🥖 Eat the Damn Bread: Reclaiming Joy in Our Bodies
The Sourdough Moment
The other day I brought home a warm loaf of sourdough from one of my favorite bakeries here in the Hudson Valley. It smelled incredible — tangy, rich, and comforting. I couldn’t wait to have a piece. But then I stopped myself. I thought about the dress I wanted to wear the next day and how I wanted to look in it. Would some bread ruin that? In that moment, I realized how easy it is to slip into that old patterns — measuring our worth or our choices by how our bodies might look instead of how we actually feel.
The Modern Body Dilemma
It’s interesting — for a while, it felt like we were moving in the right direction. The body positivity movement gave so many of us permission to breathe again, to exist without apology. But lately, it feels like the pressure to be small is quietly creeping back in, just dressed in new language. Now it’s framed as “wellness,” “optimization,” or “longevity,” but the underlying message is often the same: take up less space. Be smaller. Be more disciplined. Even as we talk about loving our bodies, there’s this subtle pull to fix them. It’s confusing, and honestly, exhausting — especially when we’re just trying to feel good in our skin. Now it’s all about “biohacking,” “clean eating,” or “microdosing” GLP-1s like Ozempic and Mounjaro — all under the banner of “wellness.”
But even with new language, the same message often lingers underneath: a smaller body is a better body. Women are praised for their restraint — for skipping dessert, turning down bread, or “earning” their meals. We’re told it’s about health, but the subtext is about control.
Our Worth Was Never Meant to Be Sized
Somewhere along the way, our culture tied a woman’s worth to her waistline — how well she could control herself, how seamlessly she could “bounce back,” how youthful or fit she appeared.
Even as women build businesses, raise families, and heal generations of trauma, many still wrestle with shame around their bodies. The truth is: our bodies were never meant to be a lifelong project. They are living, breathing reflections of experience, strength, and survival. They deserve reverence — not restriction.
Health, Not Perfection
Health isn’t about numbers or trends. It’s about joy, balance, and nourishment — physically and emotionally. Restriction creates anxiety, not empowerment. When we choose food that connects us — like sharing fresh bread with someone we love — we’re feeding more than our bodies. We’re feeding trust, connection, and pleasure — all essential to wellbeing.
That sourdough bread wasn’t a failure of discipline. It was a reminder of what it means to be alive — to taste, to savor, to choose joy.
The Call to Reclaim
So this is your reminder: Eat the damn bread.
Wear the dress. Take the photo. Enjoy the moment.
Because our worth doesn’t live in our size, and our joy shouldn’t depend on the scale. The more we stop shrinking ourselves — literally and emotionally — the more space we make for health, happiness, and empowerment to thrive.