Melinda goes solo in this episode to bring you up-to-speed on life with Baby Sammi, and the 28 Days to Freedom course. This is the last episode for 2018. The podcast will be back in 2019 with a new format and fresh, action-oriented content that you can apply to your own life!

Key Takeaways:

• Your weight is going to fluctuate over time, this is normal!

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• We should all try to be the best person we can be, and living healthy is a part of that!

Mentioned in this Show:

• 28 Days to Freedom

• Kara Loewentheil’s episode

• My Bathtub Moment

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Conversations with Melinda Parrish, plus size model and body positivity influencer. Melinda has sparked the #healthyatanysize movement through her social media advocacy for women of all shapes and sizes to live a healthy, aspirational lifestyle that is not centered on weight loss. Each week, Melinda Parrish is serving up a dose of inspiration, information, and insight alongside some of the most influential voices in body positivity, health, and wellness. Melinda believes that women were not put on this earth to stand on the sidelines of their own lives, waiting to be good enough to get in the game and start living. As a society, we are wasting far too much of our time, money, and energy on becoming serial dieters, and chasing impossible standards of body perfection. This podcast offers an insightful look at the impact of diet culture on the lives of women, and offers practical, how-to approaches for women to apply to living a more healthy lifestyle. This isn't about fitting into our skinny jeans. It's about freeing ourselves up to become the women we want to be, and living at full amplitude in all aspects of our lives!

Megan Anderson, Physical Therapist and yoga instructor, works with women of all ages who are ready to take an active role in their health and healing! Megan’s practice was created out of her passion and drive to make women's health care more accessible. In her many years of clinical practice, she noticed that busy moms struggled to follow through with Physical Therapy. And it definitely was not for lack of effort! Megan believes that a healthy, happy mom makes for a healthier, happier family! So she’s committed to focusing on busy moms in her PT work. In this episode, Megan explains her work with Diastasis Recti, pelvic floor problems, and her approach to healing them. Plus, some tips for all of us to unwind and feel better right away!

Key Takeaways:
Diastasis Recti isn’t necessarily a bad thing! Separation of your abs, especially after childbirth, is totally normal.
Being a tight ass might be hurting you in more ways than one
You can take charge of your own healing!

Mentioned in this Show:
Megan’s Website
Refresh Yoga Studio
Honest Soul Yoga

Share the Body Love!

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Subscribe on iTunes and leave a review. I love hearing what you have to say!
Post your own experiences, thoughts, and feedback to social media using the hashtag #healthyatanysize!

Angela Gulner is a writer, actor, and producer, as well as the creator of the series Binge, a dark comedy television series! She has taken her experience as someone in recovery from bulimia and put it into this darkly witty, heartfelt, and hilarious show! She and her team have raised the money to take their pilot and expand it into a full first season, which fans can’t wait to see. In this episode we discuss her personal history with eating disorders, how she went about turning that into a show, and what’s next for Binge (the series).

Key Takeaways:

• It’s possible to take your suffering and turn it into amazing art!

• Eating disorders (and other mental health topics) are gaining recognition and representation in the media, thanks to people like Angela!

• Fixating on weight loss can consume our lives and take us out of the game in our lives, so go reclaim your time and energy for better purposes!

Mentioned in this Show:

• Binge’s Instagram

• Binge’s Website

• Binge Pilot

• The Blind Girl (Binge prequel)

Share the Body Love!

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Jill Angie is a runner, author, and a running coach who is representing for the curvy-bodied athletes of the world! A self-proclaimed fat runner, Jill grew to love running when she stopped thinking about running as a means to offset calories, and started looking at it as a way to build up her confidence and strength. Running became a source of joy for Jill, even when it was difficult. That’s something we can all aspire to! In this episode, Mel and Jill talk about how Jill came to be a fat runner who loves running, Mel’s birth story, wearing a two piece even if you’re a fat woman, and how to use physical challenges as a launchpad to self love.

Key Takeaways:

• You can be fat and still do things like marathons, triathlons, and other athletic activities

• Running is not just a way to punish yourself for what you ate

• Taking on physical challenges can be a launchpad to transform your thoughts and feelings for the better

Mentioned in this Show:

• Jill’s book, Not Your Average Runner

• Jill’s Instagram

• Jill’s website

Share the Body Love!

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Post your own experiences, thoughts, and feedback to social media using the hashtag #healthyatanysize!

IMG’s first Brawn Model, Zach Miko, sits down with Melinda Parrish to discuss his background, his experience as a brawn male in our society, his journey in entertainment, and his recent rise to superstar status. Zach gushes about meeting Tyra Banks IRL as a guest judge on America’s Next Top Model, his love of the new Queer Eye series, and ways that his wife nags him to take better care of himself. Zach’s paving a new way for men of size in the world and he has so much wisdom, confidence, and positivity to share with us all!

Key Takeaways:

• Don’t shrink because you’re afraid other people won’t accept you at full amplitude

• Men experience pressure to become more attractive and lose weight, just like women

• You can feel like a failure even as you’re on a plane on your way to meet Tyra Banks

Mentioned in this Show:

• Zach’s meteoric rise as IMG’s first brawn model

• Zach’s podcast, “Big Things with Zack Miko”

• Zach’s Instagram

Share the Body Love!

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Post your own experiences, thoughts, and feedback to social media using the hashtag #healthyatanysize!

IMG’s first Brawn Model, Zack Miko, sits down with Melinda Parrish to discuss his background, his experience as a brawn male in our society, his journey in entertainment, and his recent rise to superstar status. Zack gushes about meeting Tyra Banks IRL as a guest judge on America’s Next Top Model, his love of the new Queer Eye series, and ways that his wife nags him to take better care of himself. Zack’s paving a new way for men of size in the world and he has so much wisdom, confidence, and positivity to share with us all!

Key Takeaways:

• Don’t shrink because you’re afraid other people won’t accept you at full amplitude

• Men experience pressure to become more attractive and lose weight, just like women

• You can feel like a failure even as you’re on a plane on your way to meet Tyra Banks

Mentioned in this Show:

• Zack’s meteoric rise as IMG’s first brawn model

• Zack’s podcast, “Big Things with Zack Miko”

• Zack’s Instagram

Share the Body Love!

Share what you learned here via Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, or Twitter

Subscribe on iTunes and leave a review. I love hearing what you have to say!

Post your own experiences, thoughts, and feedback to social media using the hashtag #healthyatanysize!

Actor, writer and producer Jennifer Ponton sits down with Melinda Parrish to discuss the AMC series Dietland. They also talk about run-ins with Real Housewives of New York, Jennifer's experience doing nude scenes as a fat actress, her journey as an actress of size in entertainment, and what's on the horizon for this explosive new show.

Key Takeaways:

• Confidence & success don’t come from size

• The patriarchy wants you to diet

• You can be both fat and happy

Mentioned in this Show:

• Dietland on AMC

• Jen's piece for Refinery29

• Jen's Instagram

Share the Body Love!

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Subscribe on iTunes and leave a review. I love hearing what you have to say!

Post your own experiences, thoughts, and feedback to social media using the hashtag #healthyatanysize!

Stephanie Nadia is an award-winning YouTuber and plus size fashion/beauty influencer. In 2013, Stephanie began sharing content. Since then, she has become an outlet for plus-size fashion, beauty, creativity, body-positivity and women empowerment.

Stephanie’s goal is to bring about more diverse representation in the fashion/beauty industry. Coming from a mixed background, Stephanie seeks to represent both her South Asian and Latin American heritage. She is hoping to empower women of all shapes, sizes, age, and color to #daretolive (live creatively and spread positivity).

Stephanie’s passion for life and the brand’s vision is evident in all the content she makes. She puts intelligent ideas at the core of everything she creates, developing content that is unique, relevant, captivating, share-worthy and above all, unforgettable. Stephanie Nadia’s videos have been recognized by several brands, public figures and social platforms including BuzzFeed and Ashton Kutcher himself. She has worked with several beauty & fashion brands to bring creative collaborative content to her growing viewership. Stephanie currently has an ongoing partnership with Gwynnie Bee (modeling, reviews & video) and Shape Magazine, creating the Blush Up with Steph beauty video series for Shape’s online platform.

Sponsor

This episode is brought to you by the Every Body Deserves Love Summer Body Meet-up “Dare to Bare II,” being put on by Alexa Phelece. Click here to learn more! Be sure to go back and listen to Alexa’s Healthy at Any Size podcast interview to learn more about her, and why she decided to start the nonprofit Every Body Deserves Love.

ENTER TO WIN!

One lucky Healthy at Any Size listener will be heading to the Every Body Deserves Love Summer Body Meet-up with a VIP Deluxe package FOR FREE! Just leave a review of the podcast and mention the Every Body Deserves Love Summer Body Meet-up to enter.

NOTE: You must provide your own travel to and from the beach party in L.A., but we’ll make sure you have a fab time while you’re there!

Key takeaways:

• Stephanie’s journey as an influencer, coming from the beauty world into fashion

• Why Stephanie had a hard time acknowledging her body, and the phenomenon of disassociation

• Princess Jasmine’s abs, and Stephanie’s journey to embrace her brown, curvy body

• Stephanie’s Ecuadorian / Trinidadian roots, and how she grew up being told to stay out of the sun and keep her skin lighter

• Stephanie’s love of writing and how her stories reflect her journey to accept herself

• Why representation in the media matters, and how we can rig our feeds to help us love our bodies more

• How Stephanie is using her writing and YouTube presence to try and showcase the economic and ethnic diversity of New York City life

• The rise of the side hustle, and why millennials are embracing the “gig” economy lifestyle

• How Stephanie found the nerve to step out of her comfort zone and accepting herself completely, from the inside out

Mentioned in this episode:

Stephanie’s Instagram

Stephanie’s YouTube

Stephanie’s website

Share the Body Love!

Share what you learned here via Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, or Twitter

Subscribe on iTunes and leave a review. I love hearing what you have to say!

Post your own experiences, thoughts, and feedback to social media using the hashtag #healthyatanysize!

Dr. Marian Tanofsky-Kraff is a Professor of Medical & Clinical Psychology at the Uniformed Services University. She is an expert on eating disorders in military settings. She and I first met in the fall of 2017, when we were invited to speak on a panel about eating disorder stereotypes before Congress by the National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA).

Because of my personal experience with having an eating disorder while in the military, I was very excited to meet her and learn from her. In this interview, Dr. Tanofsky-Kraff and I discuss her research. We talk about what factors contribute to a prevalence of eating disorders within the military, and what she and others are doing to further the research in this area.

She also talks about ways we as a society can support those with eating disorders. Whether or not you’re personally impacted by the trend of eating disorders in the military, this episode will be eye-opening and informative!

Key takeaways:

• The prevalence of eating disorders in the military

• The fact that instances bulimia and binge eating are especially high for military members

• Situational eating disorders, which can be brought on by a variety of factors inherent to military life

• Why eating disorders are harder to spot in the military, and at times even encouraged for a variety of reasons

• Why service members feel ashamed to seek treatment for eating disorders (or any medical issue, really!)

• Why eating disorders can be not only debilitating, but actually career ending for service members

• How genetics play a huge role in the development of eating disorders

• Military body composition standards, and how they sometimes penalize people with more muscle mass and those that are actually more in shape

• Solutions that the military healthcare system could consider adopting to reduce the prevalence of eating disorders in the military

• Ways that we as a society can begin to better support our service members

Mentioned in this episode:

Uniformed Services University

National Eating Disorders Association

Healthy at Any Size Episode 7: “Speak Out: I’m Sharing My History with Bulimia and Binge Eating Disorder in the Military in the Hopes that You’ll Speak Out, Too”

Share the Body Love!

Share what you learned here via Facebook, Instagram, Pinterest, or Twitter

Subscribe on iTunes and leave a review. I love hearing what you have to say!

Post your own experiences, thoughts, and feedback to social media using the hashtag #healthyatanysize!