PART THREE: Social Media Accounts to Follow When Healing Your Own Body Image
Have you ever found yourself scrolling through social media and the noticing that you’re not feeling that great about yourself? Maybe, now feeling worse about yourself compared to earlier in the day? Do you find yourself taking part in the comparison game when it comes to someone else’s lifestyle, abilities, body, food, etc.?
The thing about social media, is it shows a “highlight reel” of a person’s life - the wonderful, happy, luxurious, status quo parts of life that fit the mold of our cultural ideals.
This is why the accounts you follow matter as they often impact the way in which we start to think about ourselves. Be picky with who you follow so that your feed is filled with content that will make you feel supported, heard, understood, but also accounts that may offer a different perspective and encourage you to reflect on your own goals and values and where they come from. We all know social media can offer content that is untrue, harmful, hurtful, and just laughable at times, but the beauty of it is that we have the say to cultivate a space that works best for us.
Fortunately, in the midst of the apparent diet culture and thin ideal narrative on social media, there are accounts that are pushing back against societal norms and values. Folks of all genders, bodies, colors, backgrounds are running accounts to help us all work towards embracing self love, respect and acceptance, and understand our self-worth.
We recommend the Instagram accounts below to offer a more supportive space for daily doses of challenging societal norms, diet culture ideals and false messaging and displaying their own body diversity or educating us all on what that looks like.
beauty_redefined
Beauty Redefined is a nonprofit organization that promotes body image resilience. It is run by sisters and twins, Lindsay and Lexie Kite. They also have a book out now called More Than a Body (which I have to read!). Their page focuses on feeling positive about your body overall, helping women and girls embrace their beauty and realizing that YOU are so much more than your body.
bodyimagewithbri
Brianna is a Body Image Educator who aligns with fat positivity and Health At Every Size®. Her page is filled with educational and vulnerable posts that share what it’s like for her to live in a larger body in a culture full of weight stigma, while also supporting her followers in healing their own relationships with their bodies. Brianna embraces her body and shares how to make peace with the body you have. Brianna also has a podcast, Body Image With Bri, which is linked on her page.
https://www.instagram.com/bodyimagewithbri/
decolonizing_fitness
Ilya (he/they) is a Black Transmasculine educator and writer, and owner of Decolonizing Fitness. You’ll see that this IG feed offers so much incredible diversity centered around the concept of movement. According to one of their recent posts, “Decolonizing Fitness as a practice seeks to dismantle the cis white male dominated fitness industry.” Ilya is vocal about supporting fitness for all bodies, including all sizes, genders, LGBTQ+ and BIPOC. You will find this account will shed light to the intersection of fitness and social justice issues and conversations. It is a wonderful space to allow for body healing and taking back movement from our diet culture, to reclaim what movement can look like for you.
dietitiananna
Anna Sweeney is a Certified Eating Disorder Registered Dietitian and Supervisor, as well as an Intuitive Eating Counselor. Her page is dedicated to providing support when healing one’s relationship with food and body. Anna’s instagram feed is filled with supportive and inspirational quotes, but then she’ll throw in the mic drop post that will make you re-think all of your values and really question this diet culture of ours. She also offers a weekly connection via IG live to provide additional human support during these isolating times. She’s vocal about her privileges associated with being a thin, white, heterosexual, cisgender woman, and has displayed such amazing vulnerability in identifying as a disabled body (and dietitian). Also check out her Earthsuit gear and the concept behind the Earthsuit (which I love and tend to bring in with my sessions with clients, crediting her of course!)
https://www.instagram.com/dietitiananna/
drjoshuawolrich
Dr. Joshua Wolrich is a NHS Surgical Doctor in the UK, who is proudly Health At Every Size® aligned. His IG feed is filled with content to stand up against weight stigma and health trolling, as well as calling out the BS in diet culture, especially the parts of diet culture that he witnesses in the medical field (you’d be surprised by just how much is out there!). He educates while also shedding light to the vulnerable wrongdoings of our healthcare system. Joshua adds humor to his posts and videos making his page a fun account to follow. He’s also recently written a book called, Food Isn’t Medicine: Challenge Nutribollocks and Escape the Diet Trap (Another book I’d like to add to my reading list!)
https://www.instagram.com/drjoshuawolrich/
tiffanyima
Tiffany is a black creator and influencer who focuses on building body confidence in the midst of eating disorder recovery, all while challenging the societal norms of the thin ideal. She is an inspiration for those who struggled with eating disorders and depression by sharing how she got through it and is now helping others do the same. Many of her conversations incorporate fitness and normalizing what normal bodies look like! Tiffany also tends to offer those mic-drop moments with calling out what is harmful on social media, or challenging the concept that “health” has a “look”.
** Disclaimer: This is a very small sample size of 6 IG accounts that offer supportive and reflective content. We did not include photos of the IG pages as we did not ask for permission to do so. **
Social media is a significant part of today’s culture. Parts one and two of this blog post series have shown us the impact that social media can have in relation to our body, mind and worth. Being able to fill your own feed with positive, supportive and motivational accounts, that make you feel all the feels, is a way to create a safe space when harmful or triggering accounts pop up. You can cultivate a body-accepting and self-respecting social media experience by choosing who you follow, as well as what content you decide to look at. Be mindful about what you expose yourself to.
Research has shown us that social media influences our relationship with our bodies, our self and our worth. Unrealistic standards are etched in our brains, which influences the way we view certain aspects of our life. Being able to understand your worth by reframing your thoughts, calling out the diet culture myths, seeking support and self acceptance and practicing your values will help you on your way to self respect (maybe even self love?) and self compassion. Altering your social media experience to reflect the support and media you may need at this point in your life can also make a HUGE impact. Plus, how amazing would it feel the next time you scrolled social media and felt empowered, supported, and understood?