In today's episode of the Understanding Disordered Eating Podcast, we will be sitting down with Rachel Tuchman, LMHC. Rachel is a licensed mental health counselor with over 10 years of experience. She has worked with many diverse populations, and now is in private practice in New York. She works with kids, teens, adults, and most importantly for our conversation is a HAES-aligned clinician. So it stands for Health at Every Size, and she dedicates a lot of her time to educating parents and kids on the importance of body respect, and the behaviors that truly honor our health. Rachel does a ton of speaking for schools and various community organizations, and is very active about this topic on social media.

In this episode, Rachel tells us what health actually means and how it differs for each person. She also educates us about the anti-diet and body positivity culture, and shares how society has contributed to having poor body image and disordered eating.

[00:01 - 20:02] Opening Segment

• I introduce our guest for this episode
• Rachel talks about her practice
• What health actually means
  • mental health, financial health, relationships, quality of living, access to medical care, jobs, spiritual connection
  • focusing on two tiny factors that contribute to health: what we eat and how we move
  • healthy is different for every person
• Defining "anti-diet"
  • pro-health
  • take the focus off of food, recalibrate and focus on living and taking care of your health
  • about healing the relationship with food
• Defining "body positivity"
  • Movement started by black, queer, and Jewish women
  • Challenge how society views the body
  • About respect for everyone

[20:03 - 46:31] Society's Contribution to Poor Body Image Disordered Eating

• Society dictates what is beautiful
• Misery in keeping the standard
• Huge influence from celebrities and social media
• We are led to believe that there is a beauty standard
• Diversify your feed
• Getting out of the black and white mindset
• Check in with yourself
• How Instagram is toxic for teen girls
  • Check out the link to the article below
• The importance of learning about diet culture especially for parents
• Encouraging people to learn more about it together
• Rachel's reference recommendations
  • Check out the links below
• Importance to listen and understand people with bigger bodies
• Importance of being willing to learn

[46:32 - 47:44] Closing Segment

• Connect with Rachel through the links below
• Final words

Resources Mentioned:

• Wall Street journal article
• Intuitive Eating Book
• HAES and Body Respect by Lindo Bacon
• Anti Diet by Christy Harrison
• Food Isn't Medicine by Joshua Wolrich
• What We Don't Talk About When We Talk About Fat

Tweetable Quotes:

"I would love for people to free up that mental energy, that physical energy, that emotional energy, for other things that could bring them real joy, and that could really make them happy and healthy." - Rachel Tuchman

"So when people talk about health, they're really focusing on two tiny factors that contribute to health, what we eat, and how we move." - Rachel Tuchman

Connect with Rachel Tuchman on Facebook, Instagram, or LInkedIn. You can also check out her website at www.racheltuchman.com.

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You can connect with me, Rachelle Heinemann on Instagram, through my website www.rachelleheinemann.com, or email me directly at [email protected].