For years, I thought being “healthy” meant eating clean, counting calories, and saying no to dessert. But the harder I tried to control food, the more chaotic things became. Building a healthy lifestyle doesn’t have to mean restriction or obsession. It can be gentle, flexible, and rooted in self-care rather than control.

I started dieting when I was just 16 years old. A combination of being bullied at my previous school, along with some unsolicited comments about my body, sent me into a negative downward tailspin of hating my body. It was back in the days before social media, so I grabbed all the magazines I could to learn how to change my body.

(Guest Post on A Lust for Life)