Food Psych Podcast with Christy Harrison

#334: “Adrenal Fatigue” + Anti-Inflammatory Diets + Eating-Disorder Recovery with Oona Hanson

Apr 24, 2025

Oona Hanson, a nationally recognized parent coach and eating disorder advocate, shares her journey from battling personal health issues to guiding families through diet culture. She discusses how her own experiences with restrictive diets and the confusion of wellness culture affected her relationship with food. Oona emphasizes the importance of creating a supportive home environment to nurture healthy body images in children. She also addresses the challenges parents face in combatting misinformation about wellness, providing insightful strategies for encouraging resilience in their kids.

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ANECDOTE

Back Pain Sparks Wellness Journey

Oona's back pain led her to a trusted physical therapist who suggested inflammation as a cause.
This started her journey into wellness culture and the dubious diagnosis of adrenal fatigue.

ANECDOTE

Adrenal Fatigue Diagnosis Struggles

The health coach diagnosed Oona with adrenal fatigue and recommended strict dietary restrictions.
Following these rules worsened her physical and emotional health and strained her relationship with food.

ANECDOTE

Blood Sugar Testing Anxiety

Oona tested her blood sugar after meals, interpreting higher numbers as bad without proper medical guidance.
This heightened fear around food and caused stress, worsening her relationship with eating.

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Parent coach Oona Hanson joins us to discuss how going to a physical therapist for back pain led her down a wellness-culture rabbit hole, why dietary restrictions to “fight inflammation” just ended up harming her relationship with food and her body, how she got the dubious diagnosis of “adrenal fatigue,” and more. Behind the paywall, we get into how she helped her child heal from an eating disorder (and how that process changed the course of her career), how parents can help their kids navigate pressures from diet and wellness culture, why smart and science-minded people can still fall for wellness misinformation, her experience with perimenopause and wellness culture, and more. This episode is cross-posted from our other podcast, Rethinking Wellness.

Paid subscribers can hear the full interview, and the first half is available to all listeners. To upgrade to paid, go to rethinkingwellness.substack.com.

Oona Hanson is a nationally recognized parent coach who supports families navigating diet culture and eating disorders. She is passionate about helping parents raise kids who have a healthy relationship with food and their body. A regular contributor to CNN, Oona has been featured widely, including on Good Morning America, The Washington Post, USA Today, US News & World Report, People, and Parents Magazine. Oona holds a Master's Degree in Educational Psychology and a Master's Degree in English. She writes the Parenting Without Diet Culture newsletter and will publish her first book in 2026 with Cambridge University Press. She is a mother of two and lives in Los Angeles. Find her at oonahanson.substack.com.

Check out Christy’s three books, Anti-Diet, The Wellness Trap, and The Emotional Eating, Chronic Dieting, Binge Eating & Body Image Workbook for a deeper dive into the topics covered on the pod.

If you’re ready to break free from diet culture and make peace with food, come check out Christy's Intuitive Eating Fundamentals online course.

For more critical thinking and compassionate skepticism about wellness and diet culture, check out Christy’s Rethinking Wellness podcast! You can also sign up to get it in your inbox every week at rethinkingwellness.substack.com.

Ask a question about diet and wellness culture, disordered-eating recovery, and the anti-diet approach for a chance to have it answered on Rethinking Wellness. You can also subscribe to the Food Psych Weekly newsletter to check out previous answers!