Northeastern Senior Jenny Minney Creates Online Haven for Eating Disorder Recovery

**TW: discussion of eating disorders and ED recovery**

Social media is a powerful vehicle for connection and education, but also a hotbed of unhealthy comparison. As we scroll through seemingly endless feeds of photoshopped torsos and surgically-sculpted faces, we begin to spiral — suddenly, our waists aren’t small enough, our lips aren’t full enough, or our thighs aren’t toned enough. A survey by FHE Health found that 88% of women compare their bodies to those they see in media, and 51% of women thus view their bodies unfavorably. Countless other studies have also linked social media use to the development of body dysmorphia and eating disorders.

But somewhere in the stream of Instagram models and fitness influencers, there’s a community of creators seeking to foster body confidence and encourage non-restrictive eating habits among their audiences — one being Northeastern senior Jenny Minney. Her fast-growing Instagram account has offered an indispensable safe space for those navigating ED recovery.

“Going through my own recovery and finding that niche on Instagram helped me realize that I’m not alone. There are men and women around the country, around the world who suffer with this,” Minney said. “I’m just so grateful to be someone that these other people struggling can go to.”

Minney grappled with her body image throughout her adolescence, as her upbringing in the ballet world taught her to idealize a slender figure. Being tall, lanky, and pre-pubescent, Minney often fit the mold. However, as she began to mature, it became more and more difficult to adhere to this rigid standard of beauty.

“After years being praised for my body and praised for looking a certain way, for fitting in costumes a certain way... realizing that my body was different was really hard for me to accept,” she said.

These budding insecurities intensified when the pandemic hit, as housebound Gen Z’ers like Minney were left with little stimulation beyond their thoughts and TikTok feeds. The isolation was particularly dangerous for young adults between the ages of 18 and 24, who experienced the highest levels of mental illness out of any age group. Social media was a welcome distraction, but later proved to be a dangerous enabler.

“At the time I thought [social media] was helpful, but it definitely aided in fueling those thoughts that I needed to change, that I could fix whatever happened to my body,” she said. “My brain latched on to what I thought I could control about my body, which was food”

She created her Instagram account at the height of the quarantine period, which also happened to be the height of her quietly-developing eating disorder. The page, initially titled @goodeatsgoodday, originally revolved around healthy, at-home recipes, but later devolved into a scrupulous means of tracking her food intake. But with every uploaded image of a hearty salad or bagel sandwich, she was successfully keeping up appearances.

“I wasn’t telling anyone what was going on, how I was doing, or how little I was eating. That’s the sneaky thing with eating disorders – they can be so invisible from the outside,” she said.

Minney said the cycle continued for about a year, and any visible changes to her body only fueled the behaviors even more. Disorders such as anorexia and bulimia nervosa have been found to alter the brain’s reward response systems, with the physical signs of weight loss triggering the dopamine releases typically associated with food consumption.

“I thought I was doing the right thing for myself,” she said, “but I got to a very unhealthy place physically... I think that kickstarted something in my brain, like, ‘this is not sustainable.’”

When Minney decided to embark on her recovery journey, she began to reevaluate her online presence. Her food-focused account was a reminder of restrictive habits and harmful thought cycles, leading her to discover that she “didn’t want to box [her]self in” to that genre of content any longer. She soon re-branded her account as a digital recovery diary, documenting not only her “good eats,” but the highs and lows of the recovery process — all under her own name, @jenny.minney.

“I could feel in recovery, I was getting away from needing to think about my food and hyperfixate on my food... I wanted this account to just be about me and my journey,” she said.

Since making this pivot in the spring of 2021, Minney has received an outpouring of love and support — not only from her friends and family, but from strangers as well. Her account now boasts an impressive following of 27,000, with one of her reels accruing over one million views.

“I started getting DMs from people saying how much me being vulnerable was helping them... that’s what warms my heart and keeps me going,” she said. “Sometimes I catch myself when I get fixated on the numbers and the growth, because that’s not what it’s about for me.”

On a platform littered with triggering content, Minney hopes her page can serve as a haven for men and women struggling with disordered eating. She points to openness, vulnerability, and community as important pillars in the healing journey.

“I know exactly what position they’re in, I’d been there not too long ago — just reaching for any sort of help. And the fact that I can now be the person they go to just feels amazing,” she said. “Just learning to talk about it can be a huge help.”

In addition to helping her followers get their lives back on track, Minney said the account has allowed her to do the same for herself.

“I felt so lost in so many ways at the beginning of recovery,” she said. “Having this sort of outlet to be creative really helped me. I realized how much I had missed my hobbies of visual art, painting, and photography. My eating disorder had just taken that all away from me.... It started to help me get back in touch with who Jenny is, underneath all of this.”

Minney said the recovery process has also helped her channel a new sense of bravery, pushing certain mental boundaries and challenging herself as an individual.

“Something that’s been going through my head recently is the saying, ‘feel the fear and do it anyway,’” she said. “And I think that is just what recovery is... leaning into the discomfort and believing that you can do these hard things.”

She continued, “I think it’s really important to push ourselves outside our comfort zone, because that’s where we grow. And recovery is one huge push outside your comfort zone, until suddenly you start to feel more comfort because you kept pushing.”

Minney is slated to graduate in May of 2023 with a combined degree in architecture and graphic design. Though she greatly enjoys content creation and the online community she has cultivated, she remains humble and focused on her career goals. She’ll be moving to New York City following her graduation, where she plans to pursue full-time opportunities in graphic design.

“At the end of the day, my account could get hacked, it could get deleted,” she said. “I need to make sure that I have myself outside of this.”

Keep up with Jenny’s recovery journey on her Instagram (@jenny.minney), TikTok (@jenny.minney), and YouTube (@jennyminney). Her podcast, Beyond the Banter, is accessible on Spotify.