Alissa Rumsey - Unapologetic Eating: Make Peace with Food & Transform Your Life

Introduction

A couple of years ago, I posted a series of photos on social media of me eating a sandwich. Not just any sandwich, mind you; it was a big ol Pub Sub from Publix, the well-known southern U.S. grocery store chain. (If you are ever near a Publix, you MUST get yourself a Pub Sub. Trust me.) In the images, Im blissfully ignorant of the fact that my partner is taking photographs. I am mid-bite, eyes closed, hunched over in my bikini, with my forehead scrunched up and my mouth open wide. Just unabashedly enjoying the heckout of that massive sandwich, crumbs on my face and all. When I posted the photos on my Instagram feed later that day, I wrote a quick, off-the-cuff caption asking my followers, Why dont we see more images of women actually eating food? Not looking perfect, not talking about how good or bad they are being, not commenting on or criticizing their bodies, but just eating and enjoying food?

I never expected the reaction that the series of imagesand those questionswould have. Almost immediately, comments began flooding in from people telling me how validating and liberating it was to see another woman eatingand enjoyingfood without offering any explanation or apologizing for what she was eating. Many people commented on how brave I was for posting that photo and said they could never in a million years post an imperfect photo of themselves that showed their rolls, their cellulite, or food on their faces. Although I hadnt thought twice about posting the photos, there was a time not that long ago when I would have been mortified to do so. Publicly post a picture of myself with no makeup, hair haphazardly thrown into a messy ponytail, visible wrinkles and stomach rolls, AND food on my face?! I never thought that I would eventually get to the point where what I looked like wasnt a factor for me when sharing a public social media post.

Up until this point, I had never really questioned the photos I saw daily in the media (which also speaks to my privilege as a thin, young, white woman because I was mainly seeing images of people who looked just like me), but the implicit messages that these images send to women and girls were now staring me in the face: If youre going to take a photo of yourself with food, you must look pretty doing it, and you must be thin, or else you open yourself up to commentary on how unhealthy (or worse) you must be. Oh, and you cant actually be eatingthe food in the photos; you must only pose with it. These societal standards were what all the women who thought I was brave were reacting to; they couldnt imagine sharing a photo like this of themselves for fear of being judged, teased, shamed, or bullied. Its no wonder so many women cant eat and enjoy food without feeling guilty or needing to justify themselves and apologize.

I didnt know it at the time, but posting those images marked the start of both a personal and professional transformation for me. I began to sit with, digest, and reflect upon all of the questions that I posed earlier. At the time, I had been a dietitian for almost ten years; I had embarked on this career path a decade earlier during my own disordered eating and struggles with body image. After spending most of my twenties improving my body image and my relationship to food and exercise, I had accidentally discovered intuitive eating a few years before my Instagram post with the Pub Sub.