Millennial Body Image Project

Kirsten Ackerman is a non-diet Registered Dietitian and the creator of The Intuitive RD, and her goal is to help you stop obsessing over food and your body so you can start leading a joyful life. She’s straight real talk, no BS or beating around the bush when it comes to intuitive eating and diet culture. On today’s episode we’re chatting about how participating in dieting behaviors and hating on our bodies is a form of social acceptance throughout our lives, and how the underlying message in nutrition and dietetics programs drives us towards the mentality of “smaller body = healthier and better”. We’re also getting into a deep discussion of the Health at Every Size movement, not to be confused as health-Y at every size, both as a social justice movement, and as a health movement that is inclusive of all bodies. Check your ego, your judgement, and everything you think you knew about “healthy” behaviors and assumptions at the door. “Alright, we’re excited – first day of school, here we go, we’re ready to learn to get some knowledge.” that’s a finding nemo quote if you didn’t catch it. Here we go with Kristen Ackerman of the Intuitive RD! 

On today’s episode we’re chatting about:

The role that diet culture has played in Kirsten’s own personal health journey

Sneaky dieting behaviors: could you be dieting without realizing it?

How dieting and hating on our bodies is a form of social acceptance, from when we are teenagers doing our first diets through the workplace as grown women

The underlying messages in nutrition and dietetics studies of: “being in a smaller body = healthier = better AND you can completely control the size of your body and therefore your health (or vice versa) by controlling your food.”

Wellness culture as diet culture in disguise

Health at Every Size 101 and the weight-centric paradigm

Why there is so much confusion about intuitive eating and overeating previously restricted foods

Instead of “making” moderation and balance happen through a restrictive approach, you arrive at moderation and balance naturally when you listen to how your body is responding to food.

Hang out with Kirsten!

* The Intuitive RD

* @theintuitive_rd on Instagram

* The Intuitive Bites Podcast

Norm Robillard, Ph.D., is the Founder of the Digestive Health Institute and is a leading gut health expert. He turned his own suffering from chronic acid reflux into a mission to create the drug and antibiotic free Fast Tract Diet Protocol for functional gastrointestinal disorders like small intestinal bacterial overgrowth (SIBO), GERD, acid reflux, heartburn and related health conditions. This is the first episode of the podcast where we’re really digging in to SIBO (small intestinal bacterial overgrowth) and acid reflux, and how we can help treat those with a functional medicine and nutrition approach. SIBO-related conditions affect more than 100 million Americans, so it’s about time we tackled that huge issue on this podcast on healing SIBO and acid reflux naturally! We’re also discussing how to approach any therapeutic protocol (or even listening to information about therapeutic protocols for specific health conditions) when you have a history of a complicated relationship with food and your body.

On today’s episode, we’re discussing:

* Small Intestinal Bacterial Overgrowth 101: Why do we have bacteria in our intestines in the first place? What is their purpose?

* The most common causes of SIBO? 

* Why is there so much confusion about the symptoms of low and high stomach acid?

* How GERD, low stomach acid (hypochlorhydria), and heartburn are related to SIBO

* What is Fermentation Potential, how is it calculated, and how can it help us discover what specific types of foods we should be focusing on in the treatment of SIBO to help eliminate the overgrowth of bacteria

* The problem with trigger-happy antibiotic treatment in SIBO

* The dangers of a therapeutic protocol for those with a history of disordered eating or yo-yo dieting

* Differentiating between the main symptoms of SIBO vs. some other more common gut issue or autoimmune issues

* Methane vs. Hydrogen-dominance in SIBO, Hydrogen Sulfide SIBO, and the respective symptoms you will see with these different types 

* A 3-step approach to discovering and treating digestive conditions

 

 

 

Resources Mentioned:

Dr. Norm Robillard

Fast Tract Digestion Protocol

The Digestive Health Institute

Fermentation Protocol calculator

You’ll love these episodes too:

11 | Leaky Gut & Intestinal Permeability: what are they? How do you know if you have them, and how can you heal?

12 | Food Intolerance Testing, Food Sensitivities, and Allergies, oh my!

40 | Making Peace with your Body, Food, and Healing from Autoimmune Disease with Whitney Shook

Steph Gaudreau is a fierce, strong (#teamthickthighs and #quadzilla) chick who believes in empowering women by showing us we have the right to be strong and how to embrace taking up space – AND that we do not provide more value to the world by trying to shrink ourselves and taking up less space. She is one of my personal inspirations for getting involved in this space and making that transition in my own personal journey from doing everything that I possibly could to lose weight, eat less, and take up LESS space, to transitioning to the confident, empowered, strong woman that I am today (which, let’s set the record straight – it’s taken me a WHILE to get here, and I don’t always feel super confident and empowered every moment of every day, but we’ve come a looong way from the frail, tiny little poor self esteem shell of a person that I used to be.) Steph is talking about her own personal health journey from wanting to shrink herself to wanting to take up more space and how she got there. 

Steph also has an AMAZING book coming out this month – it’s called the Core Four: Embrace Your Body, Own Your Power, and it’s probably WAY different from any book about food and nutrition that you’ve ever read. It’s part meal plan, part learning how to listen to your body and eat in tuned with what your body is telling you, part “here’s how to get strong by doing some basic exercises at home” – but with none of the diet culture or exercise dogma of “my way or the highway!” or “if you don’t do this you’re a failure and you’re going to be unhealthy and sick and overweight forever!” There are also a bunch of pre-order bonuses if you order the book before it comes out on July 30th! 

In today’s episode, we discuss:

Steph’s personal health journey from trying to shrink herself to wanting to take up MORE space and teaching women how to do so. 

What sparked the switch from believing we’re supposed to shrink ourselves, endlessly pursuing weight loss, to realizing she could live a much happier and more fulfilled life by getting strong and taking up MORE space? 

At some point in our journeys, we all think the “I’ll be happy when I’m X pounds less, I can fit in those jeans, I’m smaller.” But even if and when we get there, it’s never enough and we never feel like enough. WHY IS THAT?! 

How can we push back against this feeling that we’re never enough? Never thin enough, never rich enough, never living up to the expectations of our parents, friends, colleagues, society, social media, etc. HOW DO WE START TO GET OUT OF IT?

Digging into the “five why’s” behind our motivations to achieve in business, change our body aesthetics, lift more weight, etc. – and how they are either driven by love or fear.

All about swearing – the biases we have against people who swear, how men and women are treated differently about swearing, why some people choose to use it, and why you should keep your opinions to yourself.

Resources mentioned:

* How to Break up with Diets and Regain your Power

* The Core 4: Embrace Your Body, Own Your Power

Hang out with Steph!

* Instagram @steph_gaudreau

* Steph’s Podcast: Harder to Kill Radio

* StephGaudreau.com 

You’ll love these episodes too:

64 | Weight stigma, BMI, and digging into emotional eating with Cara Cifelli

52 | 

Bree Shook is a certified holistic health coach through the Institute for Integrative Nutrition and today we’re getting DEEP into the nitty gritty, emotion-filled details of our relationships with food and our bodies and where those come from. We’re also talking about how the notion of control and a want of control plays such a huge role in those two relationships and the development of disordered eating patterns and disordered eating. PLUS, why Bree is giving a “thank you” to binge eating.

Some updates from me: Yeah, I’m still around! I’ve been a little MIA because of summer swim season and all the craziness that comes along with that.  I also sent out a feedback survey to my newsletter to hear more about what you guys would love to see on the blog (recipes, health and nutrition articles), what kinds of recipes and what KINDS of things you’d like to see more of on the blog, topics or guests for the podcast, and whether you guys would be more interested in a listener-supported (donations-based) platform like Patreon to help me support the podcast and get new editing equipment OR sponsorships with some very select brands that I’ve been hoping to work with. So I would love your feedback on that – click the link here if you’d be SO kind as to gift approximately 3 minutes of your time to tell ME how I can make this podcast and my blog better and cater more to what you want to feast your ears and eyes on. You guys are the best!!

Here’s the feedback survey link.

Discussed on today’s episode:

The biggest influences on Bree’s relationship with food and her body growing up?

Why we think our eating disorders are just “healthy eating” before we realize they are a disorder

Why she’s saying “thank you” to binge eating.

You stopped bingeing and then you binged again. We discuss why that’s normal.

If your diet is the only thing that makes you feel “in control” of your life, you’re most likely avoiding the real issue and it’s probably going to backfire into disordered eating.

We’re looking for a semblance of control with dieting and eating disorders – when really, they make us feel even more OUT of control. 

Why do we “sneak food?”

We’re afraid of gaining weight. How do we start to get past that as a necessary step to stop dieting and controlling our food? 

What does Bree’s relationship with food and her body look like now?

Resources mentioned:

* Real Food with Dana Feedback Survey

* Bree’s book recommendation: The Period Repair Manual by Laura Briden, ND

* Instaset Photography Backdrops 

Hang out with Bree!

Instagram @breeshook

Bree’s Website

This episode is a little change of pace from our regularly scheduled interview type episodes. I wanted to do a workshop-style episode on fear, body image and food with you guys with you guys so we can really dig deep into some of the topics we went into last week with Amy Smith from the Joy Junkie (so make sure you listen to Episode 78 first!). Even though a lot of the things we talked about weren’t directly about our relationship with food and our bodies, the topics have SO much crossover with food, dieting, body image, and our deep-seated beliefs about ourselves that drive us to these behaviors around eating, dieting and exercise that lead to these complicated relationship WITh food and our bodies. It’s really not about the food. It’s the beliefs we have about food and about our bodies and our worthiness that we need to start working on, not another diet change.

I’m going to be recording another Listener questions episode soon with Cristina so email or DM me with your questions you want me to answer! AND look for some break the diet cycle updates coming soon from us as well, so if you want to get in on the next round of the course, stay tuned (or email us!)

Questions from today’s episode:

* What does your inner shit talker say to you?

* What are your deep seated beliefs about worth? That you’ll never be BLANK enough? And WHY?

* What was the messaging you received around body image growing up?

* What was the messaging you received around food growing up? Were certain things always available, or were you not allowed to eat certain things? What is your relationship to those foods now? Were there people in your household growing up who were always dieting?

* What is that fulfillment, that emotion that you’re looking for? What is your why behind chasing the perfect family, the perfect job, the perfect family, the perfect partner, the perfect body

* What are you afraid of?

* Where are you guilty of chronic people pleasing? And is it impacting your self-care?

Let’s stop saying I feel bad and I feel guilty when you feel you have done nothing wrong according to you!! Stop chronically apologizing. Stop allowing people to hurl guilt at you and internalizing it to the point where it’s taking over your life. Say it with me: “I’m not currently accepting any piles of shit so please don’t leave a message.”

If your worth is not created internally, you’ll always be searching for self-worth outside yourself – by attempting to control your food, body size, and other people’s perceptions of you. You’ll be stuck in the “I’ll be happy when’s” forever.

We’re taking a long, hard look in today’s episode about what we believe about ourselves, why we believe those things about ourselves, and how they drive our behaviors in not-so-great ways. Amy Smith is a self-proclaimed sassy-ass life coach who specializes in all things confidence who helps aspiring badasses stand up for themselves without being assholes. It’s time to let go of all that people-pleasing and cultivate some serious self-worth. In the meat of the episode, we’re talking about the fear of not belonging, of people pleasing and why it’s so detrimental to our mental and physical health, our beliefs about worthiness and how they drive our behaviors, constant comparison and perfectionism, and ALL THE THINGS. This is the type of episode where if you’re anything like me, you’ll want to listen once, and then listen again. And maybe take some notes and do some thinking about your life and how these things we’re talking about have played out in your own life. Because that’s what I did!

Today we’re chatting about:

Amy’s personal journey with confidence and boundaries, from growing up in a “born-again Christian” family, dogma about what was right and wrong, shame, to reclaiming her power, becoming a health coach and teaching women how to set their own boundaries.

The biggest things standing in the way of finding true joy in life

People pleasing and why it’s so detrimental to our mental health – WHY are we so obsessed with what other people think of us?

Asserting the stereotypical masculine vs. feminine side in business, family life, and setting boundaries

Why do we always say “sorry” and “I feel bad” or “I feel guilty” if we haven’t actually something wrong?

Our inner critic, or “inner shit-talker”, why we always listen to it (because it feels safe), and some tools for how to start silencing her.

How the comparison narrative plays into our inner critic

The loneliness narrative, of belonging and worthiness, and the perception and judgement on being single

How we’ve convinced ourselves that we are not worthy enough for happiness and joy exactly as we are right now.

How can we start changing how we speak to ourselves and our beliefs about ourselves?

How perfectionism holds us back from allowing ourselves to see what we really want and go after what we really want

If we are perfectionists, chronic people pleasers, and have low confidence in ourselves – how can we start to say no and establish boundaries, when we believe that saying YES to others will give us more value and worthiness, and we’re used to always saying yes?

Hang out with Amy!

Instagram: @thejoyjunkie

Website: www.thejoyjunkie.com

Check out Amy’s new eBook: Stand up For Yourself without Being a D*ck

Everybody knows those people who love to inflict guilt. Like “hey, you gonna take this pile of shit? I’m throwing at you!” And you have the decision to take it or not – “I actually don’t feel poorly about my behavior, I’m only doing something wrong according to you” – I’m not currently accepting applications for you to dump piles of shit on me.

Resources Mentioned:

Brooke Castillo – The Life Coach School

Book: Dare to Lead, by Brené Brown

Book: A Tribe Called Bliss, by Laurie Harder

Book: You Are a Badass, by Jenn Sincero

More episodes on people pleasing and perfectionism:

52 | Orthorexia, Perfectionism, and the Fear of not being loved with Haley Hannah Erickson

62 | Perfe...

On today’s show we’re chatting with Caitlin Higgins of Nerdy Nutritionist, a new licensed nutritionist who is talking about her health journey with mysterious symptoms, food sensitivities, intestinal permeability, and how she figured it all out. We’re also talking about her experience of disordered eating, from skipping meals, bingeing and purging to orthorexic behaviors of doing multiple whole30’s, sugar detoxes and obsessing over steps on her fitbit, and how she started to get out of it. We’re also talking about finding the MIDDLE GROUND here. This is the elusive no man’s land that exists for many people who are dealing with chronic health conditions that may necessitate a therapeutic diet or some kind of food restrictions to prevent flare-ups or serious symptoms with an autoimmune disease (Caitlin has Hashimoto’s and Eosinophilic Esophagitis), BUT they also also have a history of chronic dieting, over exercising, orthorexic behaviors all the way to disordered eating or eating disorders.

This is really tricky because not only it is a complete trial and error process, really hard to get to, but it’s going to look SO different for every person depending on their background, specific health issues or autoimmune conditions, the severity of your symptoms, etc. Throw another (massive, debilitating) wrench in the equation if you have ever experienced some kind of trauma. For Caitlin, it was not only the stress of moving to a foreign country, away from home, and some bad breakups, but losing her only sibling to opioid overdose. We’re chatting about how trauma and autoimmune disease impacted her recovery and the most helpful resources she used to help get through these tough times.

Today we’re chatting about:

Caitlin’s health journey with mysterious symptoms, food sensitivities, intestinal permeability, and how she figured it all out

What made her decide to want to become a nutritionist (vs. RD, health coach, any of the other nutrition certification programs out there)

A primer on leaky gut & intestinal permeability and their most common causes

The impact of exercise stress on the digestive system and blood sugar

From skipping meals, bingeing and purging to orthorexic behaviors of doing multiple whole30’s, sugar detoxes and obsessing over steps on her fitbit

Getting diagnosed with Eosinophilic Esophagitis and Hashimoto’s Thyroiditis, and how to balance necessary therapeutic protocols without falling back into disordered behaviors

Our opinion of eating “clean” and the morality of saying “I eat clean”

How trauma and loss of a close family member can impact your health

Referenced on today’s show:

* 11 | Leaky Gut & Intestinal Permeability: what are they? How do you know if you have them, and how can you heal?

* 12 | Food Intolerance Testing, Food Sensitivities, and Allergies, oh my!

* Video (comedy): Trey N. Kennedy – People Who Brag About their Diets

Eosinophilic Esophagitis

* Allison Vickery – Low Histamine Resources

* Insight Timer App (Meditation)

* Book: The Body Keeps the Score: Brain, Mind, and Body in the Healing of Trauma by Bessel van der Kolk M.D.

* Book: Digestive Wellness, by Liz Lipski

* Book: WomanCode: Perfect Your Cycle, Amplify Your Fertility, Supercharge Your Sex Drive, and Become a Power Source by Alisa Vitti

Hang out with Caitlin!

Instagram @nerdy.nutritionist

www.

Laura Ligos of the Sassy Dietitian is back on the podcast and we’re both so pumped to be doing some serious nutrition fad de-bunking today to help you guys sort through the massive garbage pile of nutrition and fitness information that is currently going around out there. We know it can be really tough to decipher what’s real and what’s not, what’s actually backed up by real, evidence-based and researched nutrition science vs. bro science vs. the stuff that people are just spouting out on instagram LIKE it’s science when really they have no background or credentials or business talking about it (especially when they’re trying to say it’s the one and only way for everyone).

The point of this is not just to rant. We’re not going to spend the next hour just saying how stupid everyone and all these trends are (even though they make our blood boil). We’re going to talk about the current biggest offenders we’re seeing in the social media world around nutrition, and how you can de-bunk them to know how they may or may not apply to your own life – basically we’re giving you some evidence-based nutrition BS-spotting glasses that will allow you to see more clearly when something is a scam, someone is trying to make money off you by playing off your insecurities, and how to figure out which ‘influencers’ on nutrition and fitness culture out there (on social media, in regular media, in person and in your own life) you might not want to be listening to and WHY.

PS – Just because we are experts in the field of nutrition and dietetics does NOT mean we are aware of every last thing or claim out there and as scientists our job is never ending and we are constantly learning—not constantly being perfect. We are not perfect and we have never claimed to be.

Discussed on today’s episode:

“Abfluencers” & Macro coaches – who are NOT experts but DO claim to be

Who to NOT listen to in the social media/influencer world of nutrition and fitness and WHY

De-bunking online nutrition certification programs

How to figure out who is the expert and who isn’t

Just because you are a fit person and you eat every day, it does not mean you have the right, credentials, background to give any kind of nutrition advice.

The “do no harm” principle in the fields of medicine, nutrition and dietetics

When tracking goes wrong

That time when myfitnesspal went down and people were freaking out – and what that means about their relationship with food and exercise

The cult mentality of nutrition programs and diets, and when it becomes toxic to your mental and physical health

Dietitians vs. Nutritionists: credentials, education, and how to figure out who’s who, and who is the right type of clinician for you to work with. Dietitians aren’t all food pyramid pushers and not all people who call themselves nutritionists are 1) legally allowed to do so and 2) have the education and background of clinical experience to actually be giving nutrition advice.

Hang out with Laura! 

Website: www.thesassydietitian.com

Instagram: @thesassydietitian

You’ll love these episodes too!

44 | Intermittent Fasting 101 and why Intuitive Eating isn’t for everyone with Laura Ligos

45 | Weight vs. Health, and the impact of Body Image Stress on Weight with Amy of Wilder Nutrition

57 | the answer is never more restriction or another die...

Today we’re getting a behind the scenes look at the business of social media with Kendall Dickieson of the Flexible Foodie! We’re chatting about the evolution of a personal brand, what it’s like to work with brands, how you make money from instagram (or don’t!), and building a profitable business while staying authentic. Kendall is also talking about her personal health journey from orthorexia and anorexia, to flexible dieting and counting macros, to actual freedom from food, and finally, that time she worked with hinge, YES, the dating app on a super successful instagram campaign!

In this episode, we discuss:

* Kendall’s personal health journey from orthorexia and anorexia, to flexible dieting and counting macros, to actual freedom from food.

* Dropping out of 3 colleges to starting her own business

* How do you make money from instagram?

* Why your # of followers means absolutely nothing in terms of how much $$ your business actually makes

* What it’s like to work with brands and build a sustainable, authentic business on social media

* Where she gets her (amazing) recipe inspiration from

* What being ‘flexible’ really means to her now (spoiler alert: it’s not “flexible dieting”)

* Kendall’s experience working with a dating app (Hinge) as part of her business

Hang out with Kendall!

www.flexfoodie.com

@theflexiblefoodie on Instagram

How do you find the middle ground between recovery from an eating disorder and recovering or healing from autoimmune disease?

In this episode with Paige Kinsella (who by the way, was on episode 62 so make sure you check that one out!) we’re talking about how to not fall into old habits of people pleasing and perfectionism when moving to a new place or starting a new job. In the meat of the episode – we’re talking about finding the middle ground between advice from eating disorder recovery / the anti-diet community on one side, and autoimmunity or the autoimmune protocol on the other side – because both of those can be triggering (physically, with symptoms, or mentally/emotionally). Because while you may feel physically better on the AIP, but then triggering your perfectionism and disordered eating symptoms, but then on the other side, if you just eat all the things, your autoimmune disease is going to flare and you’re going to feel like crap and start beating yourself up because you feel like you KNEW you shouldn’t have been eating those things and it’s your own fault for causing the flare you’re now having.

In this episode, we chatted about:

How to not fall into old habits of people pleasing and perfectionism when moving to a new place or starting a new job

Ozone therapy, detoxing, and acupuncture for epstein-barr (EBV)

EMDR therapy to help with perfectionism and underlying, deep beliefs you have about yourself, your body, and food

How to navigate healing cleanses and detoxes when you have a history of an eating disorder, disordered eating, or perfectionism (spoiler alert: avoid them.)

Finding the middle ground between advice from eating disorder recovery / the anti-diet community on one side, and autoimmunity on the other side.

Hang out with Paige!

Blog: http://imperfectpaige.com

Instagram: @imperfectpaige

You’ll love these episodes too!

62 | Perfectionism in Eating Disorders and Autoimmune Disease with Paige Kinsella

67 | Reintroduction Paralysis in Disordered Eating and Autoimmune Disease with Gina Jones, RDN

40 | Making Peace with your Body, Food, and Healing from Autoimmune Disease with Whitney Shook