Food Psych Podcast with Christy Harrison

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.

Janice Dada, a weight-inclusive registered dietitian and certified diabetes educator, joins the discussion to tackle the stigma surrounding diabetes. She debunks the myth that sugar causes diabetes and argues against the wellness culture's approach to reversing the condition through drastic diets. Janice emphasizes intuitive eating as a key to managing blood sugar, promoting a balanced relationship with food. She also critiques the erroneously simplistic view that weight loss solves diabetes, advocating for individualized dietary support and understanding.

Registered dietitian and INTUITIVE EATING co-author Elyse Resch returns to help dispel myths about intuitive eating, including that it means *only* listening to instinct and not the rational brain, that it’s incompatible with eating-disorder recovery, that it’s impossible in an environment rife with “ultraprocessed” foods, and more. She also shares her definition of gentle nutrition, plus some behind-the-scenes looks at the latest books in the IE series and her new intuitive eating app in development. This episode is cross-posted from our other podcast, Rethinking Wellness. Elyse Resch, MS, RDN, CEDS-C, Fiaedp, FADA, FAND, is a nutrition therapist in private practice with 43 years of experience, specializing in eating disorders, Intuitive Eating, and Health at Every Size. She is the co-author of Intuitive Eating, now in its 4th edition, The Intuitive Eating Workbook and The Intuitive Eating Card Deck: 50 Bite-Sized Ways to Make Peace with Food (Bookshop affiliate links). Elyse is also the author of The Intuitive Eating Workbook for Teens and The Intuitive Eating Journal: Your Guided Journey for Nourishing a Healthy Relationship with Food, and a chapter contributor to The Handbook of Positive Body Image and Embodiment as well as a chapter contributor to Weight and Wisdom: Reflections on Decades of Working for Body Liberation. She has published journal articles, print articles, and blog posts. Elyse does regular speaking engagements, podcast interviews, and extensive media interviews. Her work has been profiled on ABC, NPR, CNN, KABC, NBC, KTTV, the Wall Street Journal, the New York Times, the Los Angeles Times, the Associated Press, KFI Radio, USA Today, and the Huffington Post, among others. Elyse is nationally known for her work in helping patients break free from diet culture through the Intuitive Eating process. Her philosophy embraces the goal of reconnecting with one’s internal wisdom about eating and developing body liberation, with the belief that all bodies deserve dignity and respect.  She is a social justice advocate, a member of the Healer’s Circle of Project Heal—Help to Eat, Accept, and Live, and consults with and trains health professionals. Elyse is also a Certified Eating Disorder Specialist and Consultant, on the Advisory Board of Within Health, a Fellow of the International Association of Eating Disorder Professionals, and a Fellow of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Learn more about her work at elyseresch.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!

Jenna Hollenstein, an anti-diet dietitian and author, shares her journey through alcoholism and recovery while exploring the connections between disordered eating and drinking. She discusses the cultural push for sobriety and the impact of mindfulness on one’s relationship with alcohol. Jenna reflects on her personal battles with loneliness and anxiety, advocating for emotional healing through self-kindness. The conversation also critiques how wellness culture can sometimes overshadow authentic emotional understanding, offering a fresh perspective on sobriety and wellness.

Anti-diet personal stylist Dacy Gillespie joins us to discuss diet and wellness culture, her bad experience with functional medicine (and what attracted her to it in the first place), how she’s dealing with her chronic symptoms now, and why she doesn’t think clothes should be “flattering.” Behind the paywall, we get into how to shop for clothes after your body changes, how to start discovering your authentic personal style beyond diet culture’s ideals, the advice that revolutionized Christy’s approach to fashion, the parallels between intuitive eating and fashion, and more. This episode is cross-posted from our other podcast, Rethinking Wellness. As a weight-inclusive, anti-diet personal stylist, Dacy Gillespie helps her clients reject fashion rules and ideal standards of beauty imposed by the patriarchy, white supremacism, and capitalism so that they can uncover their authentic style. Through their work building a functional wardrobe, Dacy’s clients make a mindset shift from thinking they need to wear what’s flattering to unapologetically taking up space in the world.  After a lifetime of jobs in high-stress careers that didn’t suit her highly sensitive, introverted personality, Dacy started mindful closet in 2013 in an attempt to create a more emotionally sustainable lifestyle. Her work has been featured in Forbes, Real Simple, New York Magazine’s The Strategist, and Lifehacker, and she is a frequent podcast guest. Dacy lives with her husband and two children in St. Louis, Missouri. Learn more about her work at mindfulcloset.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!

Laura Thomas, a Registered Nutritionist and author, dives into the misconceptions surrounding gut health and ultra-processed foods. She challenges the popular belief that a huge intake of plants is crucial for a healthy microbiome, urging listeners to critically evaluate dietary claims. The discussion also tackles the stigma against ultra-processed foods and reveals how anti-fat bias influences dietary advice. Thomas emphasizes fostering healthy food relationships, especially in families, and the importance of understanding nutrition research's real-world implications.

Registered dietitian and author Shana Minei Spence joins us to discuss how a career in fashion affected her relationship with food and her body, her experience with a holistic provider who recommended elimination diets, how values and social norms influenced her use of alternative medicine, her disordered motivations for becoming a dietitian, and more. Behind the paywall, we get into how she recovered from her eating disorder, why she takes an anti-diet approach to nutrition, her experience working in the public-health field, cultural appropriation in wellness, and where she stands on wellness culture and alternative medicine now. Shana is a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist based in Brooklyn, New York. She currently works in public health for the Department of Health and Mental Hygiene, doing community nutrition lessons, and also owns her own company, The Nutrition Tea ®. She describes herself as an "all foods fit" dietitian. and creates a platform for open discussion on nutrition and wellness topics that are inclusive, non-diet, and weight-neutral, all with an intersectionality of social justice. She also writes frequently for publications such as Self, Shape, Outside, and Well + Good Magazines. Her debut book came out in August 2024, titled Live Nourished: Make Peace with Food, Banish Body Shame, and Reclaim Joy (Bookshop affiliate link). Speaking engagements include Peloton, NEDA, Eating Recovery Center, The Rose Retreats, Food Fluence, Eat Well Global, and NBC. She can be seen in media such as NPR, Shape Magazine, GQ, SELF Magazine, Women's Health Magazine, Outside Magazine, ABC Good Morning America, and Healthline. 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!

Endocrinologist Gregory Dodell, a specialist in hormone health, debunks common myths about hormone balance and weight management. He challenges the effectiveness of fad diets and supplements, arguing against the misconceptions of adrenal fatigue and the Ozempic craze. Dodell emphasizes the importance of a patient-focused approach, advocating for intuitive eating and personalized health strategies. He highlights the complexities of diagnosing hormone-related issues and promotes a weight-neutral perspective on managing hormonal imbalances.

Charlotte Markey, a psychologist and body-image researcher, joins the discussion to debunk myths surrounding body image. She tackles the effects of chronic illness and social media on self-perception, highlighting the importance of media literacy. The conversation shifts to the body positivity vs. body neutrality debate and examines how GLP-1 weight loss drugs impact people's views of themselves. Markey emphasizes the need for a nurturing environment to foster self-acceptance and resilience among all individuals navigating body image issues.

Eating-disorders therapist Shira Rosenbluth returns to discuss how she was able to get into solid eating-disorder recovery after many years of struggling, her experience of recovering into a larger body and how she navigated weight stigma in that process, being a plus-size bride, how the hype around GLP-1s has affected her recovery (and her clients’), and more. Shira Rosenbluth, LCSW, is a licensed clinical social worker treating clients in New York and California. She has a passion for helping people feel their best in their body at any size and specializes in the treatment of disordered eating, eating disorders, and body-image dissatisfaction using a weight-neutral approach. She’s also the author of a popular body positive blog and has been featured in The New York Times, Insider, The Cut, The Everygirl, InStyle, and Healthline. You can find her on Instagram, @theshirarose. Learn more about her therapy practice at ShiraRosenbluthLCSW.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!