Dear Wildflowers,
Happy Sunday, Happy Easter if you celebrate, Happy Spring.
This week, I wanted to ask you a question: Are your social media feeds body inclusive or body normative?
I suppose I should start by first explaining the difference. Body normative means that what is reflected back to us sends the message that there is a “normal” or “right” body of measurement. It creates a comparative scale that marginalizes what “normal” is and anything outside of that is not. It may also include a specific look on a body as “healthy” or health as something that can be seen through physical attributes such as size or fitness.
Body inclusive means that there is a wide variety of bodies that come into our view on a consistent basis and breaks open any barriers to what it means to be healthy or beautiful. Body inclusive feeds mean that there is not only size differences, but all differences that bodies of people out IRL as they say may have.
Why does this matter?
I am not one to promote social media use. In fact, I am often questioning and suspicious of the long term impacts it’s having/will have on our brains as we evolve. But I also know that it’s still a part of almost all of our lives at this point and maybe one small change we can make is making sure that we are cultivating our own feeds to make sure that while we are spending time there, we are getting messages that we actually want to cultivate and nurture within ourselves. This is hard to do these days I realize, but hard does not mean impossible.
I think one of the advantages that we can take away from spending time on social media is feeding our minds with an array of information and content that is diverse and inclusive. I especially think this for anyone who is struggling with body image and is constantly fighting with their own minds, and consequently bodies, measuring themselves in a more “normative” way.
So this week, as we step into a new season of Spring, I thought I would try to make some of this work a little easier and suggest some of my own favorite account to follow to help shift the messages you see:
Katie Sturino - If you don’t already know her, Katie is a national treasure. Katie talks a lot about body acceptance, enters into hard conversations with so much care and is the founder of Megababe products which are amazing!
Here is her TikTok and Instagram
Martinus Evans - Founder of the Slow AF Run Club and IG handle @300poundsandrunning. Martinus is an example of how health is not size specific or needs to be exclusive.
Aaron Flores - Registered Dietitian Nutritionist, Certified Body Trust Provider and HAES advocate. I’ve had the pleasure of getting to work with Aaron and I HIGHLY recommend checking out his IG feed and Podcast Men Unscripted.
Dr. Lisa Folden - Physical Therapist and Body Positive Women’s Health Expert.
IG Handle and Website will also lead you to her podcast as well!
known on IG as @YRFATFRIEND is an amazing author of “You Just Need to Lose Weight” and co-host of the podcast Maintenance Phase.Anna Sweeney - known as a dietician who gives a sh*t and discusses topics of eating disorders, body image and chronic illness
Michael Ulloa - is a personal trainer and fitness coach who also speaks truth to diet culture/fitness and wellness culture myths, lies and BS that actually cause so much harm. Michael reminds us that being healthy and going for a certain aesthetic are two very different things.
Dr. Joshua Wolrich - an NHS doctor and nutritionist, author of Food Isn’t Medicine and founder of Weight Neutral Nutrition.
Stacy Dex Dreyfus - a fellow ED Recovery Coach and I honestly love her for sharing her real life day to day, fashion try ons and current fertility/husband’s cancer journey happening all at the same time.
Who are some of your favorite body inclusive follows? I would love for you to share them in the comments!
One final note: We spend a lot of time in our social media these days. Social media is designed to grab our attention and run away with it. I’m not saying we need to ditch it completely, but here me when I say this: your attention is your most precious commodity. It is quite literally how you spend the currency that is your life and it’s how we shape our minds. At the very least, do what you can do support those moments of your attention being grabbed by making sure it’s at least content that is watering the seeds that you actually want to bloom. Taking some time this week to weed out what isn’t helping you grow the way you want to could be one of the very best ways to step into spring.
And now, for my clients…