#255: Diet Culture, Dysfunctional Relationships, and Decolonizing the Body with Health At Every Size Social Worker Noel Ramirez

Anti-diet social worker Noel Ramirez joins us to discuss the parallels between disordered eating and dysfunctional relationships, the intersection of eating disorders and substance abuse, creating a sense of home in our bodies, how diet culture shows up in queer male culture, and so much more. Plus, in Ask Food Psych, Christy answers a listener question about whether there’s truly such a thing as “diet-related illness.” Dr. Noel Ramirez is a Philly-based licensed clinical social worker and public health professional. Informed by Immigrant-Filipino parents who love through a sense of home, a chosen Queer family who resist subjugation, and a public health community that seeks to honor social and environmental context, his approach is relational, inter-subjective and grounded in love, honor and respect. Dr. Ramirez received his graduate training in social work from the University of Pennsylvania and his graduate public health training from Drexel University. He recently completed his Doctorate in Behavioral Health from Arizona State University and focused his academic work in developing programing in patient-centered medical homes, integrated-health, recovery oriented primary care and body-positive behavioral interventions. He is a licensed anger management treatment professional, compassion fatigue educational professional, and has a certificate in Clinical Social Work supervision. Currently, Dr. Ramirez teaches a wide range of graduate courses that invite an intersectional approach to social work practice at Columbia University and West Chester University. He is also a project director for medicated assisted recovery initiatives across a network of federally qualified health centers and is a behavioral health consultant for patients in primary care. He is deeply honored to be doing this work and to be in community with caring and compassionate colleagues and social workers. Find him online at NoelBRamirez.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.