If you read my last post about the best mental health professionals on TikTok, then you might remember me saying that I transformed from a skeptic to a full-blown fan of TikTok. And it’s mainly because of the amazing mental health movement going on within the platform. Like any social media app, you can easily find misinformation (it’s nearly inevitable when you have one billion active users). But, on the other hand, and in my experience, the number of mental health creators on TikTok who are on a mission to inform people about various disorders outweigh the ones making careless content.
As someone who’s very open about her struggles and has been on a healing journey for about seven years now, I’m learning new things every day on the platform. And it’s honestly very comforting, validating, and helpful to hear people talk so openly about their struggles. Everybody is dealing with something, and whether or not you’re diagnosed with a disorder, I truly believe this type of content can be helpful for someone to use as a starting point to some further research into how they can improve their quality of life.
That being said, I’ll be covering a few different categories of mental health “TikTokers” that I have found to be useful so you can curate your feed to be filled with content that helps rather than hurts.
Today, we’re covering registered dietitians who are anti-diet. In other words, these registered dietitians are on a mission to dismantle harmful diet culture messaging, make eating less complicated, and help people develop a healthier relationship with food.
1. Abbeys Kitchen
I’ve been following Abbey Sharp, RDN, for some time now on YouTube. I absolutely adore her because she lives up to her self-proclaimed title, which is “wellness culture BS busting dietitian.” And like she says, she definitely brings the science and the sass. It’s honestly so refreshing to hear since we live in a society that’s rampant with “nothing tastes as good as skinny feels” messaging, and every day, we hear about a shiny, new diet that doesn’t have any scientific research to back it up.
What I love most about Abbey is she achieves this wonderful balance of respecting people’s preferences (and not being too quick to judge) yet still calling people out if they are clearly promoting a diet-culture mentality. Her TikTok videos are quick bursts of what she’s like over on YouTube, and her TikToks are hilarious yet educational to watch.
2. Findfoodfreedom
Just like Abbey, Sam Previte, RD, LDN, CPT, is on a mission to take down “diet culture BS” with a ton of sass, sarcasm, and science. She’s a bit more assertive than Abbey, but that’s also why I had to include her on this list — because sometimes we need some tough love for an idea to really stick in our minds and change our lives. Even though she’s well-known for her clap-back TikToks, she also has many encouraging and supportive videos.
They aren’t very focused on calling out false information — rather, they’re gentle reminders that food freedom is achievable. (And they are so sweet!)
3. Taste It With Tia
Tia Glover is a registered dietitian (RD) who focuses specifically on helping people break free from binge eating. The reason why I had to include her on the list is that, unlike many wellness gurus, she encourages people who struggle to allow themselves to eat unconditionally and to remove moral labels on food. I think many people believe the answer to stopping binge eating is to add more rules and more restrictions when in reality, that usually makes it worse.
Tia is on a mission to explain how this works and to encourage those going through this difficult journey that they aren’t doomed to this vicious cycle forever.
4. Your Latina Nutritionist
Dalina Soto, MA, RD, LDN is on a mission to dismantle diet culture. She says that her upbringing in a Dominican family taught her a lot about how food is meant to be celebrated, shared, and enjoyed. Frankly, I love this mindset because we can sometimes get caught up in the messaging that “food is fuel, end of the story,” when in reality, there can be so much joy attached to it too! Of course, there’s a balance between using food as a coping mechanism
and simply enjoying it with mindfulness and awareness — and that’s exactly what Dalina is teaching on her TikTok.
5. Brave Space Nutrition
Katherine Metzelaar, MSN, RDN is an awesome resource for educational content about eating disorders, body image, diet culture, and any other facet when it comes to our relationship with food. I love the concise way she explains evidence-based facts to bust a lot of myths surrounding food. Some of my favorite videos of her as of late are her food addiction is a myth post, social determinants of health, and her whole series about what things aren’t helpful to prevent binge eating.
If you’re looking for some straightforward facts, Katherine’s page is definitely worth a follow!
That Concludes the List!
That’s the end of this list for the best TikTok anti-diet registered dietitians to follow in 2021! Did I miss any of your favorites? Drop their handle down below in the comments and why you appreciate the work they’re doing!
