Content Warning: This post discusses “clean” eating and shows a picture of specific foods deemed “unclean.”
Hi!
For today, all I want to discuss is this:
I see these posts all over Instagram, and usually I just ignore them, because I hate them, but I’ve arrived at the end of my goddamn line with these.
First of all, I think the idea of “clean” eating is extremely harmful. It is wrong to deem foods as clean or dirty, or try to assign any moral value to food (a practice which is actually rooted in colonialism and white supremacy, but that discussion deserves its own post). Food should not be judged or measured by anything other than whether or not it personally makes you feel fulfilled and happy.
But second of all, and more importantly, why does this random person who posted this terrible meme feel the need to judge people who are trying to diet or eat “clean.” Our society forces dieting– dieting solely to lose weight– down our throats and wrongly assigns moral superiority to thinness, so I do not judge anyone who is dieting for any reason. I don’t have a problem with the way anyone eats and try every day not to “evaluate” the way anyone eats despite my eating disorder behaviors telling me I should.
I do have a problem with this person who can’t leave other people alone. Like why are you posting this? It isn’t funny. You are not cool, or better than anyone. It just honestly makes me so mad and I don’t really know what to say. Like, why do you think this is funny or clever and what do you get out of making fun of people and the way they eat? My god.
Side Note: Although I said I do not have a problem with the way anyone eats, that does not mean I am closed off to conversations about eating disorders and disordered eating with people who want to talk about it! I will of course have conversations with people about those things if they explicitly come to me to talk about it, or to tell me they are struggling, or to have a confidant, or if I ask them to talk and they agree.
My Fast 