How Diet Culture Distorts the Gospel
Baptist News Global – January 11, 2026
This post contains an excerpt from an article.
Every January, churches begin promoting fitness and wellness programs with the best of intentions. The flyers promise renewal, discipline and a fresh start, all spiritual-sounding words. The messaging suggests we can honor God with our bodies through diet and exercise.
But for many, especially women, these campaigns stir something more complicated than motivation. They awaken memories of shame, control and even spiritual harm.
For years, I believed changing my body would earn God’s favor. I first attempted to intentionally lose weight at 12, just as my body began to change. I learned to restrict calories and to trade extra walks or a diet soda for a snack cake. Later, as a young adult preparing for marriage, I joined my first weight-loss program. Later, through another program, I shed enough pounds that my hair thinned and my skin flaked.
The reward? A newspaper ad from the diet center celebrating my “success.”
Over the next few decades, I lost and gained more than weight. I lost trust in my own body. I cycled through every method, including faith-based ones. At church, I memorized verses about self-control while being told to “eat like a thin person.” I learned to spiritualize my hunger, to view food through the lens of sin and obedience. I believed holiness looked like self-denial and God was most pleased with it.
Looking back, I see how Scripture was used, or misused, to reinforce these ideas. First Corinthians 6:19–20, for example, became a verse about dieting rather than sexual ethics. When stripped of its context and repurposed to sanctify self-discipline, the concept of being a temple of the Holy Spirit became a mantra. Even more so, a weapon of shame.
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Do you have a story of how dieting has been used as a couterfiet gospel in your life? I’d love to hear how you’re moving forward!