One exciting aspect of Abbey’s career as a registered dietitian is her Youtube channel, Abbey’s Kitchen. On this channel she debunks diet myths with the help of Diet Debbie, her diet crazed “alter ego”. At the beginning of this episode we touch upon a few hot topics in the diet world such as restricting to maintain weight, gluten free diets and some of the controversies behind wearable devices such as the Fitbit.
Throughout the rest of the episode we talk about where Abbey is today in her career and the journey she followed to get there. She had never struggled with her weight or dieting until after high school when she was told by a naturopathic doctor she was allergic to ALL forms of sugar. At that point she developed a fear of food that ultimately lead to what is now known as orthorexia. Her biggest shift in her relationship with food came after she graduated college and began her career in food media. She quickly realized in this career she would not always have access to what she considered to be “clean foods”. She realized that if she wanted to be successful at her job she had to have a strong and healthy relationship with food. Abbey is now a weight neutral dietitian who believes that health is not dictated by weight. These beliefs were tested as a result of personal weight gain, however through that experience she was able to accept the weight she had gained instead of trying to lose it.
Today, Abbey’s day to day in her career varies and can include anything from speaking at conferences to recipe development in the kitchen. She is also in the process of finishing her cookbook of 100 different recipes celebrating the pleasure of food and providing readers with food that simply tastes amazing! Listen to the full episode to learn more about Abbey, her journey and where she is today.
Resources
As a Body Image Coach, Summer has an amazing perspective on body love and body acceptance. However, she hasn’t always had the privilege of being at peace with her own body. As a child she never felt comfortable in her body and grew up with the belief that thinner was better. This belief spiraled into an obsession with dieting, exercising and numerous weight loss attempts.
At the time, Summer didn’t realize that she was struggling with exercise bulimia, a condition where you use exercise to compensate for eating, and described her obsession with exercises as an addiction. After struggling for years she sought professional help because ultimately her obsession was taking a physical and emotional toll on her body. Summer clarifies that it wasn’t necessarily the quantity of exercise that was the problem, but her relationship to exercise. For this reason disordered behavior in our society is so often overlooked. People do not realize it is more about the individual's thoughts rather than how that person looks.
Summer also talks about what we lose when we diet, mainly, our self worth. She explains that most people enter into dieting because they lack self worth. As a society we do not believe we are good enough just as we are, and so we diet in an attempt to improve our self worth. Through her own experience as well as the experiences she has shared with her clients, Summer has come to realize that attempting to change your body size only further diminished self worth. It is only when you truly know yourself, that you can know just how worthy you actually are.
Today Summer helps women improve their body image and self worth and to overall feel better about themselves. Loving our bodies does not mean we look in the mirror and think we are “attractive”. Instead, body love is about being more neutral with your body and cultivating respect, trust, compassion and kindness towards it. To learn more about body love and how Summer helps clients with self worth and feeling comfortable in their bodies listen to the full episode!
Resources:
This episode was a tad more relaxed as I was talking to my friend, Allison Nichols. Allison and I have known each other for a few years now and it’s been really fun to watch her evolve into a mom. In this conversation we talk a lot about body image, especially about how your body changes through pregnancy and postpartum (and how to navigate that). Allison was so generous in sharing her story, and also had a lot of great tips for new moms struggling with their body image after giving birth and beyond. As women our body has multiple editions, and is ever changing - I hope this episode inspires you to embrace those changes, rather than fight them. Listen to the full episode below.
Resources:
Bonus Episode: Jessi’s Free Intuitive Eating Audio Training
Jessi’s Masterclass
Allison’s Website
Summer Inannen
The Nourished Life
In this episode I talk to Julie Duffy Dillon. Julie is a registered dietitian and food behavior expert who wants to help you enjoy eating again. She combines her specialized nutrition therapy with her training as a mental health counselor to promote food and body peace. Julie owns a North Carolina group nutrition therapy practice helping individuals, families, and health care providers treat and prevent disordered eating and promote positive body image. She is also the host of the weekly podcast, Love Food. You can find out more about her and ways to experience Food Peace at JulieDillonRD.com and find her on Facebook, Instagram (@FoodPeaceDietitian), and Twitter (@EatingPermitRD).
Fed up with creating short-term diet plans for patients, Julie began questioning the idea of dieting altogether and decided it was time to take a different approach. This meant going against the mainstream belief that weight loss results in improved health and instead giving her clients permission to feel good in their skin just they way they are right now. Through her Health at Every Size (HAES) and weight neutral approach, Julie helps her clients experience health without dieting.
About halfway through our conversation I noted that Julie was referring to some clients as a “person in a larger body” or a “person in a fat body.” Consistent with her approach, Julie believes individuals should not be defined solely by the way their body looks. In an ideal world the word “fat” would be neutral descriptor and the stigma associated with words such as “obese” and “overweight” would be nonexistent.
Unfortunately, size discrimination is dominant in our culture, and the word “fat” has a negative association. But, we have the power to change how we use the word. Having fat on your body is not bad. It’s not good. It’s just what is. Julie emphasizes that this is not something we need to hide from our children either; your child can be fat and beautiful. Fat is not something that needs to be fixed, but rather viewed through a different lens. We need to armor our children with tools to view their body in more positive light, regardless of size, shape, or weight.
Resources:
Jessi's Free Intuitive Eating Audio Course (Bonus Episode)
The BodyLove Project MasterClass
Julie’s Website
Love, Food Podcast
Secrets of Feeding a Healthy Family by Ellyn Satter
Fat is a Feminist Issue by Susie Orbach
Diet Land by Sarai Walker
Jennifer McGurk, RDN, CDN, CDE, CEDRD is a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist whose mission is to help people heal from diets, and find peace and balance with their food choices. She is the owner of Eat With Knowledge in Nyack, NY. She leads a team of dietitians who support the philosophy, “Feel fabulous about food!”
As a Certified Eating Disorders Registered Dietitian, Jennifer combines her expertise in medical nutrition therapy, psychology, and physiology to help clients understand their eating behaviors, and gain the insight needed to make positive changes for their health. She is an expert in the field of eating disorders and also supervises other Registered Dietitians. She is involved with the International Federation of Eating Disorder Dietitians, the National Eating Disorders Association, and the International Association of Eating Disorder Professionals (iaedp). She is the Co-Social Media Chair for the New York City Chapter of iaedp.
Like many other dietitians on a path similar to Jennifer’s, she was very frustrated at the beginning of her career. Starting at a diabetes institution most of her clients had the goal of weight loss and most of her clients were disappointed when this goal was not reached. During this time she read the book Intuitive Eating as she was working on her own relationship with food. After applying it to her own life, she decided to make a shift in her career.
After switching jobs and working with many college aged individuals suffering from eating disorders she decided she wanted to include Intuitive Eating in eating disorder treatment, which eventually lead to the opening of her private practice. Now in her private practice the goal of weight loss is not an option. Jennifer is a weight inclusive dietitian whose goal is to improve her client's relationship with food and with their bodies.
She uses a Health at Every Size (HAES) approach and really focuses on the health aspect of this approach. HAES does not mean you are healthy no matter what, it means everyone has the opportunity to be healthy. Jennifer stresses to her clients that health is wanting to eat foods that make you feel great, health is moving your body in a way that makes it feel great and health is respecting your body and practicing self care. She does not claim that this is an easy task especially with the diet culture of today, but assures it is rewarding and well worth the journey to get there.
Resources