“It makes me wonder, what things happening today will we look back on years from now with similar eyes and say, 'I can’t believe we let this happen?'”

If you ever watched The Biggest Loser and found yourself rooting for the contestants (and maybe even feeling inspired), this episode will prompt you to look at it all through a very different lens. Today’s conversation is not just about a reality TV show, but about exposing the extreme and unsafe practices it normalized, the harmful beliefs it perpetuated about health and body size, and how so many of those beliefs are still shaping our lives today.

I'm breaking down the new Netflix documentary, Fit for TV, and sharing my reflections as a former viewer, a registered dietitian, and someone who now sees just how toxic shows like The Biggest Loser have been for our collective understanding of health. From unrealistic exercise routines to extreme calorie restriction, public humiliation, and the perpetuation of weight stigma, these harmful narratives stuck with me for years.

We dig into the consequences contestants faced, including metabolic slowdown, weight regain, and lifelong shame, and we shine a light on why the system set us all up to fail. My hope is that after listening, you’ll deepen your understanding of why dieting fails us, how weight stigma sneaks into everyday life, and what it really looks like to pursue health with compassion instead of shame.

Most importantly, we talk about what you can do to unlearn these narratives and break the cycle for yourself and for those around you. Whether you watched The Biggest Loser or not, this episode will help you see diet culture with a more critical, informed, and compassionate lens.

What You’ll Learn:

• Why the practices on The Biggest Loser were incredibly unsafe, and why they were normalized for entertainment
• The reality of metabolic adaptation, weight regain, and the toll of weight cycling on our health
• The importance of challenging harmful narratives and stepping away from self-blame when diets don’t “work”
• How weight stigma shows up in sneaky ways
• What it looks like to move forward with a healthier, more compassionate view of all bodies (including yours!)

You are not failing if a diet hasn’t worked for you. The system is flawed, not you. Thank you for listening and for being willing to look a little more deeply and compassionately at what we’ve been taught about health. If this episode resonated, I’d love for you to leave a rating and review, or share it with someone who might need to hear it too!

Resources:

• What We Don't Talk About When We Talk About Fat, by Aubrey Gordon
• "You Just Need to Lose Weight" and 19 Other Myths About Fat People, by Aubrey Gordon

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.

”The last thing we ever want to do to a child’s body is shrink it. If we make a child’s body a lower weight, it completely derails their development, their internal signaling, interrupts their physical and cognitive growth - all of it.”

If you’re a parent or if you ever were a kid in a world obsessed with BMI and weight, this episode is a must-listen. I sat down with Dr. Erin Knopf, who is not only a board-certified pediatrician and psychiatrist, but also an eating disorder specialist who’s boldly calling out the harmful ways our medical system talks about weight, especially when it comes to kids. If you’ve ever left a pediatrician’s office feeling uneasy about body or food advice or if you’re working on healing your own inner child, there is so much wisdom for you here.

We dig deep into the real dangers of focusing on weight in childhood, why trying to shrink a child’s body does more harm than good, and how growth charts and BMI are often misused and misunderstood. Dr. Knopf shares heartbreaking examples, and evidence-based reasons why praise for things like wedding-dress size decades later is not only unhelpful, but actively harmful. She brings science, context, and genuine compassion to this conversation.

Even if you don’t have kids, this one’s for you. We were all once children shaped by these messages, and many of us are still unpacking them. Whether you’re worried about passing these beliefs on or realizing you internalized them long ago, let this episode be an invitation to unlearn and start fresh, for yourself and the next generation.

 What You’ll Learn: 

• Why shrinking a child’s body is never the answer, and what the real developmental risks are 
• How weight stigma shows up both physically and psychologically
• The truth about growth charts and BMI - what most parents (and many doctors!) don’t know 
• Why “health” can’t be measured by weight alone for kids, teens, or adults 
• How to talk about food and bodies at home to break the cycle and foster genuine well-being 
• What to do if you’re realizing you’ve accidentally passed on unhelpful messages to your children

If this episode brought up feelings for you, know that’s okay, and that awareness is a gift. You are not a bad parent or a bad person for having learned these ideas, and you’re absolutely capable of creating positive change, starting today. By healing your own relationship with food and your body, you’re also helping build a compassionate foundation for those you love.

Was today's episode helpful for you? If so, I know you'll also love my past conversation with Dr. Maggie Landes, where we dive even deeper into weight stigma in the healthcare system.

Connect with Dr. Erin Knopf:

• Instagram: @virtual.eating.recovery4u
• Instagram: @drerinknopf
• LinkedIn
• YouTube
• Very Health

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 believe the fear around Seed Oils feeds into the idea that we have complete control over our health outcomes and that eating perfectly will guarantee better health. This is far from the truth..."

Are Seed Oils really the enemy or is this another story from diet culture? In this episode, we're diving into the truth about seed oils. We're covering what they are, what the research actually says, and why the fear around them is often rooted in diet culture, privilege, not health.

I'm excited to share the facts with you on this episode so you can feel calmer and more confident in your food choices. This episode isn't about giving you rules or telling you to track what kind of oils are in every single thing that you eat. It is about equipping you with knowledge so that you can challenge misinformation that might otherwise leave you feeling anxious, guilty, or obsessing over food.

If learning about nutrition still feels overwhelming or distressing, that's okay. You don't have to force yourself through this episode if it's not what you need right now. Take care of yourself and come back when it feels approachable. When you are ready, I'd much rather you learn about seed oils here in a space that prioritizes your relationship with food rather than from a diet culture source that doesn't.

What You’ll Learn:

• What Seed Oils are and why they are used so widely
• The main arguments behind the anti-Seed Oil movement
• Why it's often NOT a good idea to focus on eliminating Seed Oils
• What to focus on besides eliminating Seed Oils, especially if you want to prioritize your relationship with food
• How to challenge nutrition misinformation online
• Why the fear around Seed Oils is often rooted in classism and wellness elitism, not health

Thanks for being here! I'd love to hear what you think about Seed Oils after listening to this episode. Does avoiding Seed Oils make sense to your overall health, budget, or relationship with food? Let me know 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 would cry almost every day because of how hungry I was, but I didn't have enough macros to eat what I needed."

If you've been tracking macros, calories, or points, and you are starting to feel like it's taking over your life, this episode is for you. And even if you don't track, but find yourself thinking about food constantly or that you're failing when you're not following a food plan perfectly, this conversation will resonate.

In this episode we get to hear from Jaimie, a fellow Rebel, who has experienced a 180 in her relationship with food after years of obsessing over numbers. Jaimie shares how food feels less loud now and how she's back to doing things she loves and food no longer dictates her mood, her day, or her self worth.

My conversation with Jaimie paints a clear picture of how something that seems harmless like tracking macros can slowly chip away at your joy, your body trust, and your relationship with food. BUT Jaimie's story also shows what food freedom looks like on the other side!

What You’ll Learn:

• How Diet Culture conditions us to ignore our body cues and dismiss our feelings of dieting overwhelm
• Why we keep dieting even when we know it isn't healthy
• How to shift away from food guilt and move away from tracking
• What Jaimie has done to stay grounded and not return to her old habits
• What the journey to food freedom has looked like for Jaimie (and why it's possible for you too!)

If you are tired of thinking about food all the time, Jaimie's story will give you hope that a more peaceful and intuitive relationship with food is possible.

Thank you to Jaimie for sharing so vulnerably so others may be able to break away from tracking and experience food freedom like she has.

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.

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

"The craze of fat-free foods was partnered with the strongest message that you can be bad and still be good."

If you've ever felt confused by all of the changing food trends or wondered why something that seemed healthy a few years ago is suddenly frowned upon now, this episode will give you so much clarity. You are going to learn how diet culture has evolved over the decades and walk away feeling more grounded the next time a new trend comes around.

Today I'm joined by Dr. Jillian Lampert, who is the Vice President of Strategy and Public Affairs for Accanto Health, and she's done incredible work in advocacy, education, and care access over the last 30 years.

Dr. Jillian first became a dietitian during the Fen-Phen era and has seen diet culture evolve firsthand. As someone with lived experience of an eating disorder herself, she brings so much compassion and insight to this conversation and to the work she does each day.

What You’ll Learn:

• The wild, ever-changing landscape of diet culture and weight loss trends,
• How to spot diet culture as it continues to evolve,
• How some of the craze behind GLP-1s feels similar to to Fen-Phen in the 90's,
• Why diet foods can act like a permission slip to overeat and pull us away from body attunement,
• How dietary fat plays an important role in satisfaction and fullness, and
• The alarming statistic connecting dieting and eating disorders

Thanks for being here today! Let me know what takeaways you have from this episode over on Instagram @diet.culture.rebel

Connect with Dr. Jillian Lampert through the Emily Program at EmilyProgram.com

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.

" My coach said even though you're running a lot, it still doesn't grant you the right to eat whatever you want..."

If you've ever felt guilt when resting, struggled to motivate yourself to move, or felt stuck in an all-or-nothing mindset with exercise, this episode is for you!

In this episode I'm sharing my personal journey with exercise in hopes to help you reflect on your own so you can walk away with clear ideas to transform your relationship with movement for the better.

I'm covering everything from how exercise first became a way to control my body, to how that evolved over the years, and what ultimately helped me shift towards freedom, joy, and body attunement.

What You’ll Learn:

• The role unhelpful comments played in my relationship with exercise
• Why unsaid pressures to look a certain way drove my worst habits
• How hustle culture and diet culture fueled my overexercising
• The science behind why overexercising can be such a hard habit to quit
• PLUS the small but meaningful signs of progress I experienced along the way

There were so many points in my journey where I thought everything I was doing was healthy. I thought I was doing the right things but looking back now I can see clear signs that I was struggling. My hope is that this episode will help you reflect on your relationship with exercise and connect the dots to identify what shifts you need to make to create a more peaceful, sustainable relationship with exercise.

Thanks for being here! Let me know what takeaways you have from this episode over on Instagram @diet.culture.rebel

I'd love to hear what comes from reflecting on your own relationship with exercise. If you enjoyed this episode, check out episode 201 with Personal Trainer Michael Ulloa!

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's not that you're lacking willpower or that you're weak or lazy... every cell in your body is probably screaming that you need to eat these carbs or you're going to die."

If you have PCOS (Polycystic Ovary Syndrome) or another medical condition and ever wondered if Intuitive Eating would still benefit you, this episode is for you! Julie Duffy Dillon and I dive into the complexities of PCOS and the role diet culture and weight stigma play in its care.

Even if you don't have PCOS, you won't want to miss this chat with Julie Duffy Dillon!

What You’ll Learn:

• How a healthy relationship with food helps in managing medical conditions
• Why there is a higher risk of disordered eating among people with PCOS
• What Diet Culture gets wrong about people with PCOS
• How to manage insulin resistance with Intuitive Eating
• Why you should consider shift from a mindset of restriction to a mindset of addition
• PLUS what supplements Julie recommends over and over again

Thanks for being here! Let us know what you learned from this episode over on Instagram @diet.culture.rebel

Connect with Julie Duffy Dillon:

Website: JulieDuffyDillon.com/pcos

Podcast: Find Your Food Voice

Book: JulieDuffyDillon.com/book

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.

In this episode, registered dietitian and certified intuitive eating counselor Bonnie Roney shares three powerful tips to help you honor your fullness without guilt, food rules, or restriction.

You’ll learn why it’s not about willpower or discipline, and what’s really going on beneath the surface when fullness feels hard to recognize or act on. From sneaky restriction to the Clean Plate Club to food satisfaction, this episode offers a compassionate, evidence based approach to reconnecting with your body and building real trust around food.

Discussed in this episode:

• Why traditional “just stop when you’re full” advice falls short
• How dieting and food rules disrupt your hunger and fullness cues
• The surprising role of satisfaction in helping you stop eating
• How to start rebuilding body trust with intentional, not restrictive, structure
• What common barriers might be getting in your way (and how to move past them)
• Real-life client stories that show this work actually works

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.

Connect with Bonnie on Instagram: @diet.culture.rebel

In this episode, Bonnie shares why she’s stepping away for the week and what it really means to rest in a world obsessed with hustle and diet culture. From overworking to overexercising, she highlights how the pressure to always be productive shows up in our relationships with food and our bodies. This episode is a gentle reminder that rest is not failure, it’s a powerful form of rebellion. Enjoy the 200+ past episodes we have for support!

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.

Connect with Bonnie on Instagram: @diet.culture.rebel

In this episode, Bonnie is joined by Dr. Blair Burnette, an eating disorder researcher and assistant professor at Michigan State University to set the record straight on what intuitive eating really is. Together, they explore how harmful diet culture myths persist, why so much eating disorder research is biased, and what science says about intuitive eating and health. This honest, evidence-based conversation offers validation and clarity for anyone who’s ever felt confused, frustrated, or judged about how they eat or what they believe about their body.

What You’ll Learn:

• What intuitive eating is actually about (and what it’s not)
• The psychological and emerging physical health benefits linked to intuitive eating
• How diet culture has shaped eating disorders and disordered eating behaviors
• Why so much existing research on eating disorders is limited and biased
• The concept of interoceptive awareness and why it matters for healing your relationship with food
• How structured eating can still align with intuitive eating
• Why centering weight in healthcare does more harm than good
• How personal and systemic change around food and body image begins

Connect with Dr. Blair:

Website: https://ariselabmsu.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ariselabmsu

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.

Connect with Bonnie on Instagram: @diet.culture.rebel