January 1 - Diet Culture's Black Friday

January 1 Is Black Friday for Diet Culture

Why You Are Not Broken—and Never Were

January 1 is marketed as a fresh start.A clean slate.A chance to finally become the “best version” of yourself.

But let’s call it what it really is.

January 1 is Black Friday for diet culture.

This is the biggest sales event of the year for miracle diets, cleanses, detoxes, and “new you” promises. Your inbox fills up. Your social media feed floods. Ads shout urgency, certainty, and transformation.

And underneath it all is a quiet, dangerous lie:

There is something wrong with you—and we can fix it.

The Modern Snake Oil Salesmen

In the late 1800s, snake oil salesmen traveled town to town selling miracle tonics from wagons. They promised cures for pain, fatigue, illness—anything you could imagine.

Today’s snake oil looks more polished.More scientific.More “wellness-branded.”

But the pitch hasn’t changed.

Now it sounds like:

• “Reset your metabolism”

• “Detox your body”

• “Heal your gut in 7 days”

• “Finally lose the weight for good”

• “This is the plan that actually works”

If these products truly worked, they wouldn’t need a seasonal launch every January.

The truth is, diet culture depends on repeat customers. It thrives when people blame themselves instead of questioning the system.

You Are Not Broken

Let me say this clearly:

Your body is not broken.Not because of the holidays.Not because of weight changes.Not because your appetite adapts; it luctuates.Not because you don’t look like the bodies being sold to you.

Bodies are meant to change.Appetites are meant to meant to include seasons of rest, stress, joy, grief, movement, and stillness.

There is no miracle cure that will give you your “ideal body” because the ideal body is:

• culturally constructed

• constantly changing

• designed to stay just out of reach

Chasing it keeps the industry alive—but it keeps you stuck.

Why January Feels So Heavy

After weeks that often include food, family, connection, and survival, the message suddenly becomes:

• “You overdid it.”

• “You need to make up for it.”

• “It’s time to regain control.”

But control has never been the same as health.

And restriction has never been a path to peace.

If January feels overwhelming, that’s not a personal failure—it’s marketing pressure doing exactly what it was designed to do.

An Invitation to Body Neutrality

If loving your body feels impossible right now, that’s okay.Body neutrality offers another way forward.

Body neutrality isn’t about admiration or acceptance—it’s about coexistence.

Right now, take a pause.

Notice your breath.Notice the way your body supports you without asking permission.

Instead of focusing on how your body looks, consider what it does:

• It keeps your heart beating.

• It allows you to sit, stand, walk, or rest.

• It carries you through your days—even the hard ones.

Try replacing judgment with neutral language:

• Instead of “I hate my body,” try “I have a body.”

• Instead of “I need to change,” try “My body is allowed to exist as it is today.”

This isn’t giving up. It's opting out of harm.

You Don’t Need a New You

As this year begins, I want to offer something radical—not a plan, not a cleanse, not a promise of transformation.

Just the truth:

You are not a problem to be solved.

January doesn’t need a new you. It needs you—fed, rested, supported, and human.

Freedom from diet culture doesn’t come from buying something. It comes from stepping away from the lie that you were ever broken.

You were not.

And you never have been.