Less than six weeks ago, there were two, maaaybe three photos of women ingesting actual food under the hashtag #WomenEatingFood. That didn't sit right with registered dietician Alissa Rumsey and her friend and fellow body coach Linda Tucker. So when Rumsey's boyfriend just so happened to take a picture of her crushing a Publix sub whilst in a bikini a few weeks back, she and Tucker decided to take the opportunity not only to post a fun photo, but also to start a conversation around it.
Rumsey calls the new hashtag (#WomenEatingFood) "accidental," but once the idea was in her head, she Googled "women eating" and found confirmation that something had to be done: The results on that search were just "a bunch of thin, white, beautiful women with a salad they weren't even touching. It was insane." That particularly bothered Rumsey, because it was her own "disordered relationship with [my] own body and [food]" in high school that led her to nutrition in the first place. She figured had she maybe seen more pictures of women actually eating and enjoying food online when she'd been in high school, some of that may have been different.
So after those Google results, Rumsey and Tucker posted a similar message to their combined 25,000-plus Instagram followers saying, "Hey! We wanna see real women, all different shapes, sizes, colors, and abilities, eating real food without any justification or explanation for it." Since then, they've received more than 600 submissions of actual women eating actual food tagged with the new hashtag.
What Rumsey didn't expect was the influx of fellow dietitians to join in posting their own pictures, but upon further reflection, it makes sense: "They see the value in this too, in how much seeing women simply eating without justification can help to start to normalize that action." She expects it'll help not only those with disordered relationships with food, but also those who have "full-blown eating disorders."
And while every day, she and Tucker continue to see new #WomenEatingFood pictures posted, the movement is far from over. Most of those images come from white women in what Rumsey deems "socially acceptable bodies," and she's looking to make sure there's room for everyone in this discussion.
"The [photos] that have stuck out to me so far are the ones from women in larger bodies who’ve been posting and sharing because I know how much harder that is," she continues: "I think it's important to address that it’s easy for me, someone who is in a 'socially acceptable body,' to post a photo of myself eating, because, yeah, I do get praise. It’s a scarier thing for someone who isn't because they might not get comments like that or even have it be perceived as positive."
So she and Tucker continue to ask women of all "shapes, sizes, color, identities, and abilities" to post pictures of themselves enjoying burgers, fries, ice cream, and, yeah, even salads (as long as that's what makes you happy!), and they ask you do it without validation for what you're eating or explanation as to why.
Because at the end of the day, "it’s just like…we eat. And we need to eat. And we’re normalizing that."
