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*Disclaimer: I am in no way promoting "clean eatin

*Disclaimer: I am in no way promoting "clean eating"*

Let's think about the concept of eating "clean" for a minute. First of all, when someone tells me they're eating clean, I have to dig and get information on what "clean" means to them. But just to generalize here, it often includes things from what I call the California diet: quinoa, grass fed meat, sprouted grains, avocado, whole fruits and veggies, and organic, "low processed" foods.

That sounds great and dandy, right? "I just need to include all these things into my diet and stop buying highly processed chips, spreads, grains, and conventional fruits and vegetables. Now that I figured this out, I'm going to go tell all my friends and family that they need to start eating clean!"

It may sound so simple to a lot of you. Take out the "bad" stuff and add in the "good" stuff. But what do you not think of when looking at this list? Or what do you think of and ignore because it's in the name of health? When I look at this, all I see is $$$$.

There are so many things wrong with this concept of "eating clean"! How can we tell people they need to not only spend $$$ on food in order to be healthy, but also that the foods that are from their cultures don't even fit!

Stop promoting concepts like this! Concepts that cause people to conform to your white standards and demonize foods that they enjoy.

Let go of beliefs that food like this (which is typically "white people food") is better for you than your own cultural foods.

If you have questions about this or you want to work on not thinking like this, please reach out to me and let's have a conversation.

I know this was long, but I was feeling a type of way writing this. Thanks for reading! 🙌🏾

Quinoa is not greater than white rice. Bananas are

Quinoa is not greater than white rice.
Bananas are not greater than ice cream.
Grapes are not greater than candy.
Cauliflower crust is not greater than pizza crust.
Lettuce is not greater than tortillas.

If you have been switching foods in your diet from the things you enjoy to the things that you believe are better or greater, I'm here to tell you that you don't need to do that anymore.

I used to do the same thing! I made my mom make Haitian food with brown rice instead of white and I absolutely hated it, but I convinced myself (and my family) that it was better that way.

There is so much more to food than health (or what you perceive is health) and it's time to reclaim it and reclaim your culture. If you don't like quinoa, you don't have to eat it. If you like banana ice cream, go for it! But stop eating what you don't like in the name of "health".

How easy is it for you to tell someone to just lov

How easy is it for you to tell someone to just love their body? Or to be proud of what makes them different?

What if what makes them "different" is what the world deems as wrong? What if you are telling the only black person in the room that they should be proud of being black while everyone else is making comments behind their back?

The world is not kind to a lot of people. If you are fat, black, Asian, Indigenous, Latinx, LGBTQIA, disabled, and more then I am sure you have experienced the way the world treats those of us who are "different".

At least for me, I have spent so much time making sure that my "differences" are acceptable in the world. I'm tired. I'm tired of making myself into something I'm not just to be liked and accepted and I won't do it anymore.

Maybe instead of telling people how easily they can love themselves and their "differences", advocate for them so that there is a bigger change in the world and we won't have to feel different.

It's still here. It hasn't ended just because you

It's still here. It hasn't ended just because you went to a couple of protests over the summer or just because the media has died down about it.

Continue to educate yourself. Continue to do the work. Continue to have those conversations. We as BIPOC don't get to forget about it. It's our lives.

You may have heard "eat when you're hungry, stop w

You may have heard "eat when you're hungry, stop when you're full". Simple, right? It's the new diet that people are doing. The "intuitive eating diet" 🙄

Why do we always reduce food into being something so simple as just stop eating when you're full. Food is so much more than that. What if I want a cookie and I'm not hungry? Am I not going to eat it? Or what if I'm eating dinner and I'm full, but the food is so good that I want some more. Will I not have more because someone out in the world told me that I have to stop eating once I get full? Actually, they tell us to stop eating BEFORE we get full because it takes a minute for us to feel it.

Stop turning tools that are supposed to help you into a diet. It's okay to eat past fullness.

You are more than your body. You've probably heard

You are more than your body. You've probably heard that phrase before. Heck, I've said that phrase so many times before. And it's true. There is so much more to you than just your body. Your worth doesn't lie in your body.

BUT

What if your body looks like mine? What if you live in a bigger body or have wrinkles because you are older? Yes, I am more than my body, but I AM my body. All of my experiences living in a black body make me who I am. If I didn't learn to accept who I am and my body, I wouldn't be where I am today. I was writing a piece on the intersectionality in eating disorders today when this dawned on me. We place so much emphasis on recognizing that we our weight is not our worth or that we have more to offer than how we look. But then I realized:

I am my body. I will not shame it. And I will not apologize for it.

I hope you are able to do the same.

How do you think you would be able to accept yourself for who you are?

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