Food Psych #243: The Link Between Anti-Racism Work and Ending Diet Culture with Educator and Activist Monique Melton

Anti-racism educator and author Monique Melton joins us to discuss why doing anti-racism work is a prerequisite to dismantling diet culture and other systems of oppression, the difficulty of raising Black children in our white-supremacist culture, how to move beyond performative activism and allyship, why anti-racism work is never-ending, and so much more.

Monique Melton is an anti-racism educator, published author, international speaker, and host of the Shine Brighter Together podcast. She is also the founder of Shine Brighter Together, which is a community dedicated to healthy relationships & diverse unity.

She travels the world speaking at conferences and events on topics related to anti-racism, personal growth, diversity, and relationships. She’s been published in magazines, featured in blogs and podcasts, and has touched the lives of people all over the world.

She is a natural big-bold dreamer and a deeply rooted woman of faith.

She is a proud Navy wife to her high-school sweetheart, and she is a loving mother to two little ones.

She has a BA in social science with an emphasis in sociology & psychology and two years of graduate school education in Clinical Counseling from Johns Hopkins University.

She believes it's not all about your comfort, but it's about your growth. Find her online at MoniqueMelton.com.

We Discuss:

Food as a source of celebration for Monique and her family growing up, and how diet culture messaging started to creep in over time
Subtle sources of internalized fatphobia
Food and being present as sources of joy
The space that dieting takes up
Monique’s experiences with diets and disordered eating
How learning about the racist roots of diet culture motivated her to start rejecting it
How Monique’s husband has supported her while entrenched in and moving away from diet culture
Language and actions that reinforce diet culture
Trying to raise children away from diet culture, particularly during the COVID-19 pandemic
Encouraging critical thinking skills in children
The challenge of raising Black children in our white-supremacist culture
Why Monique became an anti-racism educator
The backlash she initially received for her anti-racism work, and why she continued to do it
The similarities and differences between anti-racism and anti-diet work
Why anti-racism work needs to come before dismantling other systems of oppression
What people can do to contribute to anti-racism
Moving beyond performative activism and allyship
Why anti-racism work is never-ending
Building a community as a bulwark against systems of oppression