Miss Pageant Nudist Teen Junior Miss Pageant Contest 2003.avi [updated]

For decades, public health messaging has relied on fear, disgust, and stigmatization to motivate change. "Fear of fat" has been used as a tool to force people into diets. The problem? Science shows that shame is a terrible motivator. When we feel ashamed of our bodies, we experience spikes in cortisol (the stress hormone), which leads to emotional eating, decreased motivation to exercise, and poor mental health outcomes.

Most people hate working out because they have been doing sports they hate for reasons they don’t believe in. In a body positive lifestyle, movement is divorced from weight loss. For decades, public health messaging has relied on

Start today. Move your body because it feels good. Eat because you are hungry. Rest because you are tired. And tell the old voices of shame that they are no longer welcome here. Science shows that shame is a terrible motivator