What Does Wellness Look Like?

Welcome back to Freedom to Nourish, where we explore what it really means to make peace with food and your body.

Last week, we looked at the history of the diet industry—how we got here and how it's profited off our insecurities.

Today, we're diving into the next chapter: what wellness really looks like, and why so much of what’s marketed as ‘healthy’ today is just diet culture rebranded. From BMI to detox teas, we’re calling out the myths—and offering a better way forward through intuitive eating.

Let’s talk about that buzzword: wellness.

Wellness should mean feeling energized, rested, connected, and supported—mentally, physically, emotionally.

But more often than not, ‘wellness’ has become code for thinness, food rules, and expensive products. From ‘clean eating’ and 30-day cleanses to sugar detoxes and ‘gut healing’ protocols—it’s just diet culture in disguise, promising control, purity, and transformation.

If it comes with guilt, restriction, or moral judgment about food or your body—it’s not wellness. It’s a marketing plan.

Let’s take a moment to talk about the Body Mass Index.

BMI was created in the 1830s by a Belgian mathematician—not a doctor—using white European men as his sample. It was never meant to assess individual health, yet it’s been used for decades as a blanket tool in healthcare.

Here’s why that’s a problem:

·         It doesn’t account for muscle mass, genetics, or race.

·         It ignores health markers like cholesterol, blood pressure, or mental well-being.

·         It pathologizes bodies and leads to weight stigma in healthcare, preventing people from getting proper care.

Wellness can’t be measured by a number on a chart—it’s far more complex than that.”

Today’s diets don’t always call themselves diets.They call themselves:

·         Reset programs

·         Anti-inflammatory protocols

·         Clean eating

·         Wellness challenges

But if it tells you what to eat, when to eat, or what foods are 'bad' or 'clean'—it’s a diet.

These programs prey on our desire to feel better—but instead of addressing stress, trauma, poor sleep, or societal pressure, they offer restriction.

Restriction often leads to:

·         Obsession with food

·         Binges or emotional eating

·         Shame and guilt

·         Disconnection from our body’s cues

Diets disguised as wellness are still diets—and they’re still harmful.

So what does true wellness look like?

It looks like intuitive eating.It’s about reconnecting with your body’s wisdom—not rules.

The 10 principles of intuitive eating include:

·         Rejecting the diet mentality

·         Honoring your hunger

·         Making peace with food

·         Respecting your body

·         Moving your body for joy, not punishment

It’s not easy at first. You’ve likely been taught not to trust your body. But the truth is: your body is not the problem.

True wellness is:

·         Nourishing meals

·         Permission to rest

·         Joyful movement

·         Mental clarity

·         Food freedom

It’s feeling empowered, not ashamed.

If you’ve ever felt that wellness was just out of reach, it’s not your fault.

We’ve been sold an illusion—one that profits off your insecurities.

But you can opt out. You can reject the BMI, the detoxes, the obsession with food rules—and embrace your body’s wisdom.

Ask yourself today: What does wellness feel like for me—not what does it look like to others?

I invite you to take one small step: unsubscribe from one diet-y email. Unfollow one account that makes you feel less-than. And instead, tune into your own cues.

Because you are the expert of your body—and you deserve a version of wellness that includes compassion, not control.

Until next time, stay kind to yourself.