“Food Should Bring You Joy”
One post at a time, Iskra Lawrence is changing the way the modeling industry thinks about body image and diet culture.
The 32-year-old model, mom, CEO of Self Funding Planner and CEO of skin and body care company Saltair talks about her journey to mental health every effort. Lawrence, who has more than 5 million of her Instagram followers and more than 1 million of her TikTok followers, uses her platform to promote her positivity and her relationships with food and eating disorders. We are talking about recovery and such.
for us eat well and feel better In the series, we spoke with Lawrence to learn more about what she eats in a day, her thoughts on diet culture, and how she battles stereotypes in the modeling industry. Read on to find out what she wanted to tell her self in her youth and her philosophy on eating well.
eat well: what do you usually eat in a day?
Lawrence: I usually try to prepare oatmeal after waking up. I feel like I’ve started a new challenge after giving birth! Mornings are pretty hectic, so I love getting up and making oatmeal. In my oatmeal, I usually use oat milk and butter, let it cook for a while, then add chia seeds, fresh fruit, and honey. I always add Vital Proteins Collagen Powder to my oatmeal. Add the collagen powder to the milk using a milk frother. I lost a lot of hair postpartum, so I’m pretty obsessed with collagen powder and hair and nail vitamins.
Related: Best Collagen Powder by Nutritionist
Lunch time is soup and sandwiches for now. Super easy and fast. I try to be really productive at work, so I tend to grab something easy. I love adding spinach, cheese and deli meats. Being British, I love baked beans and often eat them with my omelet.
Dinner is quite different every day, but once a week I have salmon with sweet potatoes and green beans. It’s our favorite family meal and our 2 year old loves it too. And the Real Good Foods brand has some very good frozen meals, such as frozen stuffed chicken breasts wrapped in bacon. So I eat stuff like that with potatoes or sweet potatoes along with veggies like broccoli. It’s an easy and nice dinner that we also like, as we prepare steak, beef or chicken, teriyaki sauce, rice balls and vegetables.
Snack with fruit [the] These crunchy dark chocolate snacks with coconut and seeds from Costco are delicious. I also bake a lot, so I often have banana bread or cookies at home.
eat well: What do you think of when you hear the word “diet”? And how does it make you feel?
Lawrence: The word “diet” was definitely a negative word for me. Growing up, I associated it with calorie restriction. I think it was triggering and I don’t think it was a trigger now, but I definitely avoid it. Growing up with an eating disorder was detrimental to my mental and physical health. I think you should be intentional and intuitive about what you eat, but I don’t believe in any limits. I believe food should bring you joy and you should enjoy it. I love to cook and embrace it by trying different foods. I find it helpful because I think it helps me understand what my body is doing when I eat different types of food. I am no longer afraid of calories or trying to eat just to control my weight. Eating is about nourishment and fulfillment and enjoying all the different facets of them.
eat well: What foods make you feel so good that you can’t live without them?
Lawrence: lots of food. I love burgers, cookies, ice cream…and smoothies. I love avocado and guacamole, I love salmon, I love good steak and fries, I have so much food and I am free to enjoy all these foods. “Those kinds of foods. They’re the foods I enjoy and I eat whenever I want!
eat well: As a modelwhat are the stereotypes you want to fight of About the industry, food and body image?
Lawrence: Be open about eating disorders and body dysmorphic disorders. At first, I think that all models are confident, or that all models enjoy dieting and resonate with a lot of people who assumed it was necessary to succeed. I think a career and being open about it shows that you don’t have to be a certain size to be successful and you don’t have to build a career in modeling. I think it opened a lot of doors for people of all sizes as well. This is one of the best things my platform has done. I want people to know that models are human too.
eat well: What would you like to tell your younger self about body image?
Lawrence: I hope my happiness and success are not determined by my weight or size.You will be loved no matter what you look like. I think it’s very difficult to separate from . I think it’s really important that you don’t judge yourself or your worth based on your looks alone. It’s important because it’s often valued in the modeling industry, but it’s not a way to validate how you feel about yourself. I had to stop comparing myself, especially to others in the industry. If I go to work and I don’t do well and another model does, I look at her and say, ‘Oh, because she’s skinnier’ or ‘Oh, her skin is Because it’s smooth,” I thought. I want my younger self to stop comparing and know that everything is worth it and that she is doing well, without being dependent on her size or weight. will generate and influence she does exactly what she should do.
eat well: What does “eating well” mean to you?
Lawrence: It definitely means freedom from food fear. We talk about health, but health is holistic. So when I think about eating a lot, it’s a holistic view of how I nourish myself. We are not afraid of food, we can enjoy it and it brings many beautiful benefits, memories and social assets to our lives. You wake up excited to nourish yourself every day, to try and experience new things with food, to spend moments with food and let it become a positive aspect of your life. I can.
eat well: What do you want your fans to get out of this interview?
Lawrence: i want my fan or someone [reading] This means that even if it’s hard to accept yourself or what you look like, it’s enough to know that you need to be who you are and you need to be here. does not determine your worth, and you deserve to eat. You need to eat, you need to nourish your body. Don’t be afraid of food. Even if you find yourself in a very difficult place on your journey, it will get better, whether you currently have an eating disorder or body image problem. Keep choosing what you want. There is no wrong way to talk about how you feel. [their relationship with] food. Seeking help is very important because you don’t have to do this yourself.
I hope Lawrence’s message helps anyone struggling with body image or having an eating disorder know that they’re not alone. If you struggle with an eating disorder, the National Eating Disorders Association Hotline is available 24/7 by phone or text to connect you to helpful resources.