9 Body Positive Books That'll Shape Your Self-Loving Journey

Editors Amye Archer and Loren Kleinman put together a collection of body-centric essays that is so much greater than the sum of its (beautiful) parts. The anthology My Body, My Words is rich with stories of gender transformation, dressing-room breakdowns, yo-yo diets, judgmental grandmas, and falling in love. I loved Megan Galbraith's sexy tale of a summer camp counselor skinny dip. Plus, 50 percent of the book sale proceeds go to the Geena Davis Institute on Gender in Media.

"Diets are based on the unspoken fear that you are a madwoman, a food terrorist, a lunatic," Geneen Roth writes in Women, Food, and God. The author gained and lost 1,000 pounds before coming to peace with listening to her body and her heart. The book discusses how food can be a gateway to a spiritual quest, and how learning to nourish ourselves can be an act of love.

Tara Brach's Radical Acceptance may not be specifically about bodies, but her approach begins with the physical. A psychotherapist and Buddhist meditation teacher, Brach urges her readers to lovingly pay attention to our breath and the way our feet feel against the floor. She describes a "trance of unworthiness" that we can awake from, not by fixing ourselves, dieting, or landing the dream job/apartment/partner, but by being present to "the fundamental happiness and freedom that are the birthright of every human being."

Dieting is the problem, not our bodies, or fat, or our willpower. Health at Every Size was revolutionary at the time of its release in 2010, and it remains so today. Linda Bacon's research-based philosophy detaches our health and well-being from the number on the scale. The pages of this book imagine a world where all bodies are valued.

Lindy West is ballsy yet vulnerable as she writes about coming into her own feminism, fat-acceptance, and self-love. She's funny, too — see her complete list of "fat female role models available in my youth," which includes Ursula, the Sea Witch, Miss Trunchbull, and Miss Piggy. West's essays in Shrill are a smart look at why the perfect body is a lie, and the immense harm society's fixation on body size can inflict.

Roxanne Gay's memoir Hunger tells the story of her gang rape, her overeating, and the pain of being fat in a world set up for thin people. It's a heartbreaking story of trauma and shame. Although her takedowns of the "weight-loss industrial complex" are wholehearted, Gay bristles at being a poster woman for fat acceptance. She resists easy conclusions. "This is the reality of living in my body: I am trapped in a cage," Gay writes.

Blogger and advocate Jes Baker is incredibly wise and funny. Her manifesto, Things No One Tells Fat Girls, will have you ready to fight fat prejudice and body shaming, and begin to believe that loving your body is a radical act that can absolutely change the world. The book is packed with useful reminders that "salad will not get you to heaven" and "your weight is not a reflection of your worth." Damn straight!

Big Girl talks more about Kelsey Miller's breakup with a lifetime of diet-related misery and her intuitive eating journey. Her tone is conversational and her honesty is refreshing. There's a breakthrough with "bagel day" at Miller's office and a message of hope — if Miller broke free from disordered eating, so can the rest of us.

What if we could treat our bodies the same way we treat our best friends, with love and respect? Body Kindness: Transform Your Health From the Inside Out — and Never Say Diet Again is a how-to that teaches us to have a happier, kinder relationship with our bodies by trading shame for compassion. Rebecca Scritchfield warns us that achieving real body kindness is a long and difficult journey, but also essential and life-changing.