Instagram churns out a lot of eye-rolling, irritating and downright offensive content. Unwanted advice about what women should eat, alongside unrealistic, unattainable images of women’s bodies is at the forefront of that category. But there is a burgeoning corner of Instagram where women are saying a collective “fuck it” to diets and diet culture in the United States and other countries where being thin is promoted as healthier, prettier, and in every way better.
These women are outing diet culture as toxic and damaging to women’s bodies and psyches. The U.S. weight loss and diet control industry is worth a record $72 billion as of 2018, presenting supplements, shakes, books, videos, bariatric surgery, diet soda, and more as the path to weight loss and happiness. When the methods fail—as 85% of diets do—they say we’re doing it wrong.
The women who run these accounts are saying F that. They describe being less healthy when they were thin because they had eating disorders, terrible self esteem, and were generally miserable. They’re focusing on real physical and mental health, and giving women permission to live in a body they’re not ashamed of just because it doesn’t look like a FaceTuned selfie.
I have obsessed over many, many diets in the past—Keto, vegetarian, pescatarian, Hormone Reset, just to name a few. I am obsessed with the scale. I have gained more than 10 pounds in the last two years and I beat myself up about it on a daily (minute-to-minute?) basis—and I didn’t even realize how mean I was being to myself (nor how annoying I was about talking about my weight and eating ad nauseam) until I found The Fuck It Diet and these other wonderful Instagram accounts.
After perusing them for a couple days as I worked on this post, I’m already being kinder to myself in small ways. I typically wear long sleeves even in the sweatiest dance class because I don’t want to show my arms, but I wore short sleeves to work out yesterday for the first time in months. I doubt I’ll be rocking short shorts anytime soon but it’s a start.
I also have renewed anger towards my doctor who told me last year I should, at my age, be eating a mere 1,200 calories per day. So that’s it, the answer for all of us post-menopausal women? We all process food the same way, and this is the magic number? It turns out the answer to that is actually no, we do not, according to science.
I’m still figuring out a longterm solution to better mental and physical health around eating and body obsession. And while these Instagram accounts may not be the ultimate solution, they’re providing much needed comic relief and a path towards not being so mean to myself in the meantime.
The F*ck It Diet is not only an Instagram account, but also a blog, podcast, and a recently-published book by Philadelphia-based author Caroline Dooner. Dr. Christiane Northrup is into it: “The F*ck It Diet is not only hilarious, it is scientifically and medically sound. A must read for any chronic dieter.”
Tribole, a registered dietitian nutritionist, penned the book Intuitive Eating in 2003 and it’s now in its 3rd edition—and she and her co-author Elyse Resch are working on the 4th. It launched Tribole’s career as the godmother of intuitive eating (which, she says, is unfortunately often hijacked by diet culture). It’s also the method Katherine McPhee used to overcome bulimia.
Rini Frey is a former binge eater and perfectionist who, after her husband discovered her on the kitchen floor surrounded by candy wrappers and empty ice cream tubs, started on her road to recovery from diet-obsessing. Now, she inspires her followers with courses, a podcast and on Instagram with photos of her newly soft abs, thigh cellulite, and zero shame or self-loathing. She doesn’t fit in her old jeans and she’s OK with that.
Jameela Jamil created this account after witnessing a photograph of the Kardashian family with each member’s weight emblazoned across her body. Jamil encouraged women to post what they really weigh—not by pounds, but their accomplishments and values. And women are showing up for it in droves.
This group is taking down toxic diet culture in the U.K. with talks, workshops and meetups, and they’re hoping to take their movement on tour. Check out their fundraiser where they hope to collect $20,000 for traveling workshops, classes and small events in 15 towns and festivals around the U.K.
Lucy Mountain is a London-based blogger “passive aggressively calling out fitness BS.” And even though she’s not a chef and says she still burns her pancakes, she’s also the author of the NOBS Cookbook (currently sold out, but you can get on the waitlist!). Mountain’s goal with the book and in general is to help us have a better relationship with normal, real food that doesn’t take ages to prepare. She aims to show that healthy food doesn’t have to be “restrictive, complicated, fancy, or spiralized on a bed of massaged kale.” She works out, she eats pasta and donuts, and she’s damn funny along the way.
Photo by Luísa Schetinger on Unsplash