How GLP-1 Medications Complicate Eating Disorder Recovery
What dietitians and clinicians need to know to support clients when GLP-1 culture is everywhere.
Every year on International No Diet Day – which also happens to be my birthday – I find myself reflecting on a question that shows up everywhere in my work – whether I’m with a client, sitting with a supervisee, or building something new:
“How do we tell the difference between a behavior that is truly values-aligned, recovery-oriented, and health-promoting vs. one that’s been strategically co-opted by the dieting industrial complex?”
What I’m Hearing from Clinicians and Clients About GLP-1s
Lately, that question has been feeling more complicated for both providers and the people we support. And it’s hard to ignore that GLP-1 medications are a significant part of that complexity right now.
I haven’t written much about GLP-1s publicly. Early on, I did share that they are not an evidence-based or approved treatment for eating disorders. Since then, most of my conversations have stayed in the privacy of client and supervision spaces.
But here’s what I’m consistently hearing from clinicians and clients:
The current GLP-1 landscape is making eating disorder recovery more complicated.
Whether someone is taking one, has people in their life who are, or is simply inundated by marketing, there’s a common thread – a feeling of being surrounded by something they didn’t choose. A sense of being pulled into a cultural conversation they can’t opt out of.
And that’s exhausting.
This isn’t a “GLP-1s are good” or “GLP-1s are bad” conversation. That’s not my goal. Instead, I want to use this moment as an entry point. Because underneath all of it is a more enduring, more important question:
“How do I know, inside of myself, what supports my well-being and what doesn’t?”
The Heart of Eating Disorder Recovery
One of the most fascinating (and challenging) parts of eating disorder recovery is this: the same behavior can mean entirely different things for different people. On the surface, a behavior might look neutral. But context matters. History matters. Meaning matters.
Take self-weighing as an example.
For one person, stepping on the scale might be a clear sign of relapse, a return to a pattern that disconnects them from their body and fuels harmful thoughts.
For another, who once weighed themselves multiple times a day, stepping on the scale once a week might represent meaningful progress.
It’s the same behavior, but with a different meaning and impact.
And that kind of clarity doesn’t happen in isolation. It’s often shaped with the support of a team of providers, loved ones, and community who can help reflect, question, and ground you when things feel murky.
A Question about GLP-1 Medications – For Providers
Right now, many of you are feeling that murkiness more intensely.
If you’re a provider, this moment may be stretching your capacity to sit with uncertainty, to hold space for ambivalence, to navigate the pressure and questions your clients are bringing in.
It’s a real-time invitation to ask yourself:
What helps me stay grounded enough to keep asking thoughtful, compassionate questions both of myself and of the people I support?
A Question about GLP-1 Medications – For People in Recovery
If you’re someone in recovery (or navigating your relationship with food and body), you might be feeling the weight of constant messaging: marketing, social pressure, conversations that seem impossible to avoid.
So maybe the question becomes:
“What would help me feel more anchored in my own decision-making? What helps me come back to myself?”
Internal Clarity as a Form of Protection in a World of Diet Culture
Here’s what feels true to me right now: we are in a new chapter.
And on this International No Diet Day, it feels especially important to name that “diet culture” means something different to each of us.
Which makes this work – getting clear on what a “diet” looks like, sounds like, and feels like for you – more important than ever. As things continue to shift externally, cultivating internal clarity becomes a kind of protection. A way to move through the noise without losing yourself in it.
That clarity won’t always mean your choices align with what others think you should be doing, but it can bring something steadier: a sense of alignment. A sense of peace.
And that, in my opinion, is always worth celebrating.
(Along with birthdays – and a world with a little less dieting.)
Are you a clinician finding it hard to know how best to support your clients as they grapple with GLP-1s?
Download the free guide: The Top 5 Pitfalls to Avoid When Working with Eating Disorders – and get concrete guidance on the most common places clinicians get stuck.
If you’ve taken one of my online courses, you can bring your clinical questions to the Food and Body Image Healers® group – I’d love to hear from you there.
Wondering what this group is? The Food and Body Image Healers® group is a private community open to anyone who purchases one of my 3 core eating disorders and body image training courses. It’s a safe space where clinicians connect with practitioners doing this work every day – and get direct access to me through the Clinical Q&A Sessions offered to the group.