weight
• Pressure to look “fit,” thin, or be a specific size.
• Beating, defeating, eliminating diabetes like a #T1Dwarrior

 I – Interrupt It

• Ditching the scale. Stop weighing yourself.
• Saying “no thanks” to being weighed at appointments
• Notice how you talk about diabetes.
  • I’m not being ‘good/bad’, when I make a food choice.
  • My blood glucose readings don’t make me good/bad 
  • Weight changes don’t make me good/bad.
• Replace self-judgement with support
  • Food can nourish or nurture my body. I am choosing to…
  • I am not my A1C 
  • My worth is not measured by my blood glucose reading
  • My weight will change throughout my life. It is not a fixed number
• Setting boundaries like:
  • “I’d rather not talk about dieting.”
  • “Let’s not label food as good or bad.”
  • “Let’s not label blood glucose as good or bad.”
  • “It’s triggering for me when you talk about X.”

R – Reduce Stigma

• Tell your provider: “I’d like a weight-inclusive approach to managing my blood sugar.”
• Unfollow social media accounts that stress restriction or perfection.
• Ask your family and friends to support your boundaries around food and body talk

R – Repair the Harm

• Find safe spaces: online groups, body-neutral providers, or diabetes communities that get it.
• Reclaim your agency with “I get to…” statements:
  • “I get to appreciate my body—even when it’s frustrating.”
  • “I get to move my body in a way that works with my blood sugar.”
  • “I get to care for my diabetes without focusing on weight.”

Rewrite the Script in Your Head

Let Curiosity Be Your Superpower

You don’t have to have it all figured out. Start with questions like:

• “What do I actually want to eat right now?”
• “What foods give me energy and help stabilize my blood sugar?”
• “How can I learn more about nutrition without judgment?”
• “What’s a balanced way to care for my body—physically and emotionally?”

When you shift from criticism to curiosity, you open the door to learning. You stop trying to fix your body and start trying to understand it.

What Resilience with T1D Looks Like

You might be more resilient than you think. Resilience isn’t about being perfect—it’s about staying connected to yourself even when things feel hard.

Resilience is:

• Take a break from technology if all the data is burning you out
• Permit yourself to take insulin and eat dessert without guilt
• You can ask for help— to manage the day-to-day of life. You don’t have to wait until you have a problem to ‘fix.’ 
• Wearing your pump, even if it shows
• Choosing rest when your body needs it instead of pushing through.
• Interrupting diet talk
• Finding a provider who treats you as a whole person.

You’re managing a full-time condition in a world that often misunderstands it—and your body. That’s already an act of resilience. You don’t need to do more. You just deserve care that works for you.