Yes, I’m fat.
The more mainstream media I do, the more trolling I get. And, without fail, the comments are always about my weight.
“What do you know about nutrition?”
“How can you call yourself a nutritionist when you’re fat?”
Yawn. Heard it all before.
The trolling doesn’t upset me. Because I know it’s not actually about me. It’s about the troll—their insecurities, their conditioning, their need to believe that body size is a direct reflection of intelligence, discipline, or worth. And it’s about society more broadly.
Diet Culture and Fatphobia: A Deeply Rooted Mess
The societal element doesn’t surprise me. Diet culture and fatphobia are deeply ingrained. We are taught to fear fatness, to assume things about fat people, and to glorify thinness. Racism, classism, sexism, medicalization, and relentless marketing all work together to demonize larger bodies and celebrate smaller ones.
Why? Because an entire industry profits from making us believe that our worth is tied to our size. And because accepting that we can’t all achieve some ‘perfect’ body weight is terrifying—it means we aren’t in control of our bodies as much as we think (or wish) we are.
I Am Fat. That’s Not a Personality Trait OR a qualification.
I am fat. Thanks for noticing. But in knowing that about me, you know precisely one thing: that I am fat.
You don’t know anything about my qualifications, experience, expertise, motivation, intelligence, compassion, or—frankly—my ability to dunk on bad science with a well-placed eyeroll.
Yet, diet culture has sold us a lie: If we just lost weight, we’d be better people with better lives. And in some ways, that’s true—because when we’re thinner, people are nicer to us. Society is built for us. We get more opportunities. That’s not becoming a better person, that’s being able to access thin privilege.
But, if I lost weight or gained weight, I would still have the same qualifications, the same degrees, the same expertise in nutrition and human health. Those things do not change with my waistline. If you take even a second to think about this critically, it’s obvious. And yet, if I were thinner, fewer people would question me.
That’s not a “me” problem. That’s a society problem. The solution isn’t for me to shrink to fit your biases—the solution is for society to reckon with them.
Fat People Can Be Nutrition Experts. Shocking, I Know.
Some people genuinely believe I can’t know anything about nutrition because I’m fat. Because they have been told that health and weight are synonymous. But it’s precisely because I am well-studied and well-qualified in nutrition that I understand weight is just one factor in health.
It’s because of my training, I know that body shape and size are influenced by genetics, environment, stress, socioeconomic factors, medical conditions, and more—not just diet and willpower. It’s because of what I know that I no longer torture my body to fit the stereotypical expectations and instead I move it and nourish it for the health and wellbeing of my body and my mind.
It’s because of my profession that I know eating for thinness is easy for some people and incredibly difficult for others. And that pursuing thinness at all costs can harm both bodies and minds. My training has taught me that shame, fear, judgement and healthism help no one.
Health is More Than a Clothing Size
We’ve been taught (by diet culture) that because thinner people tend to have better health outcomes, the solution is simple: just make fat people thin!
But that thinking misses two key points:
We can harm bodies and minds in the quest for thinness.
We could improve health for all without making weight the focus.
Health is complex. Weight is just one piece of the puzzle. And bodies? They are not business cards.
Let’s talk about evidence and health —not aesthetics and appearances.
