The 10 Best Anti-Diet and Wellness Books by BIPOC Authors
Written by Isabel Vasquez RD, LDN
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As women of color, most health and wellness content isn’t created with us in mind.
Most studies primarily include white participants, nutrition recommendations don’t typically incorporate our cultural foods, and health advice comes from people who don’t look like us.
Even in the anti-diet space, many faces of the movement are white. Yet, there are added challenges to healing from dieting and disordered eating when you’re a person of color. In fact, the thin ideal is rooted in racism.
Consuming content from fellow BIPOC may help you feel more validated, seen, and supported. Books written by BIPOC are one relatively low-cost yet powerful way to learn and grow in your journey.
In this blog, we share the top ten books written by BIPOC authors to support your anti-diet journey, along with the one soon-to-be-released book we’re looking forward to reading.
The Body is Not An Apology: The Power of Radical Self-Love by Sonya Renee Taylor
This book was actually one of our first Chula Club book club picks. In it, Sonya Renee Taylor—an award-winning poet, activist, and author—focuses on the power of embracing ourselves fully in order to create a better world for ourselves and everyone around us.
She addresses the various systems of oppression in our society and the ways in which we can learn to radically love ourselves and our bodies despite these oppressive forces.
It is a must-read for body liberation! There’s even a workbook that goes along with the book if you want more exercises and prompts.
Hood Feminism by Mikki Kendall
This book is a powerful, intersectional take on feminism, addressing the ways in which only the most privileged women are centered in the feminist movement. It features a series of essays on different aspects of feminism, from eating disorders to poverty to education and more.
Kendall addresses how the social determinants of health impact women’s ability to thrive, and the ways upper class women play a role in the oppression of lower class women. She shares her personal experiences with poverty, disordered eating, racism, and more.
To broaden your understanding of feminism and systemic oppression, this book is a must read. If you like audiobooks, the author even reads it herself, which is always more enjoyable.
Fearing the Black Body: The Racial Origins of Fatphobia by Sabrina Strings
This book is written quite academically, so it’s a more intensive read than the others on this list, but the content of the book is so important.
The author shares an in-depth history of the development of modern beauty ideals and how they are directly influenced by racism and purity culture.
For women of color, we learn that we were never meant to attain the thin ideal as it’s rooted in racism and the patriarchy.
Belly of the Beast: The Politics of Anti-Fatness as Anti-Blackness by Da'Shaun L. Harrison
Published in late 2021, this book details the ways weight-, race-, and gender-based discrimination negatively impact health outcomes.
Da’Shaun L. Harrison—a fat, black, nonbinary trans individual—takes an intersectional approach to this important conversation on how fat, black people are treated in our society and the implications of these injustices.
Set Boundaries, Find Peace: A Guide to Reclaiming Yourself by Nedra Glover Tawwab
If you struggle to set boundaries (and let’s be real, who doesn’t?), this book is for you!
Nedra Glover Tawwab—a black therapist—addresses the ins and outs of setting and maintaining boundaries. This is a thorough guide to boundaries that you will no-doubt revisit countless times after you read it.
Tawwab shares signs that you may need boundaries with various acquaintances, from coworkers to family members to yourself, and ways to go about setting them.
Setting boundaries is a common struggle intuitive eaters face, and this book is my go-to recommendation for clients.
Drama Free by Nedra Glover Tawwab
We just had to include Nedra Glover Tawwab’s second book, Drama Free, on this list as well. It was one of our Chula Club book club picks for 2023 and the chulas absolutely loved it and continue revisiting it as family issues arise.
In this book, Tawwab provides tips on understanding and improving family dynamics and breaking harmful patterns.
Given the intergenerational trauma many BIPOC face, this book is a great resource to help you navigate tough family dynamics.
Rest is Resistance: A Manifesto by Tricia Hersey
Written by the creator of The Nap Ministry, this book discusses the ways in which capitalism overworks us, exploits us, and prevents us from resting. It was another Chula Club book club pick for 2023.
The title of the book says it all, honestly. We know that rest is crucial to well-being and that the stress that results from grind culture is harmful to our health. Yet, we don’t often consider how particularly as people of color, rest is a form of resistance.
Hersey’s work centers around this idea of rest as resistance and she waxes poetic about it in this manifesto.
The Body Liberation Project by Chrissy King
Chrissy King is a writer, speaker, fitness and strength coach whose debut book, The Body Liberation Project, came out in 2023. This book is part memoir, part guide to reclaiming your relationship with your body.
King shares parts of her own eating disorder recovery journey and how she reclaimed her relationship to exercise and her body. Her journey serves as inspiration for others to recognize how their relationships with food, exercise, and their bodies may be disordered and how to heal.
Each chapter ends with reflection prompts to help guide you on your own journey.
Decolonizing Wellness by Dalia Kinsey
In this book, Dalia Kinsey brings a social justice lens to intuitive eating. This book serves as a guide to ditching diets and achieving body liberation particularly for Queer, Trans, Black, Indigenous, People of Color (QTBIPOC).
Kinsey addresses the unique factors that impact these marginalized communities’ relationships with food and their bodies. So, if you are a member of the QTBIPOC community or simply want to be a better ally, this is a great read.
It's Always Been Ours: Rewriting the Story of Black Women's Bodies by Jessica Wilson
Jessica Wilson is another fellow BIPOC dietitian who specializes in eating disorders. Her book addresses how black women are uniquely harmed by diet culture and the thin ideal.
She delves into the history of the thin ideal and how it’s influenced by racism. This truth continues to the present day, and black women continue to be oppressed by modern beauty ideals.
Wilson shares how black women can center their own healing and work towards body liberation.
What We’re Looking Forward To Reading:
The Latina Anti-Diet by Dalina Soto (AKA Your Latina Nutritionist!)
We are beyond excited that in 2024, Dalina Soto (AKA the founder of Your Latina Nutrition) will be publishing The Latina Anti-Diet!
This book will be a guide to ditching diets specifically for Latinas. Soto will draw from her personal experience, years of working with clients, research, and history to empower Latinas to reclaim their cultural foods, embrace their bodies, and ditch diets for good.
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