food for THOUGHT

JO SEBASTIAN constantly reminds everyone that we "always deserve to eat," but we should do so with a healthier, kinder mindset.

-  JACS T. SAMPAYAN

FITNESS TOK—a hashtag rabbit hole dedicated to health and well-being that you can fall into within the confines of the social media behemoth TikTok— leads to a cacophony of voices. From gym rats teaching viewers how to prepare low carb meals for the entire week to physical therapists fixing common aches and ailments with simple body movements to more than a handful of people professing the benefits of meditation and crystals, the variety is impressive if not overwhelming. Scroll enough and you might land on that of dietician, writer, and nutritionist Jo Sebastian.

Several reasons might make you do a double take and park at her account: for one, Jo is bald, a bewildering fixation for a few people in her comments section (“It’s so random, I already know I’m bald”). For her, it was simply a way of supporting a cancer-stricken sister going through therapy; she is also happily encouraging you to partake of (gasp) fast food, albeit with some adjustments; and, finally, she would almost always end every video with the same mantra: “Remember, you always deserve to eat.”

Unlike countless others, Sebastian doesn’t want to just catch your attention, she wants to do what the other half TikTok (the half that doesn’t stop at entertaining, titillating, riot inciting, or aggravating) wants to do: educate.

“One of my biggest principles as a dietitian is I want to empower people with knowledge,” she says, “not straight up ‘do this do that,’ but knowledge about what they can do... you can be more independent and make these food choices on your own.”