Jessi is flying solo in today's episode to talk about the pro's and con's (ok they're all con's) of doing the Whole 30 diet (lifestyle, protocol, program etc). She talks openly about how she used to sell a similar "program" and why she will *never* do it again. She also lays out why the Whole 30 is so harmful to your health (both physical and mental) and hopes you can use this framework to think critically when you find similar programs as seductive as this one!
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To celebrate ONE YEAR of the BodyLove Project Podcast I'm re-releasing an episode with the women who inspired me to start this podcast in the first place: Elyse Resch and Evelyn Tribole, the dietitians who literally wrote the book on Intuitive Eating.
Give it a listen and make sure to download my free Intuitive Eating Audio Guide if you're ready to dig in for more!
Caroline Dooner is a former food & dieting addict turned writer and storyteller. She is also the founder of the only diet I will ever recommend: The F It Diet. This diet (although literally not a diet at all) was created after Caroline decided to get off the diet-binge rollercoaster and stop measuring her self worth by the number on the scale. In this episode Caroline shares her personal story with dieting and disordered eating, talks about the difference between a good teacher and a cult leader, and shares some information about her upcoming course: How to Be Your Own Damn Guru. She is hilarious and insightful and I can’t wait for you to give this episode a listen!
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Haley Goodrich is a registered dietitian fiercely passionate passionate about helping others create flexible, joyful eating habits and cultivate a peaceful relationship with their body. Haley is the founder of her Pittsburgh-based private practice, INSPIRD Nutrition. She specializes in intuitive eating, eating disorder recovery and digestive health from a Health At Every Size perspective. She is currently pursuing her Certified Eating Disorder Registered Dietitian (CEDRD) Certification. In addition to her full-time private practice she is also the co-founder of INSPIRD to SEEK, a community- based learning experience designed to mentor and guide nutrition entrepreneurs to build amazing businesses.
In today's episode we're digging into Brene Brown's new book, Braving the Wilderness and how it relates to our wok as advocates for body justice and fat acceptance.
Dr. Laura Douglass is the Academic Dean of Professional Studies at Endicott College, where she also serves as the faculty advisor for the Trauma Studies Club. She is an interdisciplinary scholar with research interests in trauma, eating disorders, and the integration of yoga as pedagogy in higher education settings. She also owned her own yoga studio in Watertown for five years.
In this episode, Dr. Douglass talks about learning through our bodies, how we use verbal narratives to describe how we’re feeling in our bodies, and how we shift from hyper- and hypo-aroused states through physical activity in order to feel safe in our bodies. She talks about the importance of slowing down to listen to our bodies in their present moment and to break down the communication between the body and the narrative to create a new, more intuitive narrative.
It is typical human nature not to trust our bodies, not to connect with them in the present, and to constantly chase what they "used to be" or what we want them to be. Dr. Douglass feels that the loss of communication in the relationship between self and body translates to how we treat other relationships we have, with ourselves and with others. To learn more about how to learn from your body, to stop chasing your “past self,” and to connect with your body through movement, listen to the full episode.
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For years, Rachel Estapa felt that, in order to get people to like her, she needed to change her body. Comments like, “you have a big belly,” or “you’re not graceful” defined who she was in the world. In college, she successfully pursued a weight loss journey that she thought would open up more opportunities that were previously off limits due to her body size. When this didn’t happen, Rachel felt angry and betrayed by both herself and society. In a moment of grief, Rachel cried to her husband, “there has to be more to love about me than this!” Thus was born, More to Love Yoga.
As soon as Rachel embraced herself as a person, that’s when the opportunities began to open up for her. Rachel’s first experience with yoga was challenging as she unknowingly took a hot yoga class and wound up outside in the middle of a Boston February, grateful for the cold air. But, she kept going until she found a yoga class that, in yoga’s true and authentic form, allowed her to just be. No judging, no comparing, no overthinking. After that, she chose to study at Kripalu, learning yoga skills specifically for teaching to larger bodies.
Rachel currently teaches weekly yoga classes in Somerville, MA and offers an online WELL by MTL wellness program. She aims to educate and support plus size people on body acceptance and self-worth. Tune into the whole episode to learn more about Rachel journey to ditching diet culture, embracing her body and learning to live an authentic and abundant life.
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Michelle Vina-Baltsas spent decades struggling with her relationship to food and body. Feeling like an outsider in her community and experiencing trauma at an early age drove Michelle to turn to food as her companion, her friend, her comfort when times were tough. In college, Michelle knew her eating patterns weren’t “normal,” and looking back, she believes she had Binge Eating Disorder. At that time, that wasn’t a term people were using.
After college, Michelle turned to Overeaters Anonymous, which helped her feel connected, like she wasn’t alone. During her ten years with OA, she was able to unravel and begin to understand her deep connection with food, eventually realizing that she wanted more freedom in her relationship with food. This led her to stumble upon Intuitive Eating. Michelle’s skepticism and curiosity kept her committed to this new journey and inspired her to become an Intuitive Eating Counselor.
In this episode, Michelle talks about her constant battle with self worth, how she turned to food to protect her against outside triggers, and the fear she faced as she learned to give herself unconditional compassion and permission. She talks about the stigma of emotional eating and how it’s actually a positive thing. You eat because it makes you happy, because it tastes good. Through her own experiences and her journey with Intuitive Eating, Michelle has been able to repair her relationship with food, her body and exercise. Exercise is now about feeling good and having fun, not changing her body. She is able to nurture and respect her body and where she’s at right now. She’s happy.
Today, Michelle works with women heal their relationship with food and body through Intuitive Eating. She helps women relearn self-compassion, self-awareness and how to trust in themselves again. Through self care and coaching, you can learn how to love yourself and food again. Tune into the whole episode to learn more about Michelle’s path to self-love and how she believes that you can reach that, too.
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Dr Stephanie Waitt specializes in treating eating disorders at her practice, Texoma Specialty Counseling. In her work with people she aims to help men and women find balance, peace, confidence, and happiness with their bodies, relationships, and life. She emphasizes the importance of self-care and encourages people that being a little selfish is a really good thing.
Stephanie is also an online recovery coach. In her recovery coaching Stephanie helps people learn to find peace with their bodies and ditch dieting. She helps people find confidence and the power to live the life they want right now! You can learn more about her practice and online
recovery coaching at www.texomaspecialtycounseling.com.
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Today I’m speaking with Melissa Carmona, a HAES therapist in North Carolina. Melissa talks about her experience growing up in Columbia, South America and what messages she received about body image from a Latino Country and what it was like making the transition to live in the US. We dig into how mental health stigma runs deep in South America, and how there are so few resources for women especially, to receive help.
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This week I welcomed Valentina Olivadese, a truly holistic nutritionist onto the podcast. Valentina shares how her trauma history lead her to find solace in her eating disorder. After working towards recovery for years with professional help, she now shares her wisdom through her practice as a holistic nutritionist. While we spend most of our conversation digging into Valentina’s personal story, we have some really powerful takeaways from this brave, vulnerable, and heartfelt conversation.
If you know someone who you suspect is struggling with an eating disorder, it’s important to notice and let them know that you are there to support them, or help them find someone who can support them. Simply saying something can help that person feel seen.
So many people write off sexual assault as something that is normal. It’s not. And while many survivors experience trauma that can present in many different ways, including disordered eating, if this is something you’re struggling you might have to ask for help over and over again. It will be difficult, and challenging, but you can do it.
You don’t have to wait for someone to tell you it’s okay to eat. When we try to control our bodies through dieting and restricting, we are essentially allowing ourselves to be controlled by diet culture. When we give ourselves permission to eat and take care of ourselves, we reclaim that control, and essentially practice body autonomy.
http://www.jessihaggerty.com/blog/blp39
Marci is a Food and Body Imager Healer™. She has dedicated her career to counseling, supervising, and teaching in the field of eating disorders. She is a Certified Eating Disorder Registered Dietitian and Supervisor, certified Intuitive Eating Counselor and Certified ACSM personal trainer. In addition to her group private practice and three adjunct teaching positions, Marci launched an online eating disorders training for dietitians in 2015 and co-directs a specialized eating disorder internship at Simmons College. She volunteers for a number of national eating disorder organizations including the iaedp certification committee and is serving as an eating disorder resource professional for The Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics.
This is the second episode in a three part series about the intersection of eating disorders and substance use disorders, and after the previous episode, I wanted to really dig into the topic of food addiction, what is is, and what it is not, with the one and only, Marci Evans. In this episode Marci and I talk about the research around food addiction, and also how you can move forward and improve your relationship to food, and your experience around food, if you are currently suffering from feelings of food addiction. What did you think of this conversation? Let me know in the comments below!
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***TW*** The first part of this episode Isabel shares her struggle with a co-occurring eating disorder and substance use disorder, and we talk extensively about using illicit drugs for the express purpose of weight loss. I’ve done my best to edit as many triggering details as possible, but if you feel this might be triggering for you, listen to the intro, then fast forward to minute 20:15 to hear the remainder of our conversation - the rest of the episode will still make sense and is full of great insights.
Isabel Foxen Duke was featured on ep. 30 of the BodyLove Project podcast and this week she is BACK with a totally new, interesting, and important conversation. This episode will kick off the first of a three part series about the intersection of eating disorders and substance use disorders and in this episode, Isabel is sharing her personal experience with a co-occurring diagnosis.
Interestingly, she highlights that her recovery from her substance use made recovery from her eating disorder difficult and confusing as she quickly got shuttled from AA (Alcoholics Anonymous) to OA (Overeaters Anonymous) to help her control her “binge eating” and “food addiction”. It wasn’t until Isabel was out of treatment that she later discovered that her compulsive eating was a direct result of restriction and definitely not due to a food addiction. We dig deep to explain why so many of us have bought into the food addiction myth, and some simple ways to overcome feelings of food addiction.
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Dr. Maria Paredes is a Licensed Professional Counselor, Clinical Supervisor, Certified Eating Disorders Specialist & approved IAEDP supervisor, and owner of Three Birds Counseling & Clinical Supervision, PLLC in Greensboro, NC. She works with women and men who want to make peace with food and with their bodies, using Health at Every Size and Intuitive Eating approaches, grounded in Relational Cultural Therapy. She's passionate about helping individuals live fuller lives, free from negative thinking, fear of food, and body hate. She believes ALL bodies have worth and that ALL individuals deserve to enjoy food, move in ways that feel joyful, treat their bodies with kindness and gentleness, and experience authentic connection with themselves and others. Maria recognizes that this healing must occur within the individual therapeutic relationship as well as within the larger, cultural environment, and thus embraces the role of advocacy and activism.
This episode definitely gave me all the feels. Maria was so generous sharing her personal story experiencing two miscarriages, and how that experience influenced her relationship to her body both during and after her pregnancy. We talk a lot about how miscarriage and pregnancy and postpartum can be beyond physically traumatic, but also emotionally and mentally traumatic. Give the episode a listen to hear our full conversation.
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Crystal Karges is a registered dietitian nutritionist and certified lactation consultant who specializes in maternal and child health, family wellness, intuitive eating, and eating and feeding disorders. In this episode Crystal and I talk about the aspects of pregnancy and postpartum that really don’t get enough airtime in our culture. Like how weight is just one of many - MANY - factors that contribute to your ability to conceive, have a healthy pregnancy, or have a healthy baby.
Throughout the conversation Crystal shares her own story with how constant weight and body centric conversations between doctors, friends, and yes, even complete strangers was extremely triggering as someone with a history of an eating disorder. She also stresses that you don’t have to have a history of an eating disorder to find weight and body centric conversations triggering or traumatic. This narrative plays into the social pressures to “get your body back” after pregnancy and dieting becomes a coping mechanism for the stress and possible depression that can develop postpartum. Listen to our full conversation below to learn more about how you can advocate for yourself and how you can support the moms-to-be in your life.
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Sarah Vance is a Body Image Coach, creator of #FuckYourFitspo, and host of the Reclaiming You Podcast. She specializes in helping people all over the world let go of diet dogma, body hate, perfection, and all or nothing thinking so they can reconnect with their values, understand their worth, and live their damn lives unapologetically. She believes that we all have more important things to offer to this world than our appearance, health, or fitness level.
On top of helping others Reclaim Themselves she is vocal about the BS within the health and fitness industry and pulls from her knowledge as an ICU nurse and experience as a former bikini competitor, fitness model, and personal trainer. For more of her, visit her website sarahvance.com where you can grab her free eBook, listen to Reclaiming You, and check out her DIY beginners body image program Breaking Boundaries.
In this episode Sarah and I talk about how the fitness industry normalizes disordered eating and an overall disordered relationship with exercise and our bodies. Sarah explains how #Fitspo (Fitness Inspiration) is actually not inspiring at all, and it gives people the sense that they are inferior or “less than” if they are not able to meet the fitness industry’s standard of “health” (where health usually equals thin). She offers up a few simple tips on how to engage in more weight and body neutral movement practices, and really learn how to take care of your body, without dieting or exercising it into submission.
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Sarah Vance is a Body Image Coach, creator of #FuckYourFitspo, and host of the Reclaiming You Podcast. She specializes in helping people all over the world let go of diet dogma, body hate, perfection, and all or nothing thinking so they can reconnect with their values, understand their worth, and live their damn lives unapologetically. She believes that we all have more important things to offer to this world than our appearance, health, or fitness level.
On top of helping others Reclaim Themselves she is vocal about the BS within the health and fitness industry and pulls from her knowledge as an ICU nurse and experience as a former bikini competitor, fitness model, and personal trainer. For more of her, visit her website sarahvance.com where you can grab her free eBook, listen to Reclaiming You, and check out her DIY beginners body image program Breaking Boundaries.
In this episode Sarah and I talk about how the fitness industry normalizes disordered eating and an overall disordered relationship with exercise and our bodies. Sarah explains how #Fitspo (Fitness Inspiration) is actually not inspiring at all, and it gives people the sense that they are inferior or “less than” if they are not able to meet the fitness industry’s standard of “health” (where health usually equals thin). She offers up a few simple tips on how to engage in more weight and body neutral movement practices, and really learn how to take care of your body, without dieting or exercising it into submission.
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Sarah Vance is a Body Image Coach, creator of #FuckYourFitspo, and host of the Reclaiming You Podcast. She specializes in helping people all over the world let go of diet dogma, body hate, perfection, and all or nothing thinking so they can reconnect with their values, understand their worth, and live their damn lives unapologetically. She believes that we all have more important things to offer to this world than our appearance, health, or fitness level.
On top of helping others Reclaim Themselves she is vocal about the BS within the health and fitness industry and pulls from her knowledge as an ICU nurse and experience as a former bikini competitor, fitness model, and personal trainer. For more of her, visit her website sarahvance.com where you can grab her free eBook, listen to Reclaiming You, and check out her DIY beginners body image program Breaking Boundaries.
In this episode Sarah and I talk about how the fitness industry normalizes disordered eating and an overall disordered relationship with exercise and our bodies. Sarah explains how #Fitspo (Fitness Inspiration) is actually not inspiring at all, and it gives people the sense that they are inferior or “less than” if they are not able to meet the fitness industry’s standard of “health” (where health usually equals thin). She offers up a few simple tips on how to engage in more weight and body neutral movement practices, and really learn how to take care of your body, without dieting or exercising it into submission.
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Sarah Vance is a Body Image Coach, creator of #FuckYourFitspo, and host of the Reclaiming You Podcast. She specializes in helping people all over the world let go of diet dogma, body hate, perfection, and all or nothing thinking so they can reconnect with their values, understand their worth, and live their damn lives unapologetically. She believes that we all have more important things to offer to this world than our appearance, health, or fitness level.
On top of helping others Reclaim Themselves she is vocal about the BS within the health and fitness industry and pulls from her knowledge as an ICU nurse and experience as a former bikini competitor, fitness model, and personal trainer. For more of her, visit her website sarahvance.com where you can grab her free eBook, listen to Reclaiming You, and check out her DIY beginners body image program Breaking Boundaries.
In this episode Sarah and I talk about how the fitness industry normalizes disordered eating and an overall disordered relationship with exercise and our bodies. Sarah explains how #Fitspo (Fitness Inspiration) is actually not inspiring at all, and it gives people the sense that they are inferior or “less than” if they are not able to meet the fitness industry’s standard of “health” (where health usually equals thin). She offers up a few simple tips on how to engage in more weight and body neutral movement practices, and really learn how to take care of your body, without dieting or exercising it into submission.
Resources
Sarah Vance is a Body Image Coach, creator of #FuckYourFitspo, and host of the Reclaiming You Podcast. She specializes in helping people all over the world let go of diet dogma, body hate, perfection, and all or nothing thinking so they can reconnect with their values, understand their worth, and live their damn lives unapologetically. She believes that we all have more important things to offer to this world than our appearance, health, or fitness level.
On top of helping others Reclaim Themselves she is vocal about the BS within the health and fitness industry and pulls from her knowledge as an ICU nurse and experience as a former bikini competitor, fitness model, and personal trainer. For more of her, visit her website sarahvance.com where you can grab her free eBook, listen to Reclaiming You, and check out her DIY beginners body image program Breaking Boundaries.
In this episode Sarah and I talk about how the fitness industry normalizes disordered eating and an overall disordered relationship with exercise and our bodies. Sarah explains how #Fitspo (Fitness Inspiration) is actually not inspiring at all, and it gives people the sense that they are inferior or “less than” if they are not able to meet the fitness industry’s standard of “health” (where health usually equals thin). She offers up a few simple tips on how to engage in more weight and body neutral movement practices, and really learn how to take care of your body, without dieting or exercising it into submission.
Resources
Sarah Vance is a Body Image Coach, creator of #FuckYourFitspo, and host of the Reclaiming You Podcast. She specializes in helping people all over the world let go of diet dogma, body hate, perfection, and all or nothing thinking so they can reconnect with their values, understand their worth, and live their damn lives unapologetically. She believes that we all have more important things to offer to this world than our appearance, health, or fitness level.
On top of helping others Reclaim Themselves she is vocal about the BS within the health and fitness industry and pulls from her knowledge as an ICU nurse and experience as a former bikini competitor, fitness model, and personal trainer. For more of her, visit her website sarahvance.com where you can grab her free eBook, listen to Reclaiming You, and check out her DIY beginners body image program Breaking Boundaries.
In this episode Sarah and I talk about how the fitness industry normalizes disordered eating and an overall disordered relationship with exercise and our bodies. Sarah explains how #Fitspo (Fitness Inspiration) is actually not inspiring at all, and it gives people the sense that they are inferior or “less than” if they are not able to meet the fitness industry’s standard of “health” (where health usually equals thin). She offers up a few simple tips on how to engage in more weight and body neutral movement practices, and really learn how to take care of your body, without dieting or exercising it into submission.
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Tracy Brown is a Registered Dietitian who specializes in somatic practices for stress and anxiety. In this episode we talk about what happens when you have a history of trauma, which might prevent you from feeling embodied, and how that makes honoring your hunger and fullness increasingly more difficult. We also talk about how loving your body might seem like a lofty goal if you’re coming from a place of body hate and disgust. Tracy offers some really great advice on how to take the next step to simply just, “hating your body less”. We joked that I was planning to change the name of the podcast to “The Hate Your Body Less Project”!
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Fiona is an Accredited Practising Dietitian & Nutritionist and Director of Body Positive Australia and The Mindful Dietitian. She is a specialist in Eating Disorders, eating behaviour, Body image and Mindfulness-based practice. Fiona has been active in the Eating Disorder treatment space for over 15 years in the private sector, primarily offering group-based and individual Nutrition Therapy for clients with Binge Eating Disorder and chronic dieting presentations. Fiona is also a Sports Dietitian, currently Nutrition Consultant at The Australian Ballet School. Fiona is active in the education and training space, with fellow Dietitians and students specifically in the integration of the Non Diet Approach to Dietetic treatment. She is a guest lecturer in the Masters Dietetics programs at Deakin University and Monash University in the areas of eating behaviour, body image, Non Diet Approach and Counselling Skills.
Fiona sits on the Executive of the Australia New Zealand Academy of Eating Disorders (ANZAED) and the Board of the Association for Size Diversity and Health (ASDAH).
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