A Call for Compassion During Mental Health Awareness Month

May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and tucked right within it is International No Diet Day on May 6—a powerful reminder that our culture’s obsession with weight loss often comes at the expense of our mental health. For those healing from eating disorders, chronic dieting, or body image distress, this time of year can bring up a lot. We support a different approach—one that honors the complexity of mental health, challenges diet culture, and promotes healing through trauma-informed, weight-inclusive care.

As a team of therapists rooted in Health at Every Size (HAES) and Intuitive Eating, we see the damage that diet culture does every single day. And we also see the profound transformation that’s possible when we shift the focus from shrinking our bodies to actually listening to them.

Diet Culture Is a Mental Health Issue

Diet culture sells itself as health-focused, but at its core, it thrives on fear, shame, and control—three things that are the exact opposite of what supports mental well-being. When someone spends years cycling through restriction, bingeing, body shame, and medical fatphobia, it doesn’t just hurt their physical health. It chips away at self-trust, increases anxiety, and leaves many people feeling broken.

Here’s what diet culture won’t tell you:

• You can’t hate yourself into healing.

• Pursuing weight loss is not a substitute for tending to your emotional needs.

• Bodies are not problems to be fixed—they’re homes to come back to.

The Mental Load of Chronic Dieting

If you’ve ever tracked every bite, agonized over food choices, or canceled plans because of body image distress, you already know: dieting isn’t just a physical experience. It takes up enormous mental and emotional bandwidth. Many of our clients describe feeling like food and body thoughts take over their entire day. That’s not wellness—it’s preoccupation.

This constant vigilance often triggers or worsens mental health conditions like:

• Anxiety – Especially around food choices, social eating, or weight changes

• Depression – Feelings of failure when diets don’t work, loss of identity, isolation

• OCD-like behaviors – Rigidity with food rules, compulsive exercise, tracking

• PTSD responses – For those with histories of body-based trauma or medical abuse

Our approach is to make space for all of these experiences. We don’t pathologize your coping mechanisms—we get curious about them. We explore where they come from and what they’ve helped you survive.

Trauma-Informed Healing with EMDR and IFS

For many people, food and body struggles are deeply rooted in unresolved trauma. That’s why at Inner Revolution, we integrate modalities like EMDR (Eye Movement Desensitization and Reprocessing) and IFS (Internal Family Systems) into our work.

EMDR helps you process distressing experiences that may be fueling disordered eating or body image distress—like being bullied about your weight, living in a fatphobic household, or experiencing medical trauma. By processing these memories in a safe, supported way, they begin to lose their emotional intensity, allowing more space for healing.

IFS helps you understand the different "parts" of yourself involved in your food and body story. Maybe you have a part that restricts to feel in control, another that binge eats to soothe, and another that harshly judges your body. Instead of trying to eliminate these parts, IFS invites you to build compassionate relationships with them—so you can move toward integration, rather than internal conflict.

Why We Say No to Diets—and Yes to You

International No Diet Day isn’t about being careless with health. It’s about recognizing that true health cannot exist without mental health. That means rejecting any approach that causes harm in the name of "wellness."

We believe in:

• Autonomy – You are the expert on your body.

• Compassionate curiosity – There’s a reason you feel what you feel. Let’s explore it together.

• Nonjudgmental care – All bodies are worthy of respect, dignity, and healing.

• Sustainable nourishment – Nutrition should feel supportive, not stressful.

You don’t have to keep white-knuckling your way through another “reset” or falling into the same diet cycle. There is another way—one that honors your mental health, respects your lived experience, and supports you in building a peaceful relationship with food and your body.

Ready to Reclaim Your Mental Health?

If you’re feeling burned out on diets, overwhelmed by food thoughts, or unsure how to move forward, you’re not alone. We’re here to help you reconnect with your body, process past wounds, and build a new foundation for nourishment—both emotional and physical.

This Mental Health Awareness Month, let’s shift the focus away from diet culture and toward true self-care. You deserve healing that honors all of you.

Schedule a free 15-minute consultation to learn how our trauma-informed, weight-inclusive therapy can support your recovery.