While the wellness community on Instagram can indeed be very inspiring, the curated sea of seemingly "perfect" images can also sometimes be incredibly toxic and exhausting to keep up with. A quick scroll through the profiles of most popular wellness Instagrammers will likely show you lots of extensive meal-prepping, overpriced workout classes, and overall, completely unachievable lifestyles. So if you're sick of being told to eat kale every single day when you open up Instagram, there are other inspiring wellness Instagram accounts out there that you can follow, that actually keep it as real and as candid as possible 24/7. You just have to do a little digging to find them — but, lucky for you, I've rounded up nine accounts you should start following ASAP.
The fact of the matter is, Instagram is one of the worst platforms for mental health, period. A 2017 report from the UK's Royal Society For Public Health and the Young Health Movement revealed that "platforms like Instagram and Facebook present highly curated versions of the people we know and the world around us," and as a result, consuming these social media feeds on a regular basis can lead to body image issues, as well as feelings of anxiety, depression, and loneliness, according to the research findings.
Of course, not every Instagram account will make you feel these things; it's just a bit harder to find the ones that are authentic, relatable, and that don't make you feel worse about yourself each time you scroll through their feed. To get you started, here are nine incredible women to follow on Instagram who always know how to keep it real, and who are dedicated to inspiring you day in and day out.
Iskra Lawrence is a British model who always keeps it refreshingly real on her Instagram page. Though you'll likely notice her striking beauty at first glance, she makes a point to never take herself too seriously, and to make it clear that she has insecurities and flaws just like any other human being.
Lawrence is also an Aerie ambassador, and she recently teamed up with the brand for its #AerieREAL campaign of un-retouched swim photos. According to a press release on the campaign, between late February and early July 2018, for each photo posted with the hashtag, Aerie donated $1 to the National Eating Disorders Association, which is nothing short of inspiring.
The 27-year-old model has also been open about her own recovery from an eating disorder, and when she's not posting fun workout videos or snapshots from a night out with friends, she's inspiring her followers to love themselves exactly the way they are.
I first found Hayley Garnett's Instagram when SELF reposted a photo of Garnett's stretch marks on her postpartum belly back in April, and ever since then, I haven't been able to get enough of this mama's contagiously positive spirit. Garnett uses her platform to show the imperfect joys, both physical and mental, of motherhood (she has twin girls and a toddler boy). Her posts will help you feel more comfortable with every last "flaw" on your body, but at the same time, you'll notice Garnett doesn't act like the journey to self-love is easy in any sense of the word. In one Instagram caption from a picture she posted back in June, Garnett wrote:
I haven’t shared a postpartum shot in awhile. To be honest I have sort of been feeling like a fraud. Embracing my postpartum body is a kind of back and forth mind game. There’s no doubt I’m proud of my stripes, proud of what my body brought into this world. But I can’t lie and say I’m thrilled about the fact that I will likely look a good five months pregnant for the rest of my life due to my pretty severe diastisis recti.
So while there are certain parts of my body that I can fully embrace, there are other parts that still bring up feelings of insecurity. I just felt like I should let you all know this, that my journey to loving this postpartum body is not a walk in the park. It’s a jog at a steep incline with random plateaus. Baby steps, guys . We will get there! How is your journey going?
Anyone else suddenly weeping over their laptop? Just me? K.
If you're sick of wellness influencers who post pictures of their kale salads and smoothie bowls all the time and call it "balance", head on over to Robyn Nohling's Instagram, where the content truly is about blissful, realistic balance. Nohling describes herself in her Instagram bio as "a non-diet dietitian and nurse practitioner" who's all about helping women make peace with their bodies.
Nohling's approach to food is incredibly refreshing and non-restrictive, and in one of her Instagram captions from a picture she posted in June, she wrote,
Who says you can’t have dessert first? I’m too hungry to wait for dinner to cook, so an [ice cream] appetizer sounded just right. Carbs + protein + fat to take the edge off hunger real quick.
The secret's out, friends: Ice cream can be a part of a healthy and balanced diet.
Morena Diaz is a Swiss blogger and model who's all about body positivity and self-love. Each and every one of her Insta posts is aimed to inspire you to stop giving a flying you-know-what about what anyone else thinks, and to love your body for every last thing it does for you.
In a post from May that features Diaz dancing her jiggling heart out, the model wrote,
Shaking, jiggling and celebrating life (and obviously not caring about cellulite).
always remember: Cellulite isn’t a flaw, it’s something natural most women (and also some men) bodies have. It’s society, especially the beauty industrie which makes us want to see cellulite as flaw to make us buy their products and make money but U CAN’T SPELL CELLULITE WITHOUT U LIT.
So how do I become best friends with this woman ASAP?
Kylie Mitchell is another inspiring blogger and dietitian who uses her Instagram page as a platform to help put an end to disordered eating, and help followers make peace with their natural body size. Personally, my all-time favorite thing about Mitchell's Instagram is when she posts her original watercolor paintings, like the one featured above, for which her caption read: "Sometimes I think these watercolors are just an outlet for my passive aggressiveness."
Keep being passive aggressive, Kylie, please. I think I speak for everyone when I say perspectives like yours are desperately needed in the wellness community.
If you've ever logged onto Instagram and immediately started comparing yourself to all of the perfectly curated, fitness-model content clogging up your feed, take a journey over to Dana Falsetti's page and rejoice in the realness, my friends.
The body-positive yoga teacher doesn't hold back at all when it comes to standing up for what she believes in — and sometimes, this means shutting down the haters. I'm so here for it, you guys.
In a caption for a July 5 Instagram post, Falsetti wrote,
“You’re promoting obesity.” - comments people leave on photos where I’m just standing there and the caption is about how I love houseplants.
And how about this post - a fat woman eating. Am I promoting obesity here, too? Or am I not allowed to eat?
You don’t care about my health. Repeat: you don’t care about my health. Nobody has ever demanded the state of my mental health, or assumed to know it, by the way. You care about your own self-image, maintaining a hierarchy of bodies that perpetuates violence towards fat and marginalized people and keeps privileged bodied people feeling AND being treated as better than. You care that people who are supposed to feel shame, stay ashamed. How dare I love myself. How dare I exist. How DARE I be visible, right?
To say Falsetti's Instagram posts give me life would be the understatement of the year, people.
For those times when you're feeling discouraged and overwhelmed by all things Instagram, head over to Celeste Barber's page, where you probably won't be able to scroll for very long without bursting out in laughter. Barber is an actor, comedian, and writer who's best known for her #celestchallengeaccepted series, in which she takes perfectly airbrushed photos of models and celebs and collages herself next to them as she attempts to pose in her own take on the original photo.
TBH, I'll just leave it at that. Go see for yourself, because I promise you, this content does not disappoint.
Some days, the inspirational quotes that flood wellness Instagram captions are wonderful, and exactly what you need to help you feel motivated. But other days, the last thing you want to hear is that whole, ~the universe is inside of you~ BS, because honestly, life can be rough, and sometimes you need someone to simply acknowledge that.
Yoga teacher and activist Dianne Bondy does just that on her Instagram page. You'll never find a hint of phoniness on this superwoman's feed, and her commitment to educating and inspiring her followers will make you feel, for once, like you're not alone in this big, scary world.
Jameela Jamil is a model and actress who also runs the Instagram page @i_weigh which, according to its bio, is a dedicated "movement for us to feel valuable and see how amazing we are, and look beyond the flesh on our bones." And I. Am. Here for it, y'all.
Side note: When Jamil has her period, she's not afraid to post captions like, "I want a cuddle and a fight and some spaghetti bolognese all at the same time." I mean, same, girl. Also, I think I'm in love.
