GLP-1s and the Power of AND: Holding Complexity in an Anti-Diet, Recovery-Oriented Space
If you’re part of the anti-diet, eating disorder recovery or weight-inclusive care community, chances are you’ve felt the tension around GLP-1 medications like Ozempic, Wegovy and Mounjaro.
On one hand, these medications are being marketed as life-changing solutions—celebrated in mainstream culture and increasingly prescribed. On the other hand, they are undeniably tangled up in fatphobia, medical weight stigma and the dangerous promises of diet culture.
So, it makes sense that this conversation stirs strong feelings. It challenges our values, our identities and the work we’ve done to reject weight as a measure of worth.
At Reasons Eating Disorder Center, we’re leaning into the power of AND:
- GLP-1s can be heavily co-opted by diet culture
- AND they have provided genuine relief or stability for some people
- These meds are often marketed through shame-based messaging
- AND people may choose them out of medical need, autonomy or survival
- The anti-diet community can hold rightful critique
- AND we can hold space for individuals who feel helped, hopeful, or conflicted
Why the Reaction Is So Strong
For many in the anti-diet and eating disorder recovery space, GLP-1s feel like a step backward. We’ve spent years challenging body hierarchies, dismantling internalized fatphobia, and redefining health. So, when a new wave of weight loss medications emerges—cloaked in “medical language” but marketed with the same before-and-after tropes—it can feel like betrayal.
The emotional reaction is also rooted in lived experience:
- Watching patients harmed by weight-focused treatment
- Seeing body image progress unravel after external praise for weight loss
- Feeling invisible in a system that only celebrates smaller bodies
That reaction is valid. It comes from deep care.
But Here’s What We’ve Learned at Reasons:
People come into our care with different needs, values, histories and reasons. Some are on GLP-1s when they arrive. Some want to be. Some feel ashamed for taking them. Others feel angry that they were pressured to.
And here’s what we hold true:
It’s not our job to approve or disapprove. It’s our job to understand.
How We Hold the Both/And
- We honor body autonomy and we challenge harmful cultural messaging
We respect the right of each individual to make choices for their body—including taking GLP-1s. At the same time, we unpack how those choices are shaped by external systems like fatphobia, medical discrimination and beauty culture (ASDAH’s Health at Every Size® Approach).
- We create room for relief and grief to coexist
A patient might feel emotionally safer in a smaller body after starting a GLP-1, even if they’re conflicted about that. We don’t dismiss the relief—but we explore the grief of what that means in a world that only offers comfort at a certain size.
- We center curiosity over control
Instead of asking “Should you be on this medication?” we ask:
- “How do you feel in your body today?”
- “What does safety mean for you right now?”
- “Is this decision rooted in care—or fear?”
- “What values do you want to stay grounded in?”
For Clinicians, Peers and Advocates
If GLP-1s bring up strong feelings for you—you’re not alone. It’s okay to feel disheartened, confused or frustrated. But let’s remember, people are not the problem. Systems are.
People are trying to survive inside broken systems. Some reach for GLP-1s out of fear. Some out of autonomy. Some out of exhaustion. Our job isn’t to silence the critique—it’s to separate the critique from the person.
Final Thoughts
GLP-1s are not good or bad. They are complex. They exist in the messy middle between diet culture and healthcare, between stigma and survival, between agency and influence.
At Reasons, we don’t have all the answers. But we do have a commitment:
- To hold space without shame
- To lead with empathy
- To stay anchored in recovery
- To believe people are worthy of care—no matter what they weigh, eat or choose
This is the power of AND. Let’s keep using it.
