Eating disorder recovery can be a lonely experience. Having the right community and support can make all the difference. Follow these 8 eating disorder Instagram accounts to help you through the eating disorder recovery process.
The Challenges of Eating Disorder Recovery
Eating disorder recovery is challenging for many reasons. Not only are we often unable to access the treatment that we need due to various barriers—lack of insurance or other financial access issues, lack of proper diagnosis due to weight bias, unethical treatment modalities such as weight loss for those in larger bodies struggling with an eating disorder—but even if we are able to get proper treatment, more often the many of the variables that egged our eating disorder on are still there waiting for us when intensive treatment ends. Coping with diet culture, including the moralizing of foods, continual promotion of the thin ideal, healthism, and equating size with health, can be challenging, especially for those of us who are extremely vulnerable to its messaging in the first place. We need eating disorder support in order to sustain our eating disorder recovery. Eating disorder Instagram accounts can play a key role in this support.
Finding Eating Disorder Recovery Support on Instagram
With this reality in mind, how can we best support ourselves in our eating disorder recovery when we are removed from the safety of the treatment setting (if the treatment setting was even safe in the first place!)? One of the most supportive things that you can do to build resilience against diet culture is to begin to build a community of like-minded people to surround and support you. In-real-life community is preferable, but in lieu of that, online spaces can offer a refuge from the constant diet-culture-chatter. Instagram has become a hub of anti-diet content and can be a great place to start when looking for online community.
While the popularity of the anti-diet movement means that more and more influencers and social media users are creating these anti-diet accounts, it also means that the movement itself is going to sometimes be misconstrued or misrepresented. As a result, simply searching the anti-diet hashtag on Instagram, for example, can lead you right back to accounts that promote disordered eating and covert restriction and jeopardize your recovery. Instead, it is often better to follow accounts recommended by trusted sources. While this doesn’t always guarantee that the accounts recommended are Health-at-Every-Size® aligned, it gives you a better shot at not inadvertently bringing diet culture into your anti-diet space. Here are some of my personal recommendations for eating disorder recovery support on Instagram that is truly HAES-aligned and social-justice informed.
8 Eating Disorder Instagram Accounts to Follow for Recovery Support
Amee Severson is a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist in Bellingham WA whose work focuses on body positivity, fat acceptance, and intuitive eating through a social justice lens. She holds a Bachelor’s degree in Food and Nutrition from Montana State University, is a dietitian registered in the State of Washington, and is currently working toward becoming a Certified Intuitive Eating Counselor. Her Instagram posts focus on finding recovery in any sized body.
Christy Harrison is an anti-diet registered dietitian and certified intuitive eating counselor, and the host of Food Psych Podcast and author of Anti-Diet. She specializes in helping people make peace with food and reclaim the time and energy they lost to The Life Thief that is diet culture. She posts daily recovery support on Instagram.
Ashlee Bennett is an art psychotherapist who focuses on therapeutic work for body image, internalized fatphobia, embodiment, and self-acceptance. Her Instagram account discusses eating disorder recovery in the context of weight stigma and internalized fatphobia. As stated by Ashlee, “I do this work because I know for many there is liberation from compressed, narrow body ideals and the prison of body-hatred despite the culture we live in. This work drives me as every person who reclaims their power and autonomy, has influence in their community, has the wisdom and power to make social change and most of all grow into the person they know themselves to be.”
Kimmie Singh earned her Bachelor of Science in physics from St. John’s University. Soon after graduating, Kimmie discovered her passion for Intuitive Eating and weight-inclusive nutrition. She went on to pursue her Master of Science of nutrition from The University of North Carolina at Greensboro. Kimmie completed her dietetic internship at The City University of New York-Hunter College. She posts about weight stigma, eating disorder recovery, and Health at Every Size education on her Instagram account.
Krista Murias is a Certified Health Coach and Intuitive Eating Counsellor. She helps women who have struggled with chronic dieting and disordered eating to heal their relationship with food and to learn to accept and respect their bodies, no matter their size. She posts daily support on her Instagram account.
Brianna (or Bri) is a Licensed Professional Counselor in NJ. She has worked with Eating Disorder Recovery patients for the last four years and has a special interest in body image. She also teaches Introduction to Eating Disorders as an adjunct professor. She is passionate about Health at Every Size and taking an all-foods-fit approach to finding freedom with food and learning to love your current body. She posts body image support for all sized bodies on Instagram.
Ayana is a nutrition therapist, certified intuitive eating counselor, and macro social worker. She encourages her clients to embrace the beauty, power, and connection that their food traditions, personal experiences, and values add to their lives. Ayana is committed to increasing awareness of intuitive eating and weight inclusive philosophies in black communities. She believes that weight-centric approaches to health and wellness only serve to exacerbate body image issues, stress, and anxiety which contribute to increased rates of chronic diseases often seen in black and other communities of color. She posts on Instagram about eating disorder recovery and intuitive eating.
Some shameless self-promotion! I post on Instagram about eating disorder recovery, weight-inclusive healthcare, therapeutic work, trauma, and chronic pain. I also post educational doodles about certain therapeutic concepts and Health at Every Size. You can find more of my work on my website!
This list is by no means exhaustive! There are so many incredible anti-diet activists out there doing important work to dismantle weight bias and diet culture. It’s essential that we follow and support those in marginalized bodies with lived experience with eating disorders, especially those in fat bodies, bodies of color, and non-cisgender bodies. By expanding the kinds of bodies that we see on a consistent basis, and by seeing people who look like us fight back against diet culture, we begin to accept that we can also live our lives loudly and proudly without our eating disorder. We are allowed to embrace who we are, unapologetically. This is an essential component of recovery.
Enjoy this post? Explore some of the other Center for Discovery blogs:
The Application of Intuitive Eating Principles in Eating Disorder Recovery
Do No Harm: Weight Stigma in the Eating Disorder Field
—
About the Author
Ashley M. Seruya is a social work student, virtual assistant, and content creator specializing in eating disorder recovery, Health at Every Size, and weight stigma. Learn more about her work at ashleymseruya.com or on her Instagram at @fatpositivetherapy.
Health At Every Size and HAES are registered trademarks of the Association For Size Diversity And Health.