We’ve mentioned Megan before in our
book blog, and if you’re on Instagram, you’ll no doubt have noticed her beautiful bright hair and love of pastels, but you may not have realised what she went through to get to become the super sassy body-positive figurehead she is today.
Megan first became aware that ‘thin is beautiful’ at the age of 5. By 10 she was dieting, and she was diagnosed with anorexia at the age of 14 by which time, she says, her identity was inextricably linked with her weight. After hospitalisation Megan’s illness morphed into binge eating disorder and she put on a lot of weight. This led to her desperately calorie-counting and swinging between starvation diets and overeating.
It was the body positive community that allowed Megan to heal – to understand that she is so much more than her weight, that she can love her body, no matter what its size, and that food is something to be enjoyed: And that’s exactly what she espouses in the Never Say Diet Club show. Her straight talking style spells out exactly why we are taught to hate ourselves (self-loathing is big business), why diets categorically do not work, and why we should all reclaim our worth from the jaws of diet culture.
Megan is a great singer and an incredible dancer and she incorporates plenty of ‘jiggle and shake’ and a great deal of comedy into her original songs and stonking dance routines. Her message is one we have all felt to be true, whether it’s been on a conscious level or not – there is no such thing as a ‘bad’ food, when unnatural thinness becomes the only way to be attractive don’t be surprised if people do unnatural things to attain that standard, and if your sole purpose is to shrink your body you end up not only not taking up less space but actually leading a lesser life.
The Never Say Diet club left the Apples and Pears team feeling entertained, empowered and more at home in our bodies than ever and we can’t wait to see what Megan does next. If you haven’t read it already, make sure you get hold of a copy of her book
Body Positive Power, and follow her on Instagram:
@bodyposipanda You’ll be glad you did!