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positive bodyShe claims the right to eat what she wants
Body Positive influencers value what overweight people who don’t want to lose weight eat.
- by
- Lauren Cavin-Hostettler
Alanna Manning, Body Positive influencer wants to show that obese people eat like everyone else.
instagram curvylanna
Going on a diet and counting calories? Very little for Alanna Manning, an American Body Positive influencer, who uses social networks to show what obese people eat who do not wish to lose weight. “I’m on TikTok and Instagram a lot and see these videos of skinny girls counting their calories and bragging about not eating the recommended amount for a day,” she laments in “Teen Vogue.”
Not just fast food
“People imagine that obese people only eat fast food and high calorie foods. They don’t understand that we eat like everyone else. Yes, my body is big, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t have the right to three meals a day and to eat as I want”.
Admittedly, these types of videos and articles are nothing new. Gwyneth Paltrow, for example, has detailed her daily diet many times, which partly consists of powders and dietary supplements. Much of the content detailing the diets of fitness influencers and other celebrities is fueled by a desire to lose weight and can lead to eating disorders.
What is a balanced diet?
A healthy diet includes fruits, vegetables and dietary fibre, such as that provided by whole grains. Foods high in calories, high in fat, sugar or salt should be eaten in moderation. According to the WHO, the average requirement for an adult is between 2,600 and 3,200 calories per day and depends on age, gender, lifestyle and physical exercise.
Do not forget to eat properly
For Carissa Grace, another Body Positive activist, “there is this idea that if you are fat, you are lazy and unhealthy, which is not true. I wish to show that this is not the case”.
Carissa Grace’s account is all about body acceptance as a tall person. “I want to show people that weight doesn’t mean bad health. Some people accuse me of not showing everything I eat in my videos and that’s why I make them. Diet is not the only factor in obesity.
“Of course I receive negative comments, but I block them”, reacts Alanna Manning. “I also received messages from young girls thanking me, because my videos reminded them to eat properly”.
