Detox your feed, not your diet: Body positive activists you should be following on Instagram

(Image: Roberto Hund, Pexels)

Content Warning: Discussion of harmful diet culture.

As a place where we often spend the majority of our waking lives, our social media feed should be a place carefully curated to make us feel good about ourselves, especially when it comes to the way we think and feel about our bodies.

Whilst we are often encouraged by the media to follow influencers who peddle out artificial, unrealistic representations of what a body should look like and absurd diets to follow at the hands of advertisers, it's time to detox our feed instead of our diets. Here is a list of six body positive activists to welcome into your feed and your life:

1. Stephanie Yeboah (@stephanieyeboah)

Author of Fattily Ever After, content creator and freelance journalist Stephanie Yeboah’s Instagram account is a gateway to positivity and self-love, with posts about inclusive fashion, the beauty of stretch marks, how black women are often excluded from body positivity and how to be your own role model in a world that doesn’t provide you with any.

2. Sofie Hagen (sofiehagendk)

Comedian, author and podcaster Sofie Hagen's account is home to comedic, interesting content about what it means to be a non-binary person navigating fatphobia, how society fails to make them feel sexy and visible, why the culture around health needs to change and the importance of 'Fat Liberation', an intersectional movement that questions the systems that profit from us disliking our bodies.

3. Alex Dacy (@wheelchair_rapunzel)

Alex Dacy is a disabled model, writer, creator and advocate, who uses her platform to show that, despite media underrepresentation and depictions, people with disabilities can be sexy, confident and should not be ashamed of their bodies. As she says, "It’s time we start being comfy knowing our bodies exist and are sexually appealing."

4. I Weigh ( i_weigh)

I Weigh was founded in 2018 by actress and activist, Jameela Jamil, as a movement that encourages us to see our weight as our experiences, achievements and the people we love and who love us, instead of numbers on a scale. Since then, it has grown to 1.3 million followers and has become a hub of positivity around body positivity, mental health and sexuality. It is a great community to have on your feed. 

5. Sasha Pallari (sashapallari)

Sasha Pallari is a makeup artist and model who created the #FILTERDROP campaign, which holds brands and influencers accountable for advertising beauty products without making it clear they have used filters. Her posts discuss her journey with her body, unfiltered pictures of her acne and calling out brands. This is a brilliant account for reminding us that, a lot of the time, what we see on social media isn't real.

6. Lucy Mountain (lucymountain)

Lucy Mountain is a personal trainer on a mission to call out myths within the exercise industry, so much so that she's created her own anti- diet app, Nobs, which prioritises feeling good about your body more than harmful aesthetic and health goals. Her posts bust myths to do with cellulite, diet culture, self- care, the media and, above all, celebrates the beauty of real bodies.