Editor's Note: This review was originally published in Manhattan Book Review.
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| Dalia Kinsey |
In Decolonizing Wellness, registered dietitian and decolonized wellness coach Dalia Kinsey discusses the damaging effects of Eurocentric cultural biases on beauty, thinness, and diet fads. The author offers an empowering perspective for people whose identities are often marginalized in the health and wellness industry. For Kinsey, queer, transgender, Black, indigenous, and other people of color (QTBIPOC) are top of mind.
While the book is intended primarily for QTBIPOC readers, healers from all communities can learn about ways to support and affirm body positivity and self-care. At a time when conversations about race-based stress are often minimized as a class issue, Kinsey proclaims––and supports with scientific evidence––that money does not protect Black and Brown people from suffering its ill effects. Kinsey cites “minority stress theory” as the primary reason for persistent health disparities among people from marginalized identities.
Kinsey, who identifies as genderqueer and nonbinary, applies a holistic approach to wellness that not only focuses on systemic issues but also on the personal work of decolonization. Journaling prompts embedded in every chapter challenge the reader to reflect on their thoughts and feelings about food, body image, self-love, and setting boundaries in relationships. Understanding how our social conditioning about self-worth is linked to cultural centrism is key to overcoming adverse health outcomes.
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