Have you been hearing about diet-culture and how we talk to kids? Not sure where to start? I have compiled some books for you to check out!
I have by no means read everything there is to read on these topics, but here are a few reads that I think would be well worth your time to check out this summer and beyond. To note: I have only posted books that I have read. I have a few in my “to read” pile and will update this list as I get through them!
Books that focus on unlearning what we currently “know” about health, body size.
Belly of the beast - Da’Shaun Harrison
This is a must read. At only 109 pages this book packs in a LOT of unlearning. Harrison challenges our current social and political climate in this book, detailing the oppression, inequalities, and harms of anti-fatness and anti-black. Highlighting the intersection of health, fatness, black, and gender, this book delves into the dissonance between “health” and the Black fat community.
Fearing the black body - Sabrina Strings
| This thorough analysis of current beauty standards outlines the historical narratives that cause Black fat women to be at the center of fat phobia. The intersection of race, gender, and body size in this book outlines how weight is an idea that has been racialized in medicine. |
The body is not an apology - Sonya Renee Taylor
| Societal expectations and norms of bodies are challenged in this book as Taylor discusses ways oppression, ableism, racism, and sexism intersect with body shame and discrimination in marginalized groups. Taylor sends a strong message of radical self-love to dismantle these oppressive systems by exploring the connection between body liberation and current social justice movements. |
It’s always been ours - Jessica Wilson
A look at how Black women are often excluded from conversations about health and how the current recommendations reflect the ideal white woman. Wilson unpacks today’s White-centric and capitalist views of bodies and health, critiquing the status quo.
What we don’t talk about when we talk about fat - Aubrey Gordon
| A confrontation about the assumptions made against individuals in larger bodies as Gordon emphasizes the importance of body diversity and impacts of biases on individual well being. Gordon explores fatness as a social and cultural issue, inviting the audience to a dialogue beyond stereotypes for greater understanding and acceptance of larger bodies. |
You just need to lose weight - Aubrey Gordon
An insightful read on the facts we need to rewrite the current narrative around fatness. Gordon shares different approaches to push against weight-centric views in health. A look into how fat bias affects us all and how we can productively contribute to the conversations of fat justice.
Anti-diet - Christy Harrison
| Harrison presents a compelling argument against dieting and promotes an inclusive and compassionate approach to body acceptance and wellness. The harms of diet culture where thinness is a marker of health is dismantled in this book as Harrison unpacks the social, cultural, and systemic factors that feed into diet culture. Instead, a message of compassionate and holistic approach to health is encouraged through the concept of intuitive eating. |
Feed Yourself - Leslie Schilling
| I got to pre-read this one! It’s awesome. Schilling highlights how diet culture is found even in the safest places that we think of – schools, at the dinner table, in medical offices, and in places of worship. Schilling unravels the lies of diet culture that is pervasive in our everyday lives and provides ways for readers to find freedom from diet culture and understand that we are more than what we eat or what our bodies look like. |
Books that talk about kids, their exposure to diet culture, body size biases and approaches to manage this.
The eating instinct - Virginia Sole-Smith
A deep dive into the complex relationship between food, body-image, and guilt in today’s society. Sole-Smith promotes a focus on honoring our individual needs and bodies’ cues in place of the hard and fast rules written by the diet industry. This book highlights how one’s relationship with food is influenced by more than just sheer willpower and discipline.
Fat Talk - V. Sole Smith
| Sole-Smith outlines how a growing crisis of disordered eating and poor body image has spread across the nation in response to America’s focus on solving “childhood obesity”. Challenging the confusing and harmful narratives of diet culture, Sole-Smith offers ways that parents can navigate this landscape through an alternative framework around food and bodies or parents. |
Body Happy Kids - M. Forbes
| The impacts of media, societal standards, and peer pressure often influences children and their perception of bodies and self-worth. Forbes offers insights and guidance for parents and caregivers on how to nurture positive body image and how to navigate conversations to build body autonomy and self-confidence so children can grow up with a healthy relationship with their bodies. |
How to raise an intuitive eater - Sumner Brooks and Amee Severson
| A great read to empower parents and caregivers in supporting children to develop a healthy relationship with food and their bodies, promoting long-term physical and emotional health. In addition to strategies and tools, it also discusses potential challenges parents face as diet culture and unrealistic body standards become more pervasive in everyday life. |
Helping Children Develop a positive relationship with food - Jo Cormack
| Cormack offers advice and activities on how parents and caregivers can foster open and non-judgmental dialogues around food to help children interact with food in a more positive and enjoyable way. Common concerns around picky eating, emotional eating, and body image are also addressed as Cormack emphasizes the importance of modelling behaviors and attitudes that promotes body diversity to encourage children to trust and respect their own bodies. |
Books that talk about more specialized situations: extreme picky eating, adoption and food and teens.
Helping Your child with extreme picky eating - Katja Rowell and Jenny McGlothlin
| Rowell and McGlothlin address the relationship between physiological, physiological, and environmental aspects of a child’s experiences and how that affects their eating habits and relationship with food. They work to debunk common myths about picky eating and offer insightful knowledge and guidance on how parents and caregivers can help children improve their habits and increase enjoyment and acceptance around food. |
Love me, feed me - Katja Rowell
| Rowell is a family doctor who shares her knowledge on how to navigate feeding children addressing common concerns such as picky eating and difficult mealtimes with a specific focus on adoptive parents. Shifting away from restrictive feeding practices, Rowell highlights the framework of responsive feeding and fostering a positive food environment so that children can explore and enjoy food. |
Raising Body Positive teens - Signe Darpinian, Wendy Sterling, Shelley Aggarwal
| Teenagers are often exposed to the impacts of diet culture and media affecting their own perception of their bodies, health, and self worth. This book offers strategies and tools for parents to navigate these difficult conversations through the concept of body neutrality and media literacy skills. The goal is to create an environment where teens can feel confident and resilient in their own skin. |
What have you read? Any great ones that should be on my reading list?
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