A major school district’s diversity and equity office reportedly shared a video of a nutritionist for a massive junk food company who tells her tens of thousands of social media followers that the idea of eating healthy is racist.
Los Angeles Unified School District’s (LAUSD) Human Relations Diversity and Equity (HRDE) shared the video on its Instagram story, according to a tweet posted Monday by the parent advocacy group LA Parent Union.
In the video, corporate nutritionist Kéra Nyemb-Diop blames “fatphobia and systems of oppression” for creating “false hierarchies of food” that suggest some foods are healthier than others. She also tells her audience that people should “eat without guilt, regardless of what society says.”
Nyemb-Diop is a senior scientist in nutrition and ingredient research for Mondelez International — the multinational company behind Chips Ahoy!, Oreos and Sour Patch Kids. On Instagram, she uses the handle @black.nutritionist to suggest that “nutrition standards are rooted in whiteness.” Mondelez is worth more than $80 billion, according to The Wall Street Journal.
The video shared by the LA school district also includes an appearance by activist Maya Finoh, who uses the Instagram handle @SavageXFatty and insists that “[t]he only foods that are bad for you are foods that contain allergens, poisons and contaminants.”
The U.S. Department of Agriculture recommends limiting consumption of sodium, added sugars and saturated fats.
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In a Wednesday comment to the California Globe, an LAUSD spokesperson said the video did not “originate” with any district employee but did not deny that the video was shared on the HRDE account. “We support the highest nutritional standards for our students and continue to ensure all social media content promotes a safe, welcoming and affirming learning environment for all,” the district spokesperson said. LAUSD’s official food policy includes a commitment to serving students “healthy” food.
The district did not respond to the Daily Caller’s request for comment.
In another video, Nyemb-Diop instructs her over 55,000 Instagram followers to “decolonize [their] plate” because “Black people’s health status has way more to do with food apartheid and environmental racism than whether the chicken on the plate is fried or not.” (RELATED: ‘Treat Them Like Shit’: Democrat Running For Senate Goes On Racist Rant)
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“The war on ‘obesity’ is just used to justify shame and oppression,” Nyemb-Diop wrote in another Instagram post. “All diagnoses get ruled out, and ‘losing weight’ becomes the prescribed solution to all health problems. This is racist, dismissive, and dangerous to all of us.”
Nyemb-Diop says her goal is to give Black women the “tools centered on their unique lived experience to empower them to better nurture their bodies and minds.”
