#104: The Autism-Eating Disorder Connection and Understanding Healthism with Emma Green, PHD

Emma Green joins us this week to talk about her diagnosis of autism as an adult and how it impacts her understanding of her eating disorder as a teen, as well as how healthism, ableism, and anti-fatness intersect. We can’t talk about disordered eating and eating disorders without acknowledging healthism and ableism, and this conversation brings in both Emma’s lived experience and a discussion on how to build inclusive, supportive spaces for neurodivergent folks. We discuss the connection between autism and disordered eating behaviors, and how common it is to receive a misdiagnosis. If you listened to the recent episode on OCD and eating disorders, this is a great continuation of the discussion of mental health conditions and their ties to the ED space.

This was such a life-giving, healing conversation, and I so appreciate Emma’s voice on the matter and her willingness to share her personal experience. This is the kind of discussion I wish younger me would have heard, and I hope that it’s helpful for all of you, regardless of your lived experience.

Tune in to hear more, including...

• What healthism is, and how it’s harming us

• Defining “health”

• The intersection between healthism, ableism, and diet culture 

• Weight stigma and health outcomes

• How healthism creates barriers to physical movement 

• Emma’s diagnosis of autism as an adult

• How autism can be mistaken for an eating disorder 

• Neurodivergence and disordered eating risk 

• Why “recovered” is a concept that requires fluidity and intersectionality 

• The difference between structured eating and disordered eating

 

Emma Green is a neurodivergent writer, editor and researcher. Her work aims to achieve social justice for people in all bodies by sharing science and lived experiences, and generating constructive conversations. Find her on Instagram @emmagphd.

 

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Transcripts: If you’re looking for transcripts, you can find those on my website, www.abbieattwoodwellness.com/podcast 

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Podcast Cover Photography by Anya McInroy

Podcast Editing by Brian Walters

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