The newest evangelists of the Make America Healthy Again lifestyle aren’t muscled bros crushing reps or wellness moms posting about vaccine schedules — they’re high-school- and college-aged young women. In another, not-too-distant era, they might have channeled their energy into writing “Twilight” fan fiction or playing beer pong. In this era, they’re making “pizza crust” from ground meat, perfecting their supplement regimens and posting Instagram reels about the supposed dangers of Tylenol and seed oils.
For many of them, the path to MAHA followed a similar trajectory: chronic health problems, disappointing encounters with the medical establishment and a search for more satisfying answers. They emerged with some often unproven scientific advice and a message of empowerment: Our chemical-soaked, overmedicated modern lifestyle is making us sick, but we can heal ourselves and reclaim our health by taking charge of what we put into our bodies.
We spoke with three young women about the appeal of the MAHA ethos and how it has changed their daily lives.
I started my personal Instagram account four years ago, posting healthy recipes. When I was 13, I was diagnosed with anorexia, and my parents and I went to see a registered dietitian. She told them, “You need to go get a dozen doughnuts and watch her eat them.” Even with how little my brain was functioning, because I wasn’t eating, I knew that didn’t sound right. That’s when I decided to do my own research.
Once I started to read a lot of stuff online about healthy eating, I realized that we need fuel, and we need to take care of the only body we get. My favorite Bible verse is Corinthians 10:31, “Whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” I decided to eat real whole foods that he created and designed for us to eat.
I don’t ever feel the need to take medication. My mom is an E.R. nurse, so if I got really sick, I’d take her advice, I guess.
After I started doing content like food swaps on my personal Instagram account, it got popular. I just made a video with Secretary Kennedy about the new food pyramid. I walked up to him at a public policy event and told him that I make videos about swapping out ultraprocessed snacks for real foods. The post did really well.
My friend Grace and I liked MAHA, so we began working together on a new account, @maha.girls. It focuses more on promoting the MAHA movement — specifically, the idea that you don’t need to blindly trust anyone about your health and that you can put your health in your own hands.
The normal health care system has absolutely failed people. When you go into an average American home, you see so many bottles of prescription pills. In reality, all pills do is cover up a problem instead of getting to the root cause.
A couple of years ago, I started developing bad eczema. Doctors couldn’t help me. A friend suggested a holistic health clinic, and after some testing, it turned out that I had severe gut problems. I had 73 food sensitivities!
Now I take about 30 supplements a day: omega-3, vitamin D, digestive enzymes, that kind of thing. I feel that they’ve really helped my eczema. I also use metal and glass products; I think an overuse of plastic is dangerous. I try to get in as much sun as possible in a day and eat plenty of red meat.
It’s really funny that this kind of health consciousness used to be for liberal women. We’ve completely flipped. I believe in very little government regulation. If the government forces you to take a vaccine, that’s terrible. I do think the government should step in if a food company is putting absolute trash or chemicals in their food products — but then again, I don’t trust the government. I really believe that MAHA is bringing health back to the people.
I see myself as someone who spreads the word on wellness. I want to help people at an individual level — that’s why I’m in school to be a dietitian. I wouldn’t consider myself an influencer at the moment, but I wouldn’t be mad if that’s something I become.
I make decisions for myself, and hopefully I’m helping other people be inspired by my lifestyle and how I’ve been able to heal my skin and body through what I eat.
I had really bad gut issues when I was younger. I was crying every day, and it felt like all the foods I ate were destroying my body. Doctors diagnosed me with I.B.S. but told me there wasn’t much they could do. So I went online to try and figure it out myself. I had to take my health into my own hands.
I started an Instagram account because I wanted to share what I had learned with other teens. I initially posted recipes and content about cutting out food that hurt my body. That led me deeper into crunchy, holistic content. The crunchy community is mostly made up of people who have had health issues in the past. Instead of taking medication, they change their lifestyle and get back to the roots of ancestral living.
I really try to preach bioindividuality — that’s my big thing. Everyone has different health needs. I have food intolerances, so I have to be really careful about what I eat. I’ll bring my own water bottle to a restaurant because a lot of tap water contains heavy metals, chlorine, fluoride and pharmaceutical remnants. I control what I can control.
I had the flu last year, and I took homeopathic remedies. I try to sauna daily. I’m an affiliate for a sauna company, so they sent me one for free. I don’t make money from Instagram, but I get paid for brand deals.
I just turned 18 in September, so I don’t have a ton of takes when it comes to politics yet. I like some of the stuff in the MAHA movement, but I don’t fully identify with them. I don’t go out of my way to be political because that’s not why people are following me.
I did have a video go viral recently, which was really exciting. I pretended to be cooking for my husband and five kids on a homestead, when really I was cooking for my siblings and my dad. I used the term “trad wife” because it’s trending on social media. But then a lot of people agreed with the video! A lot of girls aspire to that life. It made me think that I need to start embracing that kind of content, because people liked it so much.
Interviews have been edited and condensed.
Coralie Kraft is a frequent contributor to the magazine and a staff photo editor. She has written about America’s panic industry, A.I.-generated porn and people in long-term relationships with A.I. chatbots.
Elinor Carucci is a fine-art photographer who has exhibited worldwide. She has published five monographs and was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2002.
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