Instagram can be a massive time suck and it can be a black hole for comparisonitis. But it is also brimming with lots of amazing content pushing back against diet culture, the thin ideal and embracing body acceptance.

So here is a roundup of some of my favourite posts around the theme of body acceptance from November. Click through to check out more from these fabulous accounts – and give them a follow while you are there to start filling your feed with more positive content.

5 body positive quotes to help you accept your body

bodyimage_therapist

 

View this post on Instagram

 

The belief that ‘If I accept my body the way it is, I’ll stop caring for it’ is based on false logic. Where does this belief come from? It’s not uncommon for someone to feel motivated to care for their body based on threats of punishment – bad things that will happen ‘if I don’t do xyz.’ The thing is, fear of what could happen, doesn’t actually need to be present for you to engage in caring acts towards the self. If fear has always been present when making ‘health decisions’ or plans for self-care, it’s easy to believe that fear must be involved for the action to take place. However, just because fear may have always been present, doesn’t mean it’s actually essential in the process. You could easily say ‘to be motivated to care for myself I need to make 3 funny faces, because that’s what I’ve always done’ – it’s similar to thinking ‘If I don’t worry, I won’t get things done’. Accepting your body as it is, from a place of compassion for the human you are, frees up your thinking to find ways of caring for yourself that are based in compassion, gratitude, love and peace which is flexible moment to moment. Instead of – ‘do this action or else’, or ‘I’m going to hate myself for a period of time to achieve an outcome that means I can love myself.’ . . #psychology #healthateverysize #stigma #mentalhealth #feminism #wellbeing #health #edrecovery #dietitian #diet #dietculture #bodyimage #bodypositivity #bopo #intuitiveeating #nondiet

A post shared by Ashlee Bennett – Melb AUS (@bodyimage_therapist) on Nov 4, 2018 at 9:53pm PST

emilyfonnesbeck_rd

 

View this post on Instagram

 

I see a wide variety of clients in a wide variety of body sizes. All of them, regardless of their size, have reported feeling uncomfortable in their bodies. This is true for those even at dangerously low weights. . I’ve come to see that feeling uncomfortable in your body may have more to do with fear, lack of acceptance, distrust, internalized weight bias, and unrealistic cultural pressures than the actual weight itself. I know it’s easy to make weight your problem, but I’d invite you to consider the impact negative fixation on your body size is having on your level of comfort, health and well-being. . Food for thought ?

A post shared by Emily Fonnesbeck, RD (@emilyfonnesbeck_rd) on Nov 5, 2018 at 10:48am PST

beauty_redefined

 

View this post on Instagram

 

☝?Something to consider, whether you’re posting or scrolling! The most-liked pics of women on IG are the body-baring ones. You might think of those posts as “feel-good,” #inspo, #goals, or even “empowering.” But are they? ✖️In a culture that values women for our bodies more than anything else, it is no surprise that women learn to survive within that system, reaping its meager rewards. We learn to fight for scraps of what sometimes feels like “power” in the form of validation, “empowerment,” acceptance, and financial reward for granting visual and physical access to our bodies. ✖️Just as boys and men learn to view and value women for narrow appearance ideals and sexual appeal above all, girls and women learn to view and evaluate ourselves in the same terms, through the same outside perspective. We monitor our bodies constantly, consciously and unconsciously working to adjust our appearances to be most appealing to onlookers. This objectification hurts us. It minimizes us, it distracts us, it drains us. It always has. Only now, we’ve learned to claim it as our own. ✖️We’ve been duped into thinking our body-centric system of value is self-chosen and empowering by reframing it as body positive, fitspiration, or otherwise inspirational. Please consider if what you post or what you view and validate might be stuck in the shallow waters of objectification. If you remove the caption, does it look like the kind of body and beauty-obsessed stuff shoved down our throats forever? ??If you haven’t enrolled in our Body Image Resilience Online Course, think about it! We have a whole section on empowerment and objectification! (Link in bio).?to @mylittlebelleville for her amazing BR illustrations! #morethanabody #seemorebemore #beautyredefined

A post shared by Beauty Redefined ® (@beauty_redefined) on Nov 14, 2018 at 5:19pm PST

melissadtoler

 

View this post on Instagram

 

A couple of weeks ago, a well-known writer posted pics of herself and talked about her body dysmorphia. Specifically, she shared 2 pics of herself and said she was ‘feeling chubby and insecure’ in one of them, and implied that using the right angles to appear thinner is important. Out of the HUNDREDS of comments, **only 2 or 3 people** kindly called out the danger of associating fatness with negativity. Not surprising. Most of the other people defended her right to say those things about her body. Yes, people have a right to talk about their own bodies however they want. BUT, we can’t dismiss how the collective hatred of fat bodies influences our perception of ourselves. We have to be aware of the way we use larger bodies to convey negativity, undesirability, and insecurity. When we suggest that large bodies with need to be fixed, airbrushed, or made palatable with ‘flattering’ angles we reinforce the idea that smaller bodies are inherently better, which is harmful to all of us. #fatacceptance #bodyacceptance #haes #bodypositivity #dietculture #dietculturesucks

A post shared by Melissa Toler (@melissadtoler) on Nov 23, 2018 at 10:46am PST

corinnedobbas

 

View this post on Instagram

 

Our bodies are meant to change as we go through different ages, stages & phases of life. Your 35 or 55-year-old body is not meant to look like your 17 or 25-year-old body. It’s just not how it works. . So if you spend all your time, money, mental energy & health trying to get your body to look like a version of you from years back (or any other body shape & size that your body doesn’t naturally settle at), while in a totally different stage and phase of life, you’re going to feel disappointed. . The deal is you – just like all humans – you will get softer as you age. Have more laugh lines & wrinkles. Have different scars & stretch marks & folds & age spots. And begin to find a few more greys… . Why? Because bodies change. Just like souls do. You’re not the same person you were 10, 20 or even 5 years ago – so why do we expect our bodies to be? . Aging is normal and totally human! No one gets out of it. And I know it feels hard when we live in a culture that’s obsessed with dieting & that doesn’t value aging. But know you are a warrior. You’re here to live life! And you want you + your body to show that you lived. More importantly, you want to know that you are SO much more than just a body. . And the more you focus on taking care of yourself & living life (aka doing things!), the less you’ll focus on your changing body & the more you’ll focus on living ? . I encourage you to explore one thing this weekend that brings you total joy – emotionally, socially, spiritually, physically, or mentally – that has nothing to do with your appearance & then to do it! If you can’t think of one thing, GREAT. Then – that’s your homework ? . Know what you’ll explore? Or have an idea of something you’ve been wanting to try but have been putting off? Share below so you’re actually more likely to do the thing & because it selfishly brings me great joy to get to know you ??Big love, Corinne . p.s. if you haven’t, join my intimate email coaching community … for more nuggets of love & inspiration straight to your inbox. That is, if you fancy to! It’s the first link in my bio xx

A post shared by Corinne Dobbas, MS, RD (@corinnedobbas) on Nov 24, 2018 at 6:58am PST

what have you found on IG this month that you have loved?