Non-Diet Naturopath

If you prescribe weight loss, talk about metabolic health, prescribe elimination diets, support clients on GLP-1s, or use practitioner-only weight-loss programs, you need disordered eating literacy.

In this episode Casey unpacks five things natural health practitioners need to know about disordered eating when weight loss is part of their clinical work.

We talk about why you can’t assess health by body size, why “they asked for weight loss” is not the same as informed consent, why a shrinking body is not automatically a sign of better health, and why good intentions do not remove clinical risk.

Casey also revisits her previous critique of Metabolic Balance and practitioner-only weight-loss programs... including detox language, “metabolism reset” claims, phased restriction, and the assumption that something is safer simply because it is practitioner-led.

This episode isn't about shaming practitioners. It is about asking better questions, recognising risk earlier, practising within scope, and not accidentally prescribing harm.

DECIDE Cohort 2 is now open.

DECIDE: Scope-Safe Disordered Eating Practice is an 8-week practitioner training for naturopaths, nutritionists, herbalists and natural health practitioners who want to feel more confident recognising and responding to disordered eating in clinical practice.

Applications close Friday 10 July.
Cohort 2 starts Wednesday 15 July.

Apply or learn more here:
https://www.funkyforest.com.au/disordered-eating-for-naturopaths.html

Read the blog version of this episode:
https://www.funkyforest.com.au/blog/do-you-prescribe-weight-loss-5-things-practitioners-need-to-know-about-disordered-eating

References:
The 2025 Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology Commission on clinical and preclinical obesity, which critiques BMI-only diagnosis and argues for assessing actual health, function and clinical context. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/39824205/

A 2024 brown adipose tissue study in adults with metabolically healthy vs metabolically unhealthy overweight/obesity - interesting, small numbers, and used here as a reminder that one body size does not equal one metabolic story. https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/38184936/

Previous episodes/blogs mentioned:
Metabolic Balance critique: Episodes 38 & 39
https://www.funkyforest.com.au/blog/when-metabolic-balance-isnt-balance-diet-culture-clinical-protocols-and-the-naturopathic-dilemma

FREE GUIDES:

Join the DECIDE waitlist and download Casey’s new free guide:You Don’t Need to Treat the Eating Disorder to Help: A Scope-Safe Guide for Natural Health Practitioners.

Grab the other FREE practitioner guide 7 Red Flags of Disordered Eating You May Be Missing

LINKS:

Casey's website: https://www.funkyforest.com.au
Casey's Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/funky.forest.health
Casey's Instagram: @naturopath.caseyconroy

Support the show

Casey returns to The Non-Diet Naturopath after a six-month pause with a personal, hopeful, slightly goblin-energy update on life, grief, single parenting, and the long, messy road to finally launching DECIDE - her disordered eating training for natural health practitioners.

In this episode, she shares why disordered eating is not a niche issue, how it shows up every day in gut, hormone, fertility, metabolic and “wellness” work, and why restrictive protocols can cause real harm when practitioners don’t have the training to recognise wtf is really going on.

You’ll hear about the first DECIDE cohort, what’s changing for Cohort 2, and why the natural health world urgently needs better disordered eating literacy.

👉 Free resources + waitlist:

Join the DECIDE waitlist and download Casey’s new free guide:You Don’t Need to Treat the Eating Disorder to Help: A Scope-Safe Guide for Natural Health Practitioners.

Webinar: 17 June 2026
Cohort 2 enrolments open for 10 days after the webinar
Winter Cohort starts: 15 July 2026

Grab the other FREE practitioner guide 7 Red Flags of Disordered Eating You May Be Missing

LINKS:

Casey's website: https://www.funkyforest.com.au
Casey's Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/funky.forest.health
Casey's Instagram: @naturopath.caseyconroy

Support the show

Support the show

Casey sits down with herbalist, writer, and mentor Miriam Latif (Understory) for a heart-opening conversation about uncertainty, nuance, and practicing in the messy middle spaces of wellness.

They unpack the collapse of certainty, the harm of binaries, how capitalism shows up in diet and purity culture, and what it means to hold both clinical rigour and enchantment.

What You’ll Hear About:

•  Holding uncertainty without collapsing into doubt
•  The grief and liberation of “has everything I learnt been a lie?”
•  How colonialism, capitalism and patriarchy shape purity culture, diet culture, and wellness narratives
•  The tension practitioners feel living between clinical spaces and enchanted, earth-based ways of knowing
•  The radical power of nuance in a culture hungry for "controversial hot takes"

This episode is a balm for practitioners who straddle worlds: evidence-based and intuitive, clinical and animist, scientific and soulful... and are ready to feel at home in their complexity.

👉 Free resource:
Download the practitioner guide Working with Clients with Disordered Eating for Naturopaths and join the waitlist for Body as Earth: Foundations in Disordered Eating Awareness for Naturopaths, Herbalists & Holistic Nutritionists (opening mid-2026). 

LINKS:

Miriam's Instagram: @___understory

Casey's website: https://www.funkyforest.com.au
Casey's Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/funky.forest.health
Casey's Instagram: @funky.forest.health

Non-Diet Naturopath Instagram: @nondietnaturopath

Grab your FREE practitioner guide + jump on the waitlist for Disordered Eating for Naturopaths

Grab your copy of my free e-book The Modern Yogi's BS-Free Guide to Wellbeing and sign up for my regular monthly newsletter!

Support the show

When “wellness” programs promise balance but deliver restriction, naturopathy loses its way.

In this episode, I unpack how weight-loss prescriptions quietly betray the naturopathic oath of First, do no harm - and why speaking up about it isn’t an attack, it’s seeking accountability.

We’ll talk about the difference between professional critique and personal criticism, why discomfort doesn’t equal disrespect, and how avoiding hard conversations only protects the systems that keep clients harmed and practitioners silenced.

This one’s for the practitioners who care deeply about doing better: about integrity, reflection, and truly trauma-informed, evidence-based naturopathy.

If you’re a naturopath, herbalist, or nutritionist ready to do better - to make your care truly trauma-informed, body-inclusive, and ethical - this is for you.

✨ Download the free guide for practitioners and join the Body as Earth waitlist!

What You’ll Learn in This Episode:

• Why weight-loss programs like Metabolic Balance and shake-based “clinical” protocols contradict the naturopathic oath
• The difference between critiquing systems vs. attacking practitioners - and why professional critique isn’t the same as personal attack
• How weight-centric programs disguise restriction as “balance”, "healing", or even "non-diet"
• The scientific evidence on long-term weight regain and metabolic adaptation
• Why Intuitive Eating and trauma-informed care cannot ethically coexist with weight-centred practice
• What to do instead - how to practise from a truly non-diet, body-trust, trauma-aware framework
• How to have courageous, respectful professional conversations about harm, ethics, and scope

✨ Prefer to read?
This episode is part of my series and blog at https://www.funkyforest.com.au/blog/do-no-harm-why-weight-loss-prescriptions-betray-the-naturopathic-oath

👉 Free resource:
Download the practitioner guide Working with Clients with Disordered Eating for Naturopaths and join the waitlist for Body as Earth: A Root-Cause Approach to Disordered Eating for Naturopaths.

LINKS:

Casey's website: https://www.funkyforest.com.au
Casey's Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/funky.forest.health
Casey's Instagram: @funky.forest.health

Non-Diet Naturopath Instagram: @nondietnaturopath

Grab your FREE practitioner guide + jump on the waitlist for Disordered Eating for Naturopaths

Grab your copy of my free e-book The Modern Yogi's BS-Free Guide to Wellbeing and sign up for my regular monthly newsletter!

Support the show

Support the show

I’m unpacking how “personalised” protocols like Metabolic Balance slip diet culture into naturopathic care. We’ll unpack the things clients say that can signal disordered eating beneath the surface, the ways practitioners can cause harm (even unintentionally), the pitfalls of elimination diets, and why supplement fixes can’t heal restriction.

✨ Download the free guide for practitioners and join the Body as Earth waitlist!

What you’ll learn in this episode:

• Two ways disordered eating shows up in naturopathic care: the client brings it into the consult room, or the practitioner endorses it (ouch).
• Why Metabolic Balance and other “clinical” weight loss programs cause more harm than healing.
• The fine line between elimination diets and harm - especially for neurodivergent clients.
• How supplement-heavy approaches can mask restriction.
• What truly non-diet, trauma-informed naturopathic care looks like.

Resources and Links:

 ✨ Download my free practitioner guide: Working with Clients with Disordered Eating for Naturopaths

🌿 Join the waitlist for my 2026 course: Body as Earth: A Root-Cause Approach to Disordered Eating for Naturopaths (you’ll be added automatically when you download the guide!)

📖 Prefer to read, or want all the research references? Find the article for this episode over on my blog!

That other article I referred to in this episode: Detoxification: so NOT about juice fasts & colonics

LINKS:

Casey's website: https://www.funkyforest.com.au
Casey's Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/funky.forest.health
Casey's Instagram: @funky.forest.health

Non-Diet Naturopath Instagram: @nondietnaturopath 

Grab your FREE practitioner guide + jump on the waitlist for Disordered Eating for Naturopaths

Grab your copy of my free e-book The Modern Yogi's BS-Free Guide to Wellbeing and sign up for my regular monthly newsletter!

Support the show

In this episode I’m unpacking five key red flags that may indicate a client is experiencing disordered eating.

As naturopaths, herbalists, and holistic health practitioners, we’re often the first point of contact for people struggling with food and body concerns. But diet culture and wellness culture can make it tricky to know what’s a genuine health issue and what’s a red flag for disordered eating.

Today I’ll walk you through five signs that should make you pause, get curious, and consider whether your client needs more support. In my upcoming course Body as Earth: A Root-Cause Approach to Disordered Eating for Naturopaths, I’ll go into these in much more detail - but they’re a solid starting point for anyone wanting to practice safely and responsibly.

What you’ll learn in this episode:

• Why recognising red flags is crucial for safe naturopathic practice
• Five common signs that may indicate disordered eating (and what not to ignore)
• The importance of working collaboratively with other health professionals
• How to avoid minimising or pathologising clients’ concerns
• Why critical thinking and weight-neutral frameworks are essential in this space

Resources and Links:

 ✨ Download my free practitioner guide: Working with Clients with Disordered Eating for Naturopaths

🌿 Join the waitlist for my 2026 course: Body as Earth: A Root-Cause Approach to Disordered Eating for Naturopaths (you’ll be added automatically when you download the guide!)

📖 Prefer to read, or want all the research references? Find the article for this episode over on my blog!

That article I wrote whose title I embarrassingly couldn't remember in the episode: Rethinking Wellness Rebellion

LINKS:

Casey's website: https://www.funkyforest.com.au
Casey's Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/funky.forest.health
Casey's Instagram: @funky.forest.health

Non-Diet Naturopath Instagram: @nondietnaturopath  https://www.instagram.com/nondietnaturopath/

Grab your FREE practitioner guide + jump on the waitlist for Disordered Eating for Naturopaths

Grab your copy of my free e-book The Modern Yogi's BS-Free Guide to Wellbeing!
https://www.funkyforest.com.au/a-modern-yogis-bs-free-guide-to-wellbeing.html

Support the show

Re-released in full: my unfiltered story of breathwork gone bad, and what it says about the culture of wellness. A lot of folks told me this one really hit home, so I’m bringing it out into the world in full. 

Now, I adore cacao. I drink it often, and I respect its nourishing, heart-opening qualities. But this is the story of a breathwork retreat that unravelled from "healing" into the utterly unhinged - sensory overload, unsafe practices, a roomful of people desperate to feel something, and facilitators hell-bent on claiming the mantle of "spiritual guru."

Since first telling this story, I’ve learned more about breathwork traditions and the practices these facilitators were trying to emulate. But delivered without skill or safety, it left people overwhelmed and at risk. And I’ve since heard from so many others with similar experiences... which is why I’m re-releasing it here.

For me, this retreat was just one messy branch of a wider wellness culture that ties worthiness to suffering, restriction, or chasing intensity. The same culture that so often overlaps with disordered eating.

✨ If you’re a naturopath or natural health practitioner who wants to spot these overlaps in your own clients, grab my free guide: Disordered Eating for Naturopaths. 

LINKS:

Casey's website: https://www.funkyforest.com.au
Casey's Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/funky.forest.health
Casey's Instagram: @funky.forest.health

Non-Diet Naturopath Instagram: @nondietnaturopath  https://www.instagram.com/nondietnaturopath/

Grab your FREE practitioner guide + jump on the waitlist for Disordered Eating for Naturopaths

Grab your copy of my free e-book The Modern Yogi's BS-Free Guide to Wellbeing!
https://www.funkyforest.com.au/a-modern-yogis-bs-free-guide-to-wellbeing.html

Support the show

I’ve lived at every stage of the eating spectrum - from normal eating, to disordered eating, to recovery and intuitive eating. In this episode, I unpack what each stage looks like in practice, and why recognising the messy middle matters so much in naturopathy and holistic care. For practitioners and anyone curious about the overlap between wellness culture and disordered eating.

We explore:

• The eating spectrum - from intuitive eating to clinical eating disorders, and why most clients sit in the messy middle.
• My lived experience moving through every stage of the spectrum, and how it shapes my practice today.
• How naturopathic and wellness programs like Metabolic Balance (yep, I’m going there!) - along with elimination diets and food sensitivity testing - can look “scientific” but actually fuel disordered eating.
• Why early recognition and referral saves lives
• A sneak peek at upcoming episodes, including a full deep dive on Metabolic Balance.

You'll also hear about my upcoming online course, Disordered Eating for Naturopaths, launching mid-2026. Sign up to the waitlist and receive a bonus when enrolments go live!

LINKS:

Casey's website: https://www.funkyforest.com.au
Casey's Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/funky.forest.health
Casey's Instagram: @funky.forest.health

Non-Diet Naturopath Instagram: @nondietnaturopath  https://www.instagram.com/nondietnaturopath/

Jump on the waitlist for Disordered Eating for Naturopaths

Grab your copy of my free e-book The Modern Yogi's BS-Free Guide to Wellbeing!
https://www.funkyforest.com.au/a-modern-yogis-bs-free-guide-to-wellbeing.html

Support the show

ARTICLE:
Prefer reading? Here’s the full word magic. Great for neurospicy brains, quote-lovers, and anyone who likes to highlight and digest at their own pace.

https://www.funkyforest.com.au/blog/the-eating-spectrum-in-practice-from-intuitive-eating-to-disorder-and-how-ive-lived-every-stage

Support the show

Support the show

After a few years off the mic, I’m back - with dirt under my nails, a herbal medicine apothecary by my side, and a renewed fire in my belly.

In this episode I share why I’ve renamed the podcast The Non-Diet Naturopath formerly Non-Diet Yogi), what’s changed (spoiler: a lot), and what remains the same (like my intolerance for wellness horse shit). I talk about leaving behind yoga spaces steeped in clean eating and labour extraction, the fallout I faced for standing by public health, and why naturopaths need better tools for supporting eating disorders, chronic dieting, and neurodivergence. 

We explore:

• What really happened at the ecovillage I used to call home
• The rise of culty thinking in natural health spaces
• The dangers of misinformation and why critical thinking matters now more than ever
• Why naturopaths need better tools to support clients with eating disorders and chronic dieting
• Building a different path forward, with more earth, honesty, and neuroaffirming care.

You'll also hear about my upcoming online course, Disordered Eating for Naturopaths, launching mid-2026. Sign up to the waitlist and receive a bonus when enrolments go live!

This is the start of a new chapter. Where herbs, fat affirmation, neurodivergence, and calling out crap all belong!

LINKS:

Casey's website: https://www.funkyforest.com.au
Casey's Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/funky.forest.health
Casey's Instagram: @funky.forest.health

Non-Diet Naturopath Instagram: @nondietnaturopath  https://www.instagram.com/nondietnaturopath/

Jump on the waitlist for Disordered Eating for Naturopaths

Grab your copy of my free e-book The Modern Yogi's BS-Free Guide to Wellbeing!
https://www.funkyforest.com.au/a-modern-yogis-bs-free-guide-to-wellbeing.html

Support the show

TRANSCRIPT:
Prefer reading? Here’s the full word-for-word magic. Great for neurospicy brains, quote-lovers, and anyone who likes to highlight and digest at their own pace.

Download a .pdf of this episode's transcript here: https://www.funkyforest.com.au/uploads/9/8/5/1/9851580/ep_34_transcript_-_non-diet_naturopath_podcast.pdf

Support the show

Intuitive Eating is an incredible approach for people seeking to heal their relationships with food and their bodies. But it's not without its challenges. In this episode I speak with the wonderful Jenna Hollenstein, who brings years of experience as a non-diet dietitian and meditation teacher to the table to help us understand how to tolerate the discomfort that so often arises in one's journey into intuitive eating. 

We talk about:

• What do meditation and Buddhism have to offer those on the Intuitive eating path?
• The importance of eating enough
• How one starts to make peace with food, and challenge food rules that seem second nature
• What is interoception, and why is it important? 
• The co-opting of mindfulness
•  The difference between doing this work as self-improvement VS doing it as self care
• Intuitive eating and mindfulness can be doorways into a pleasure practice 
  
  

LINKS:
Support the pod! BONUS episodes and exclusive goodies for subscribers:
https://www.patreon.com/nondietyogi

Jenna's website: https://www.jennahollenstein.com/
Jenna's Instagram: @jennahollenstein
Jenna's Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jennahollenstein
Jenna's YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@jennahollensteinrd

Casey's website: https://www.funkyforest.com.au
Casey's Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/funkyforesthealth
Casey's Instagram: @funky.forest.health    https://www.instagram.com/funky.forest.health/

Non-Diet Yogi Instagram: @nondietyogi    https://www.instagram.com/nondietyogi/

Grab your copy of my free e-book The Modern Yogi's BS-Free Guide to Wellbeing!
https://www.funkyforest.com.au/a-modern-yogis-bs-free-guide-to-wellbeing.html

Support the show

Support the show