"I truly worry about the impact that scary claims like this can make on people's relationships with food and their bodies."

Bold headlines about weight loss and health risks seem to be everywhere these days. In this episode, I unpack a meta-analysis claiming intentional weight loss may be associated with a reduced risk of all-cause mortality by 15% and explain what the research actually says, what it leaves out, and why the headlines don’t tell the full story. I also share the emotional impact these messages can have, especially if you’re struggling with food and body image, and break down the limitations of the most-cited study.

What You’ll Learn:

1. How to critically analyze bold claims about weight loss and health
2. Why headlines about weight and mortality are often more misleading than they seem
3. What the Look AHEAD study really found (and why its impact on the meta-analysis matters)
4. Why intentional weight loss rarely leads to the dramatic results diet culture promises
5. How research often gets twisted or oversimplified to create anxiety around eating, body size, and health
6. Simple steps you can take to chip away at internalized anti-fat bias and widen your perspective

Resources:

1. Meta-Analysis: Intentional weight loss and all-cause mortality: a meta-analysis of randomized clinical trials
2. Look AHEAD Study: Cardiovascular Effects of Intensive Lifestyle Intervention in Type 2 Diabetes
3. Grab the Hunger & Fullness Scale Guide at DietCultureRebel.com/hungerfullnessscale and take your next step toward building trust with your body and food.
4. Connect with me over on Instagram at @diet.culture.rebel.

Struggling with food, but not sure where to start?

You don’t have to feel 100% ready to get support. If you're tired of obsessing over food or feeling stuck in the diet cycle, my team of Registered Dietitians is here to help. We offer one-on-one nutrition counseling—and we accept insurance! Spots are limited, so head to https://dietculturerebel.com/insurance to see if we’re covered in your state and learn how to get started.

"If we are not clear on what our values are, they will be prescribed for us."

Is living by someone else’s “shoulds” quietly running your life? In this conversation with psychotherapist and Momwell founder, Erica Djossa, we unpack how inherited expectations around productivity, motherhood, and diet culture can pull you away from your true values and impact your relationship with food and your body. You’ll leave with practical steps and reflective questions to identify what actually matters to you, build self-trust, and choose peace over burnout.

What You’ll Learn:

1. How our definition of health is shaped, and sometimes distorted, by family, society, and diet culture
2. Why living a values-aligned life can anchor your food and body healing journey
3. Simple ways to start untangling the “shoulds” from your true priorities
4. How to use your values as a compass when food rules and comparison creep in
5. Strategies to sort out which values are genuinely yours, and which are inherited or anxiety-driven
6. How self-compassion and curiosity can guide you through value discovery, even when it feels messy or emotional

Connect with Erica:

1. Instagram: @momwell
2. Momwell website
3. Erica's website
4. Free Values Sort

Struggling to know when to eat or when to stop isn’t a failure… it could be a byproduct of following diet rules instead of your body’s cues. The free Hunger & Fullness Scale Guide helps you ditch the noise and tune back into the cues your body is sending to build trust with your body and food. Get it at DietCultureRebel.com/hungerfullnessscale.

Come back next week for another episode and connect with me over on Instagram at @diet.culture.rebel.

Struggling with food, but not sure where to start?

You don’t have to feel 100% ready to get support. If you're tired of obsessing over food or feeling stuck in the diet cycle, my team of Registered Dietitians is here to help. We offer one-on-one nutrition counseling—and we accept insurance! Spots are limited, so head to https://dietculturerebel.com/insurance to see if we’re covered in your state and learn how to get started.

“When overeating is not treated like a moral failure, it loses its power.”

Do you feel the pressure to finish every bite on your plate, even after you’re full, and wonder why it’s so hard to stop? You’re definitely not alone. In this episode, we unpack the roots of clean plate club struggles, from childhood dinner table rules and food scarcity to family beliefs and diet culture, and explore why it’s not simply a matter of discipline. I share my own story and help you reframe these habits with compassion instead of shame, recognizing how they may have once served you. You’ll walk away with practical tools to build mindful pauses into your meals, reconnect with your hunger and fullness cues, and eat in a way that truly feels good - without guilt or outdated rules attached.

What You’ll Learn:

1. Why stopping when you’re full isn’t about willpower or discipline, and what’s actually driving the struggle
2. How childhood experiences, praise, and family dynamics might have shaped your “clean plate club” habits
3. Why compassion (not self-blame) is the key to loosening the grip of these patterns
4. Powerful mindset shifts to start eating what and how much feels good to you
5. How to reconnect with your body’s hunger and fullness signals
6. Practical action steps to gently break free from automatic plate-cleaning

Resources:

1. Grab the Hunger & Fullness Scale Guide at DietCultureRebel.com/hungerfullnessscale and take your next step toward building trust with your body and food.
2. Episode 230, The Hunger and Fullness Scale: What It Is and How to Use It
3. Connect with me over on Instagram at @diet.culture.rebel.

Struggling with food, but not sure where to start?

You don’t have to feel 100% ready to get support. If you're tired of obsessing over food or feeling stuck in the diet cycle, my team of Registered Dietitians is here to help. We offer one-on-one nutrition counseling—and we accept insurance! Spots are limited, so head to https://dietculturerebel.com/insurance to see if we’re covered in your state and learn how to get started.

"What we call healthy on the outside does not always reflect what is happening on the inside."

A missing menstrual cycle is often one of the body’s earliest warning signs that something is off beneath the surface. In this episode, I’m joined by Dr. Nicola Sykes, a leading expert on hypothalamic amenorrhea (HA), to talk about what it really means when your period goes missing, why HA can affect bodies of any size, and how normalized “healthy” behaviors and weight stigma often delay real support. This conversation goes beyond fertility to explore how to listen to your body, understand the signals it’s sending, and support your health in a sustainable way.

✅ What You’ll Learn:

1. Why habits like carb-cutting, intermittent fasting, and intense exercise can disrupt your menstrual cycle
2. How under-fueling, stress, and exercise multiply to trigger hypothalamic amenorrhea
3. Why anyone, regardless of body size, can experience HA, and what makes weight-based assumptions so harmful
4. What a disrupted cycle looks like and why tracking ovulation matters
5. How to start reconnecting with your body, tune into real hunger and fullness cues, and ditch shame in favor of curiosity
6. Actionable first steps for period recovery, including why eating breakfast is a big deal!

🔗 Connect with Dr. Nicola:

1. Instagram: @noperiodnowwhat
2. Website
3. Period recovery support group
4. Blog post mentioned: Diagnosing Hypothalamic Amenorrhea
5. The Missed Menstrual Periods Study at Mayo Clinic Florida

✨ Struggling to know when to eat or when to stop isn’t a failure… it could be a byproduct of following diet rules instead of your body’s cues. The free Hunger & Fullness Scale Guide helps you ditch the noise and tune back into the cues your body is sending to build trust with your body and food. Get it at DietCultureRebel.com/hungerfullnessscale.

Come back next week for another episode and connect with me over on Instagram at @diet.culture.rebel. 💕

Struggling with food, but not sure where to start?

You don’t have to feel 100% ready to get support. If you're tired of obsessing over food or feeling stuck in the diet cycle, my team of Registered Dietitians is here to help. We offer one-on-one nutrition counseling—and we accept insurance! Spots are limited, so head to https://dietculturerebel.com/insurance to see if we’re covered in your state and learn how to get started.

"I love reframing cravings as a way that your body is trying to communicate with you, because to me that seems so much kinder than labeling them as something bad or wrong."

Diet culture has a sneaky way of showing up in our everyday lives, whether it’s feeling out of control around sugar, getting weighed at the doctor’s office, or worrying about how society’s obsession with thinness is impacting our kids. In this Q&A episode, I answer common Instagram questions with no blame or fear. We talk about what really drives cravings, how to advocate for yourself in medical settings, and how to support kids in building a healthy relationship with food and their bodies.

✅ What You’ll Learn:

1. How to understand intense sugar and chocolate cravings without shame or self-blame
2. Why eating enough and breaking food restrictions matters for intuitive eating
3. Ways to practice habituation and make peace with food you fear
4. Tools and scripts for advocating for yourself with weight-focused doctors
5. Tips for fostering a healthy relationship with food and body in your children, even amid diet culture pressures
6. Why compassion and small steps are the key to moving forward...no all-or-nothing thinking required

🔗 Resources:

1. Grab the Hunger & Fullness Scale Guide at DietCultureRebel.com/hungerfullnessscale and take your next step toward building trust with your body and food.
2. Connect with me over on Instagram at @diet.culture.rebel.
3. Ragen Chastain's Substack: Weight and Healthcare
4. No Weigh Movement
5. HAES Health Sheets

Struggling with food, but not sure where to start?

You don’t have to feel 100% ready to get support. If you're tired of obsessing over food or feeling stuck in the diet cycle, my team of Registered Dietitians is here to help. We offer one-on-one nutrition counseling—and we accept insurance! Spots are limited, so head to https://dietculturerebel.com/insurance to see if we’re covered in your state and learn how to get started.

"Diet culture and wellness culture are incredibly convincing. Every new trend is marketed as the most important thing you need to do for your health."

Electrolyte supplements and hydration drinks are everywhere right now, being advertised by everyone from TikTok wellness influencers to major podcast sponsors. But how much of this is actually helpful, and how much is just hype? In this episode, I break down the real science behind electrolytes, explain what sodium and potassium actually do in your body, and cut through the fear-based wellness messaging that keeps people confused and stressed. We’ll cover recommendations, controversies, and who might actually benefit from electrolyte supplements. You’ll get the context you need to understand the numbers without obsessing over them.

✅ What You’ll Learn:

1. What sodium and potassium actually do in your body, and why they’re so essential
2. Who might benefit from electrolyte supplements, and who probably doesn’t need them
3. Why the latest wellness trends are so convincing...and often misleading
4. How your body naturally regulates electrolytes (and when it needs support)
5. The truth about sodium recommendations, chronic disease, and where potassium fits into the picture
6. Why it’s possible to prioritize hydration and health without falling for diet culture’s fear-mongering

✨ Struggling to know when to eat or when to stop isn’t a failure… it could be a byproduct of following diet rules instead of your body’s cues. The free Hunger & Fullness Scale Guide helps you ditch the noise and tune back into the cues your body is sending to build trust with your body and food. Get it at DietCultureRebel.com/hungerfullnessscale.

💕 Come back next week for another episode and connect with me over on Instagram at @diet.culture.rebel.

Struggling with food, but not sure where to start?

You don’t have to feel 100% ready to get support. If you're tired of obsessing over food or feeling stuck in the diet cycle, my team of Registered Dietitians is here to help. We offer one-on-one nutrition counseling—and we accept insurance! Spots are limited, so head to https://dietculturerebel.com/insurance to see if we’re covered in your state and learn how to get started.

"It really isn't about food. It is about control...I wish I would have understood that a little bit earlier."

With thinness back “in” and diet culture louder than ever, I sat down with Ginger Zee, ABC News chief meteorologist and climate correspondent, for an honest conversation about food, body image, mental health, and the healing that reshaped her life and career. Ginger has spent decades in the public eye and a male-dominated industry. She opens up about her journey from childhood struggles with anorexia to thriving as a leader, parent, and public figure. This episode is about resilience, hope, and what becomes possible when food and body thoughts stop running the show.

What You’ll Learn:

• How diet culture is louder than ever and what it means for us now
• The impact of family, society, and trauma on our relationship with food and body
• Why healing your relationship with food gives you more room to live meaningfully
• The lessons Ginger learned about control, body image, and resilience through different stages of her life
• How sharing personal stories breaks shame and reminds us that we are not alone
• How taking up space and being vulnerable as women is a powerful act of rebellion against diet culture

Connect with Ginger:

1. X: @ginger_Zee
2. Instagram: @Ginger_Zee
3. Facebook Fan Page
4. Website
5. Good Morning America

Struggling to know when to eat or when to stop isn’t a failure… it could be a byproduct of following diet rules instead of your body’s cues. The free Hunger & Fullness Scale Guide helps you ditch the noise and tune back into the cues your body is sending to build trust with your body and food. Get it at DietCultureRebel.com/hungerfullnessscale.

Come back next week for another episode and connect with me over on Instagram at @diet.culture.rebel.

Struggling with food, but not sure where to start?

You don’t have to feel 100% ready to get support. If you're tired of obsessing over food or feeling stuck in the diet cycle, my team of Registered Dietitians is here to help. We offer one-on-one nutrition counseling—and we accept insurance! Spots are limited, so head to https://dietculturerebel.com/insurance to see if we’re covered in your state and learn how to get started.

“Yo-yo dieting, restrictive diets, and cutting out whole food groups is worsening insulin resistance more than carbs ever could.”

Carbs have been painted as the villain for far too long, and diet culture has convinced many of us that avoiding them is the key to health and happiness. But what really happens to your body and blood sugar when you restrict carbs may surprise you.

In this episode, I’m joined by Kristie Messerli, registered dietitian and certified diabetes care and education specialist. We unpack the fear around carbs, diabetes, insulin resistance, and CGMs, and explain why restriction creates more stress, guilt, and metabolic harm. We also share science-backed ways to support both your health and your relationship with food.

What You’ll Learn:

1. How restriction and yo-yo dieting actually make insulin resistance worse, and how lifelong dieting can backfire metabolically
2. Why eating sugar does not cause diabetes, and what actually contributes to diabetes development
3. The pros and cons of using continuous glucose monitors (CGMs), and when they’re helpful versus harmful
4. Why blood sugar spikes are often misunderstood, and how hormones, stress, and sleep play a role
5. How to add to your plate (not take away!) for better blood sugar regulation and more satisfying meals
6. Practical ways to rethink carbs and food neutrality to promote both your health and your relationship with eating

🔗 Connect with Kristie:

1. Instagram: type2diabetes.nutritionist
2. Free Masterclass: 7 Mistakes That Are Wrecking Your Blood Sugar (and what to do instead)

✨ Struggling to know when to eat or when to stop isn’t a failure… it could be a byproduct of following diet rules instead of your body’s cues. The free Hunger & Fullness Scale Guide helps you ditch the noise and tune back into the cues your body is sending to build trust with your body and food. Get it at DietCultureRebel.com/hungerfullnessscale

Come back next week for another episode and connect with me over on Instagram at @diet.culture.rebel.

Struggling with food, but not sure where to start?

You don’t have to feel 100% ready to get support. If you're tired of obsessing over food or feeling stuck in the diet cycle, my team of Registered Dietitians is here to help. We offer one-on-one nutrition counseling—and we accept insurance! Spots are limited, so head to https://dietculturerebel.com/insurance to see if we’re covered in your state and learn how to get started.

"I created Diet Culture Rebel because we truly do need to rebel against diet culture. Not politely sidestep it, not quietly disagree with it, but actively push back on the messages that keep us stuck struggling with food and our bodies."

Rebelling against diet culture doesn’t have to mean flipping your entire world upside down overnight. In this episode, I share five real-life ways I’m pushing back on diet culture right now, from listening to my hunger cues and choosing movement that fits my life as a mom to rejecting toxic nutrition trends and refusing to praise weight loss.

This conversation is rooted in kindness, self-compassion, and small, sustainable shifts that have helped me feel more grounded, confident, and at peace with food. I hope it inspires you to try one act of rebellion that honors your body and your needs!

✅ What You’ll Learn:

1. How I focus on my body and my needs in the face of diet culture messaging
2. Why listening to hunger, honoring cravings, and eating what you want are acts of rebellion
3. The power of self-compassion and talking to yourself with kindness
4. Why I call out toxic nutrition trends on social media, and how you can spot them too
5. My reasons for refusing to compliment weight loss, and what I choose to celebrate instead
6. Simple, actionable ways you can start giving diet culture the middle finger in your own life

🔗 Resources:

1. Grab the Hunger & Fullness Scale Guide at DietCultureRebel.com/hungerfullnessscale and take your next step toward building trust with your body and food.
2. Episode 209, How Diet Culture Harms Your Pelvic Floor (and What to Do About It) With Dr. Sara Reardon
3. Connect with me over on Instagram at @diet.culture.rebel.

Struggling with food, but not sure where to start?

You don’t have to feel 100% ready to get support. If you're tired of obsessing over food or feeling stuck in the diet cycle, my team of Registered Dietitians is here to help. We offer one-on-one nutrition counseling—and we accept insurance! Spots are limited, so head to https://dietculturerebel.com/insurance to see if we’re covered in your state and learn how to get started.

"I think I had to give myself internal permission to say, ‘You don't have to change your body to do this thing. You can just do the thing. You can do the hike, you can do the climb, and you don't have to lose weight or gain a certain ability to be able to do it.’"

We’ve been taught to believe that movement has to be about changing our bodies and pushing ourselves to the limit, but what happens when you strip away the blame and rebuild a relationship with exercise that actually honors your body?

In this episode, I sit down with Dr. Megan Banker to unpack her journey of unlearning diet culture, healing from well-intentioned but harmful messages, and the pivotal hike that shifted how she spoke to herself. We dive into the emotional layers that make movement feel hard, and why your body size isn’t the problem.

This conversation offers a compassionate lens and practical tools to help you reconnect with movement in a way that truly supports and respects you.

✅ What You’ll Learn:

• Why movement can feel so emotional and how to process those feelings without blaming your body
• Practical ways to approach exercise that support your strength and mobility
• How to reframe negative self-talk and start speaking to yourself with kindness and respect
• Why it’s possible (and powerful) to do hard, meaningful things in the body you have right now
• The impact of family and societal conditioning on our relationship with movement, and how to heal from it
• Steps to build a deeper trust in your ability to take care of yourself with movement and nutrition

✨ Connect with Megan:

• Instagram
• TikTok

🔗 Struggling to know when to eat or when to stop isn’t a failure... it could be a byproduct of following diet rules instead of your body's cues. The free Hunger & Fullness Scale Guide helps you ditch the noise and tune back into the cues your body is sending to build trust with your body and food. Get it at DietCultureRebel.com/hungerfullnessscale.

Come back next week for another episode and connect with me over on Instagram at @diet.culture.rebel.

Struggling with food, but not sure where to start?

You don’t have to feel 100% ready to get support. If you're tired of obsessing over food or feeling stuck in the diet cycle, my team of Registered Dietitians is here to help. We offer one-on-one nutrition counseling—and we accept insurance! Spots are limited, so head to https://dietculturerebel.com/insurance to see if we’re covered in your state and learn how to get started.