The “relationship with food” narrative is a scam, and we have been gaslit for years

I am so tired of hearing about “healing your relationship with food.” Food is not a person. There is no relationship to fix. Yet for years, people with obesity have been told by thin dietitians and mental health professionals that we are just thinking about food the wrong way. That if we fix our mindset, everything will fall into place. That we will suddenly feel normal hunger and fullness, be able to eat whatever and whenever we want, and lose weight effortlessly.

I believed it. I ate to full hunger and satiety, I went through “extreme hunger”. I tried therapy. I practiced intuitive eating. I journaled about my feelings toward food. I convinced myself that if I could just heal my relationship with food, my body would finally cooperate. Finally my body would “click”. But no matter how much I worked on it, nothing changed. I was still hungry all the time. I still struggled with my appetite. Still waking up during the night hungry. I still held onto weight.

Then after 2 years of contemplating I start a medication that directly addressed the biological drivers of hunger and appetite, and suddenly the struggle are mostly gone. No mental gymnastics. No overanalyzing my cravings. No pretending my hunger was normal when it actually never was.

At this point, I have to ask. How many of us were gaslit into believing we could think our way out of obesity? How many of us wasted years blaming ourselves while an entire industry profited from selling us an illusion?

I want to hear from others. Have you ever felt like you were being manipulated into believing your weight was just a mindset and “eating enough whenever you are hungry” issue? What finally made you realize the truth?