

Food Psych Podcast with Christy Harrison
Christy Harrison, MPH, RD, CEDS
Helping people make peace with food since 2013. Registered dietitian nutritionist, certified intuitive eating counselor, and journalist Christy Harrison, MPH, RD, CEDS talks with guests and answers listener questions about making peace with food, healing from disordered eating, learning body acceptance, practicing intuitive eating, escaping harmful wellness culture, and more--all from a body-positive, anti-diet perspective. Along the way, Christy shares her own journey from disordered eater and dieter to food writer and anti-diet dietitian. This podcast challenges diet culture in all its forms--including the restrictive behaviors that often masquerade as wellness and fitness. Food Psych® is designed to offer safe and non-triggering support for listeners in recovery from eating disorders, weight stigma, and body shame. Subscribe for new anti-diet inspiration every week! Learn more and get full show notes and transcripts at christyharrison.com/foodpsych
(Disclaimer: All content in this podcast, including medical opinion and any other health-related information, is for informational purposes only and should not be considered to be a specific diagnosis or treatment plan for any individual situation. Use of the information contained in this podcast does not constitute a doctor-patient relationship.)
(Disclaimer: All content in this podcast, including medical opinion and any other health-related information, is for informational purposes only and should not be considered to be a specific diagnosis or treatment plan for any individual situation. Use of the information contained in this podcast does not constitute a doctor-patient relationship.)
Episodes
Mentioned books

Jan 4, 2021 • 1h 17min
#266: Steering Clear of Diet Culture's New Year's Traps, and Managing Chronic Illness Without Disordered Eating with Aleta Storch, Anti-Diet Dietitian
Anti-diet dietitian and mental health counselor Aleta Storch joins us to discuss diet culture in the ADHD and autoimmune disorder communities, her and Christy’s experiences of living with chronic illness, how social determinants of health are often ignored or twisted to uphold diet culture, wellness culture and its stigmatization of medication, and so much more. Plus, in “Ask Food Psych,” Christy answers a listener question about how to tell whether something is a diet in disguise and how to avoid common diet-culture traps—in the New Year and beyond. Aleta (she/her) is a Registered Dietitian, Mental Health Counselor, Body Trust Provider, and owner of Wise Heart Nutrition based out of Seattle, WA. She offers weight-inclusive, anti-diet care to support folx in the process of letting go of diet culture, and finding pleasure, joy, and freedom with food and body. She specializes in working with both ADHD and autoimmune conditions. Find her online at WiseHeartNutrition.com. If you're ready to break free from diet culture once and for all, come check out Christy's Intuitive Eating Fundamentals online course. Christy's book, Anti-Diet, is available wherever you get your books. Order online at christyharrison.com/book, or at local bookstores across North America, the UK, Australia, and New Zealand. Grab Christy's free guide, 7 simple strategies for finding peace and freedom with food, for help getting started on the anti-diet path. For full show notes and a transcript of this episode, go to christyharrison.com/foodpsych. Ask your own question about intuitive eating, Health at Every Size, or eating disorder recovery at christyharrison.com/questions.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Dec 28, 2020 • 1h 26min
#265: How to Avoid the Wellness Diet in the New Year with Harri Rose of Anti-Diet Riot Club, and Thinking Critically About Elimination Diets with Guest Co-Host Ayana Habtemariam
Coach, author, and Anti Diet Riot Club co-creator Harri Rose joins us to discuss how to avoid The Wellness Diet and other forms of diet culture in the New Year, how diet culture is trying to infiltrate the anti-diet movement, the harms of social media despite being a tool for connection, life beyond body positivity, and so much more. Plus, in ”Ask Food Psych” guest co-host Ayana Habtemariam answers a listener question about whether limiting foods that trigger digestive symptoms is a form of restriction. Harri Rose is a coach, author and one voice in Anti Diet Riot Club. Harri believes that for too long we have been apologising for our bodies, and that diet culture and beauty standards are holding many of us back from living life. With no memories of liking her body even from a young age, Harri went on her first diet at the age of 13. This began more than a decade of disordered eating and misery at the hands of intense dieting and weight cycling. She went to university with what she now understands as an undiagnosed eating disorder but because she ‘never became thin’, she never would have called it so. After training to be a health coach, during what she had at the time considered her recovery, she also slid the slippery slope of ‘toxic wellness’. Harri finally fully healed her relationship with food and her body through Intuitive Eating, learning massage therapy (and discovering how incredible human anatomy is) the rise of the body positivity movement. An important strand to her work is to spread the word that bodies are not political which she does via the rebellious community Anti Diet Riot Club. For the last five years, she’s been teaching body acceptance via her 1:1 coaching, blog and workshops and in 2019, she had her first book published entitled You Are Enough (Octopus Publishing). Most recently, she is the creator of Wonder Collective. Wonder Collective is the first club where recovering dieters and disordered eaters can embrace the magic of life through 13 'Pillars of Wonder'. These pillars include for e.g. curiosity, play, belonging and acceptance and take members *beyond* thinking about their body, even in a positive way, to refocus on all that makes life juicy. She is happiest in a festival field or curled up with a book. And is a self-proclaimed coffee addict. She lives in Bristol with her partner and dog. Find her online at HarriRose.com. Ayana Habtemariam MSW, RD, LDN, is a nutrition therapist, certified intuitive eating counselor, and macro social worker based in Arlington, Va. She is the owner of Truly Real Nutrition, LLC, a private nutrition practice where she empowers clients to give up dieting in exchange for trusting their bodies and breaking free from food rules that result in feelings of failure and shame. She encourages her clients to embrace the beauty, power, and connection that their food traditions, personal experiences, and values add to their lives. She provides nutrition therapy for clients with disordered eating and those who are recovering from an eating disorder. She is committed to increasing awareness of weight inclusive philosophies in Black communities and believes that weight-centric approaches to health and wellness only serve to exacerbate body image issues, stress, and anxiety which contribute to increased rates of chronic diseases often seen in Black communities. Find her online at TrulyRealNutrition.com. If you're ready to break free from diet culture once and for all, come check out Christy's Intuitive Eating Fundamentals online course. Christy's book, Anti-Diet, is available wherever you get your books. Order online at christyharrison.com/book, or at local bookstores across North America, the UK, Australia, and New Zealand. Grab Christy's free guide, 7 simple strategies for finding peace and freedom with food, for help getting started on the anti-diet path. For full show notes and a transcript of this episode, go to christyharrison.com/foodpsych. Ask your own question about intuitive eating, Health at Every Size, or eating disorder recovery at christyharrison.com/questions.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Dec 21, 2020 • 1h 32min
#264: How to Handle Holiday Diet Talk and Body Comments, and Healing from Weight Stigma with Meg Boggs, Author of FITNESS FOR EVERY BODY
Plus-size fitness influencer and author Meg Boggs joins us to discuss how she made peace with food and her body after decades of disordered eating and weight stigma; how her relationship with social media has evolved from documenting her “weight-loss journey” to body positivity; how pregnancy and motherhood helped spark her healing from diet culture; why thin shaming and fat shaming are not the same; her forthcoming book, Fitness for Every Body; and so much more. Plus, in “Ask Food Psych,” Christy answers a listener question about how to handle diet talk and body comments during the holidays. Meg Boggs is a mother, athlete, and self-empowerment advocate who has made it her mission to help women embrace their insecurities. Meg first took to her blog and Instagram to share her journey through motherhood, revealing her postpartum body through a series of emotionally raw posts that earned attention from moms and global media including CNN, Good Morning America, People, and more. With advocacy from mental health awareness to fitness inclusivity promoted alongside body-positive imagery, Meg continues to spark discourse about fat bodies and the experiences of plus size women. In her debut book, Fitness For Every Body, set to release in April 2021, Meg shares what it’s like to navigate life as a fat athlete, while encouraging those like her to confidently take up space and embrace life unapologetically. Find her online at MegBoggs.com. If you're ready to break free from diet culture once and for all, come check out Christy's Intuitive Eating Fundamentals online course. Christy's book, Anti-Diet, is available wherever you get your books. Order online at christyharrison.com/book, or at local bookstores across North America, the UK, Australia, and New Zealand. Grab Christy's free guide, 7 simple strategies for finding peace and freedom with food, for help getting started on the anti-diet path. For full show notes and a transcript of this episode, go to christyharrison.com/foodpsych. Ask your own question about intuitive eating, Health at Every Size, or eating disorder recovery at christyharrison.com/questions.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Dec 14, 2020 • 1h 24min
#263: Update on COVID-19 and Weight, and (Re)claiming Queer, Trans, and Autistic Identities in Eating-Disorder Recovery with Haley Jones, Certified Body Trust Provider
Anti-diet therapist Haley Jones joins us to discuss how their queer and trans identities affected their relationship with food and body, how autism gave them a different perspective on authority and hierarchical relationships, how fatphobia shows up in training programs for counselors and therapists, being “in recovery” vs. being “recovered,” and so much more. Plus, in “Ask Food Psych,” Christy discusses the state of the science on COVID-19 and weight. Haley Jones, MS, LPC-intern is a therapist and Certified Body Trust Provider in Portland, Oregon serving queer and trans folx dealing with eating disorders. They work from from an anti-racist, anti-colonial, sex-positive, pro-disability justice, kink positive, fat positive, polyam-friendly, trauma-informed, Health at Every Size®, and strengths-based foundation. As a white, queer, trans & non-binary, neurodivergent, disabled, documented, currently in a smaller body, low-income, first-generation college student & service provider, Haley holds both privileged and oppressed identities. Find them online at TheQueerCounselor.com. If you're ready to break free from diet culture once and for all, come check out Christy's Intuitive Eating Fundamentals online course. Christy's book, Anti-Diet, is available wherever you get your books. Order online at christyharrison.com/book, or at local bookstores across North America, the UK, Australia, and New Zealand. Grab Christy's free guide, 7 simple strategies for finding peace and freedom with food, for help getting started on the anti-diet path. For full show notes and a transcript of this episode, go to christyharrison.com/foodpsych. Ask your own question about intuitive eating, Health at Every Size, or eating disorder recovery at christyharrison.com/questions.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Dec 7, 2020 • 1h 25min
[Repost] #194: The Truth About Weight-Loss "Success Stories" with Carrie Dennett, Anti-Diet Dietitian, Certified Intuitive Eating Counselor, and Journalist
Carrie Dennett, an anti-diet dietitian, journalist, and author, shares her journey from dieting to embracing Health At Every Size. She discusses the harsh realities of weight-loss 'success stories' and critiques the National Weight Control Registry, emphasizing the high failure rate of dieting. Carrie explores the impact of weight stigma and advocates for body acceptance, challenging societal norms around body image. The conversation also highlights the importance of self-compassion and intuitive eating in breaking free from diet culture.

Nov 30, 2020 • 1h 32min
#262: Responding to Diet Talk, Navigating the Stages of Change, and HAES in Spanish-Speaking Communities with Therapist Haica Rosenfeld
Eating-disorders therapist Haica Rosenfeld joins us to discuss how her father’s binge eating and bariatric surgery affected her own relationship with food and body, strategies for responding to diet talk, the Stages of Change as they relate to anti-diet messaging, bringing HAES to Spanish-speaking communities, and so much more. Plus, in “Ask Food Psych,” Christy answers a listener question about why it’s considered harmful for someone who struggles with an eating disorder to lose weight, but not for their ED-free sibling to gain weight. Dr. Haica Rosenfeld is a Licensed Clinical Psychologist, Certified Eating Disorders Specialist and Approved Supervisor by the International Association of Eating Disorders Professionals. She specializes in the treatment of Eating Disorders, Disordered Eating, Body Image Healing and has worked with clients at all stages of recovery for over 12 years. Haica has a passion and calling for helping those who struggle with disordered eating, chronic dieting, emotional overeating, and Binge Eating Disorder and believes in prioritizing health-promoting-behaviors without focusing on weight loss. Her work incorporates a non-diet and weight-inclusive approach to wellness and whole health, which aims to honor and nourish the mind, body and spirit. She believes in the power of Mindfulness, Self-Compassion and Body Appreciation practices, and is informed by Health at Every Size® (HAES®) and Intuitive Eating principles. Haica currently works in private practice and has an office in Aventura, FL. She offers in-person and Telehealth psychotherapy to residents of Florida, Vermont and Venezuela, her country of origin. She is dedicated to helping individuals heal their relationship with food, exercise, and their bodies, as well as disrupting the internalized messages they’ve received from diet culture. She also often offers group therapy, as she deeply believes in the healing power of community. Find her online at HaicaRosenfeld.com. If you're ready to break free from diet culture once and for all, come check out Christy's Intuitive Eating Fundamentals online course. Christy's book, Anti-Diet, is available wherever you get your books. Order online at christyharrison.com/book, or at local bookstores across North America, the UK, Australia, and New Zealand. Grab Christy's free guide, 7 simple strategies for finding peace and freedom with food, for help getting started on the anti-diet path. For full show notes and a transcript of this episode, go to christyharrison.com/foodpsych. Ask your own question about intuitive eating, Health at Every Size, or eating disorder recovery at christyharrison.com/questions.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Nov 23, 2020 • 1h 20min
#261: The Evolution of Intuitive Eating Over Time and the Impact of Diet Culture with Evelyn Tribole, Anti-Diet Dietitian and INTUITIVE EATING Co-Author
Anti-diet dietitian and Intuitive Eating co-author Evelyn Tribole makes her third appearance on the pod to discuss the new fourth edition of Intuitive Eating and how the book has evolved with each edition, the research that supports intuitive eating, the impact of diet culture and the weight-loss industry, her thoughts on intuitive eating and food insecurity, and so much more. Plus, in “Ask Food Psych,” Christy answers a listener question about how to navigate diet culture in medical school. Evelyn Tribole, MS, RDN, CEDRD-S is the author of 9 books and co-author of the best-selling Intuitive Eating, a mind-body self-care eating framework with 10 principles, which has given rise to over 125 studies to date, showing benefit. As an international speaker and workshop leader, Evelyn is passionate and has been called, “Wonderfully wise and funny”. Evelyn enjoys training health professionals on how to help their clients cultivate a healthy relationship with food, mind, and body through the process of Intuitive Eating. To date there are over 1,000 Certified Intuitive Eating Counselors in 23 countries. The media often seeks Evelyn for her expertise, appearing in hundreds of interviews, including The New York Times, CNN, NBC’s Today Show, MSNBC, Fox News, USA Today, The Wall Street Journal, The Atlantic, Vogue, Ten Percent Happier and People magazine. Evelyn was the nutrition expert for Good Morning America, and a national spokesperson for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics for six years. Evelyn qualified for the Olympic Trials in the first ever women’s marathon in 1984. Although she no longer competes, she is a wicked ping-pong player and avid hiker. Her favorite food is chocolate—when it can be savored slowly. Find her online at EvelynTribole.com. If you're ready to break free from diet culture once and for all, come check out Christy's Intuitive Eating Fundamentals online course. Christy's book, Anti-Diet, is available wherever you get your books. Order online at christyharrison.com/book, or at local bookstores across North America, the UK, Australia, and New Zealand. Grab Christy's free guide, 7 simple strategies for finding peace and freedom with food, for help getting started on the anti-diet path. For full show notes and a transcript of this episode, go to christyharrison.com/foodpsych. Ask your own question about intuitive eating, Health at Every Size, or eating disorder recovery at christyharrison.com/questions.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Nov 16, 2020 • 1h 6min
#260: Redefining Health and Wellness, Hearing Your Own Voice, and Why Fear Isn't a Good Motivator with Melissa Toler, Anti-Diet Writer and Speaker
Anti-diet writer, speaker, and podcaster Melissa Toler returns to discuss her new podcast, Hearing Our Own Voice; redefining health and wellness to be more inclusive; why fear is not a motivator for behavior change; finding intrinsic motivation for movement; and so much more. Plus, in “Ask Food Psych,” Christy answers a listener question about what to do if you find yourself consistently bingeing on the weekends. Melissa Toler is a writer and speaker. Her work encourages people to make the connection between our culture's oppressive health and beauty standards and our personal struggle with self-acceptance. Her goal is to help people use expressive writing to unlearn harmful messages and behaviors from years of chronic dieting. Melissa also has a background as a pharmacist and certified wellness coach. Find her online at MelissaToler.com. If you're ready to break free from diet culture once and for all, come check out Christy's Intuitive Eating Fundamentals online course. Christy's book, Anti-Diet, is available wherever you get your books. Order online at christyharrison.com/book, or at local bookstores across North America, the UK, Australia, and New Zealand. Grab Christy's free guide, 7 simple strategies for finding peace and freedom with food, for help getting started on the anti-diet path. For full show notes and a transcript of this episode, go to christyharrison.com/foodpsych. Ask your own question about intuitive eating, Health at Every Size, or eating disorder recovery at christyharrison.com/questions.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Nov 9, 2020 • 1h 28min
#259: From Disordered Eating to Radical Belonging with Author Lindo Bacon, Plus How to Share the Anti-Diet Message with HAES Coach Shelby Gordon
Author and speaker Lindo Bacon returns to Food Psych® to discuss their new book, Radical Belonging; how their perspective on HAES® has shifted since publishing Health At Every Size; reframing disordered eating as a coping mechanism for trauma; how gender affirmation helped them find body acceptance; and so much more. Plus, Ask Food Psych guest co-host Shelby Gordon answers a listener question about sharing the anti-diet message with people who may be resistant. Best known for their paradigm-shifting research and advocacy upending the weight discourse, Dr. Lindo Bacon’s inspiring message takes us beyond size, to shaping a culture of empathy, equity and true belonging. Dr. Bacon has mined their deep academic proficiency, wide-ranging clinical expertise and own personal experience to write two best-selling books, Health at Every Size: The Surprising Truth About Your Weight, and the co-authored Body Respect: What Conventional Health Books Get Wrong, Leave Out, or Just Plain Fail to Understand about Weight. Both are credited with transforming the weight discourse and inspiring a hopeful new course for the global body positivity movement. Bacon’s work is inspired by lessons learned through three graduate degrees in health science, including a PhD in physiology, as well as clinical and research experience. A compelling speaker, writer, and storyteller, Dr. Bacon delivers a unique blend of academic expertise, clinical experience, and social justice advocacy, all couched in a raw honesty and compassion that touch and inspire. Find them online at LindoBacon.com. Shelby Gordon is a retired professional dieter who dedicated over 40 years to mastering her craft. She dieted until her body—literally—refused to go through another day of food restriction, blood testing for ketosis levels, and high-intensity interval workouts. Through her divorce from the dieting process she committed to Health at Every Size® and Body Trust®, and got fit through burlesque dancing. Looking back over her dieting life, most of the providers she'd worked with were not people of color. They certainly were not aware of the nuances of treating a Black woman. Her goal is to fill that gap as a coach. Her coaching practice has taken a distinctive turn as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic and the killing of George Floyd. She now supports healing professionals and organizations wanting to learn about racism on both a personal level and the resulting impacts on their business/practice. Find her online at FitFlexibleFluid.com. If you're ready to break free from diet culture once and for all, come check out Christy's Intuitive Eating Fundamentals online course. Christy's book, Anti-Diet, is available wherever you get your books. Order online at christyharrison.com/book, or at local bookstores across North America, the UK, Australia, and New Zealand. Grab Christy's free guide, 7 simple strategies for finding peace and freedom with food, for help getting started on the anti-diet path. For full show notes and a transcript of this episode, go to christyharrison.com/foodpsych. Ask your own question about intuitive eating, Health at Every Size, or eating disorder recovery at christyharrison.com/questions.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Nov 2, 2020 • 1h 15min
#258: Healing From Scarcity and Deprivation and Finding Fat Freedom with Tiana Dodson, Body Liberation Coach
Body-liberation coach Tiana Dodson joins us to discuss how scarcity from poverty and her mother’s dieting affected her relationship with food, how she eventually began accepting her fatness and healing from disordered eating, her journey from health coach to body-liberation coach, body partnership as an alternative to body love, the four-step framework of her Fat Freedom Foundation program, and so much more. Plus, in Ask Food Psych, Christy answers a listener question about whether being a foodie and former chef is compatible with intuitive eating. Tiana Dodson is a fat Body Liberation Coach who’s out to destroy the belief that you have to be skinny to be happy and healthy, lovable, or worthy. Through her work with the Fat Freedom Foundation program, she guides people feminine-of-center to reconnect with their bodies, destigmatize fatness, and learn about the harms of health being a measure of worth while finding how they can live their best fat lives. Find her online at TianaDodson.com. If you're ready to break free from diet culture once and for all, come check out Christy's Intuitive Eating Fundamentals online course. Christy's book, Anti-Diet, is available wherever you get your books. Order online at christyharrison.com/book, or at local bookstores across North America, the UK, Australia, and New Zealand. Grab Christy's free guide, 7 simple strategies for finding peace and freedom with food, for help getting started on the anti-diet path. For full show notes and a transcript of this episode, go to christyharrison.com/foodpsych. Ask your own question about intuitive eating, Health at Every Size, or eating disorder recovery at christyharrison.com/questions.Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy


