Anti-Racism Resources - January 2026

Jan 29

Written By NAAFA Communications Committee

[Accessibility description: On a green background is an illustration of three raised fists signifying People of Color. Above the image is the text “Anti-Racism Resources, January 2026” and below is the text “Racism & Diet Culture.”]

Each month, we feature educational resources in the NAAFA Newsletter to support our community in working to dismantle systemic racism. These resources are also shared on our social media, blog, and website. Resources vary from month to month, and may include historical information, tools for personal reflection, or information about how to get involved and make change. Many of the resources we suggest will be introductory resources, and this information is never intended to be full coverage on the complex and nuanced topics that are chosen each month. We encourage you to continue learning, and we especially hope you will seek out and support scholars, artists, creators, and activists who represent the communities most impacted by the topic of the month.

This month we invite you to join us in exploring resources about racism and diet culture.

[Video] How Understanding Racism And Diet Culture Will Cultivate Joy with Chrissy King - Fat Joy Podcast with Sophia Apostol interviews Chrissy King about her book The Body Liberation Project: How Understanding Racism and Diet Culture Helps Cultivate Joy and Build Collective Freedom. Chrissy talks about her own body liberation journey and working to break down systems of white supremacy, racism and diet culture.
I’m a Black Dietitian — Here’s What I Want You to Know About Food and Racism - Maya Feller, a Black dietitian, discusses how centering whiteness in our food choices is harmful, and what we can do to make change. While she doesn’t say the phrase “diet culture” in the article, the othering of so-called “ethnic” foods is definitely a part of the racism that infests diet culture.
Me and Lizzo: Fat liberation in a culture obsessed with trauma, transformation, and thinness - This exceptional essay by Sirius Bonner talks about the limits of representation, especially for people whose stories have been taken away from them already by racism and anti-fatness.
[Video] Dietician Jessica Wilson on Black women building a community 'for us by us' - ABC News' features dietician and author Jessica Wilson and her book, It's Always Been Ours: Rewriting the Story of Black Women’s Bodies. Jessica explains how the stereotype that Black women are “too much” includes their bodies, and how society pressures Black women to get smaller. She recommends Black women use community to overcome the idea that their bodies are a problem.
Diet culture is rooted in racism, white supremacy, and colonialism - This serves as a wonderful educational resource with concise how-to sections on racism, diet culture and anti-fatness.
Diet culture tricks us into thinking our cultural foods aren’t healthy - This article explains how U.S. diet culture stigmatizes traditional Latine foods like tortillas and rice, framing them as unhealthy in ways that reflect racism in medicine and nutrition. It further gives insights in liberationary initiatives that counter this and highlights how racism happens in practice.
‘Diet Culture’ Isn’t Just About Smoothies and Food-Tracking Apps - In the process of defining and critiquing diet culture, author Christine Byrne, MPH, RD highlights diet culture’s racist roots and the harm it does to all people, not just dieters. It is refreshing to see this take in such a mainstream publication as SELF.