Cooking Without Wellness Rules and How Social Media Is Like Diet Culture with Julia Turshen
Jun 19, 2023
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New York Times bestselling cookbook author Julia Turshen discusses her history with an eating disorder, how diet talk boundaries impacted her relationship with food, and how letting go of diet and wellness rules changed her cooking. She also explores the similarities between social media and diet culture, and why she has taken a step back from it.
Julia Turshen's journey showcases how letting go of diet and wellness rules can transform one's cooking approach.
Julia Turshen emphasizes the need to distinguish the positive aspects of community and connection on social media from its toxic elements to protect mental well-being.
Deep dives
Cookbook author discusses her history with an eating disorder and orthorexic thinking
Julia Tertian, a cookbook author, shares her personal journey with an eating disorder and how orthorexic thinking influenced her work. She discusses her love for cooking and the complexity of her relationship with food. Julia reflects on her involvement in diet and wellness culture as a professional in the cookbook industry, and how it intensified her eating disorder behaviors. However, in recent years, she has recognized the harmful impact of diet culture and has experienced a shift in her cooking approach. Julia now prioritizes pleasure, flexibility, and presence in her cooking, finding joy in simple meals and creating positive connections to childhood memories.
Recognizing the pitfalls of social media on well-being
The podcast episode also delves into the discussion of the role of social media in promoting wellness and its impact on mental health. Julia candidly shares her own evolution of using social media, from being attached to it and deriving a sense of success and self-worth from it to feeling overwhelmed and disconnected. She describes taking a break from social media during the pandemic and later setting boundaries to regain control over her relationship with it. Julia highlights the need to recognize the distinction between the positive aspects of community and connection on social media and the toxic elements of comparison, pressure, and misinformation that can hinder well-being.
Finding liberation and joy in cooking
Julia discusses how her relationship with cooking has transformed since breaking free from diet and wellness culture. She emphasizes the importance of giving oneself permission to enjoy simple meals without the pressure to make every dish perfect or shareable on social media. Julia encourages individuals to tap into positive memories of food from childhood as a way to reconnect with the joy of cooking. By valuing flexibility, pleasure, and presence, Julia has cultivated a more relaxed and joyful approach to cooking, finding solace in the process and focusing on connecting with loved ones through shared meals.
Reclaiming personal values and utilizing social media as a tool
The conversation explores reclaiming one's personal values and setting boundaries within the realm of social media. Julia shares her experience of shifting her social media usage to align with her work objectives and personal goals. Rather than seeking validation and engagement, she now sees social media as a tool to direct people towards her classes and other platforms where she can engage in more nuanced, meaningful, and protected spaces of connection. Julia and Christy also discuss the importance of recognizing social media as a labor-intensive platform that may not fully value one's efforts and learning to prioritize self-worth and labor in other meaningful ways.
Cookbook author Julia Turshen joins us to discuss her history with an eating disorder and how orthorexic thinking showed up in her work, how a loved one’s boundary on diet talk helped her realize her relationship with food was problematic, how letting go of diet and wellness rules changed her cooking, how social media is like diet culture and how she’s taken a big step back from it, and more.
Julia Turshen is a New York Times bestselling cookbook author. Her latest book, Simply Julia, is a national bestseller. She has written for multiple publications including The New York Times, The Washington Post, Vogue, and more. She is the founder of Equity At The Table (EATT), an inclusive digital directory of women/non-binary individuals in food, and the host and producer of the podcast Keep Calm and Cook On. She sits on the Kitchen Cabinet Advisory Board for the Smithsonian's National Museum of American History and is a member of God’s Love We Deliver’s Culinary Council. She lives in the Hudson Valley with her spouse Grace and their pets. She teaches live cooking classes every Sunday afternoon. Find her online at juliaturshen.com.
If you like this conversation, subscribe to hear lots more like it! You can also sign up to get the podcast in your inbox (with a full transcript), plus biweekly Q&As about wellness culture, at rethinkingwellness.substack.com.
Christy's new book, The Wellness Trap, is now available wherever books are sold! Order it online or ask for it in your favorite local bookstore.
If you're looking to make peace with food and break free from diet and wellness culture, come check out Christy's Intuitive Eating Fundamentals online course.