Food Positivity: How to Ditch Diet Culture and Talk to Kids About Food

by Diana Rice, Arielle Dani Lebovitz

How to talk to kids about food and bodies―without guilt, shame, or fear. Food Positivity is a compassionate, practical guide that helps parents shift the way they talk about food and bodies―so they can raise kids with healthy relationships with food, body image, and self-trust. If you've ever worried about saying the wrong thing or passing down the same body shame you grew up with, you're not alone. Written by two registered dietitians and moms, this book unpacks the influence of diet culture and offers tools to help you break the cycle―starting with yourself. Inside, you'll learn how Understand how children learn to think about food―and why common language often reinforces cycles of negative food and body beliefs Let go of guilt and second-guessing, while building more trust in how you feed your kids Navigate picky eating and food obsessions without pressure, bribery, or battles Talk about food and bodies in ways that nourish your child's physical and emotional well-being―for life Shift from control-based feeding to a trust-centered approach that supports intuitive eating and autonomy With tools you can use in real life―right away―Food Positivity helps you break free from the cycle of food and body shame without guilt, pressure, or perfection. This is your invitation to raise kids who feel confident in their bodies, curious about food, and free to trust themselves―all while growing your confidence as a parent.

384 pages, Paperback

Published February 24, 2026

Reviews

[Stephanie Moore · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is an excellent guide to learning about the harms of diet culture and weight-centered approaches to feeding and how to manage everyday situations that may arise. It provides scripts to help walk you through tough scenarios with your child, family/friends, teachers, medical providers, and anyone else who may have influence over how your child views food and their body. Each chapter is broken up into easy to read sections that includes charts and diagrams, which was helpful in breaking up some of the lingo and new-to-me acronyms. Even though I’m trained in nutrition and dietetics and was familiar with many of the concepts in this book, I still learned a lot and am grateful to have this guide throughout my child’s life.

[Stephanie Wilder · Rating 5 out of 5]

Picked this book up because the foreword is by Dr. Mona. I marked so many pages and will be coming back to it. Some parts got a little carried away but the overall message was what made it 5 stars. Thought the history behind food and culture was so interesting too.

“We can teach our kids that health is about how they feel in their body, not what their body looks like. We can create homes where no one feels ashamed of their size, where food is about nourishment and joy.”

[Natalie · Rating 5 out of 5]

6 stars

[JustineB · Rating 3 out of 5]

My eldest asks for snacks all day long and I wanted to know if there was a better way to respond to him. My husband and I are also, like most people, very addicted to sugar and try to limit how much we give our kids. But I worry that by limiting them we are going to create sugar friends. This book was recommended by a pediatrician podcaster I follow on the socials. Turns out I went to school with one of the authors. So I bought the book. Since my questions about talking to my kids about food were fairly specific, I fully admit that I skimmed the book and paid closer attention to the bits about sugar and snacking.

I also admit that knowing one of the authors probably made me more critical of this book than I would’ve been otherwise. Overall, this is an informative book that can help a lot of people so kudos to the authors. But it seemed like the overall thesis was “not everyone has the resources to eat well so let’s stop trying to.” As a middle class stay at home mom I try to keep processed foods that have added sugar and specific preservatives out of our diet but I don’t always succeed. So I get it. And I agree there should be no shaming around eating processed foods. My own personal decision to reduce our added sugar intake was based on what I read in “Sugarproof” by Gorman and Ventura, which did a nice job explaining what happens to our bodies when we eat too much sugar. The authors cited dozens of primary sources to support their explanations and provide further reading material.

My family is very lucky in that we have help from my mother and that we can afford to purchase food we deem as healthy. And I (now) have a relatively care-free attitude about eating and my body image. So this book didn’t feel like it was for me. And that’s okay. I picked up this book wanting to be convinced that I was being too strict about sugar intake and, to a certain extent, I was. But the authors’ argument that the problem with eating too much sugar isn’t that it’s toxic (Gorman and Ventura say that it is), but rather that it “can crowd out other nutrients” frankly shocked me. And I couldn’t find any sources.

I’m going to keep this book on my shelf because I like the scripts and strategies section at the end and will probably refer back to it in the future.

[Alison · Rating 5 out of 5]

This book is an excellent, thorough guide for parents who want to model a positive relationship to food. It's also great for mental-health professionals like me, who work with parents who are frustrated, confused, and burdened with conflicting messages about how to raise kids who have a healthy body image and get the nutrition they need to thrive.

[Sarah]

They didn’t even try to make this sound like it’s not ChatGPT, but there’s a ton of helpful information and scripts.

[Dana Batistig · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.5 stars. I liked the concepts in this book. However, I thought certain things were repeated way too many times. And I wish there had been more examples on what to do in specific situations.