The Anti Diet Life

In this episode, I’m joined by Christina Stapke, a Registered Dietitian and functional nutrition expert who brings a refreshing, non-restrictive approach to healing. Christina shares her personal journey of navigating digestive issues, fatigue, and hormonal imbalance—and how it led her to functional nutrition without falling into diet culture traps. We talk about how to shift out of a fear-based mindset around food, especially when you’re dealing with uncomfortable symptoms or exploring potential sensitivities.

Christina breaks down what food intolerances really mean, what to know before jumping into sensitivity testing, and why curiosity is such a powerful tool in healing. We also dive into practical, anti-diet-friendly ways to support digestion—like breathwork, stress reduction, and digestive bitters (yes, they’re different from enzymes!). Plus, she shares what she wishes everyone knew about functional nutrition and the big red flags to watch out for when seeking support.

Christina’s Website: www.seaandsprucenutrition.com

Christina’s Instagram: instagram.com/sea.and.spruce.nutrition

Christina’s LinkedIn linkedin.com/christinastapke

Christina’s Facebook: facebook.com/sea.and.spruce.nutrition

Ever feel like you don’t have time to meal plan? In this solo episode, I’m sharing why I don’t have time NOT to meal plan—and how creating a “forever meal plan” has saved me tons of time, energy, and stress during the workweek. I walk you through the simple systems I’ve built to make meal planning take just 7 minutes (yes, really), including how I use meal kits, a go-to meal list, batch cooking, and a shared Google Calendar to keep everything running smoothly.

Whether you’re brand new to meal planning or just looking to simplify your routine, this episode will show you how to set up a repeatable plan that actually works—for your schedule, your brain, and your body.

Grab my Meal Ideas

In this episode, I’m joined by Colleen Kurtz—Functional Nutritional Therapy Practitioner, Licensed Clinical Social Worker, and Certified Integrative Mental Health Professional—who specializes in helping burnt-out moms ditch fatigue and anxiety without falling into diet culture traps. We talk about why exhaustion, brain fog, and low energy aren’t personality flaws or just “part of motherhood,” but signs your body is asking for support.

Colleen shares practical, anti-diet ways to nourish your body and calm your nervous system, including small but powerful shifts in self-care, stress reduction, and meal planning that don’t require rigid rules or perfection. We explore how our culture normalizes burnout—especially for women—and how to reclaim your energy with compassion, curiosity, and a deeper understanding of what your body actually needs.

Colleen’s Website: https://mindfully-nourished.com/

Breakfast Guide:  https://mindfully-nourished.myflodesk.com/recipes

Energy Leak Audit: https://l.bttr.to/QFBR0

In this episode, I’m sharing what it looks like to stay grounded when weight gain brings up old fears or negative self-talk. Yes—even as a body image coach, I still experience moments of discomfort. I recently sized up in clothes (including a bathing suit!) and felt some of that internalized fatphobia creep in. But instead of spiraling into shame or dieting, I talk myself down with compassion, curiosity, and care—and I’m walking you through that process today.

You’ll hear how I check in on my physical and emotional health without judgment, how I reframe weight gain as a neutral body change, and how I make small supportive shifts without making it about shrinking myself. If you’ve ever felt triggered by the number on the scale or the size tag in your jeans, this episode is a soft landing and a reminder: you are allowed to take up space and still be fully worthy of care.

The Emotional Eating Solution

What if your food cravings were actually trying to tell you something important—about your needs, your emotions, or even your purpose? In this episode, I sit down with nutrition therapist and body trust provider Karen Louise Scheuner to explore how diet culture has conditioned us to fear and silence our cravings, rather than decode them. Karen unpacks the different types of cravings—physical, emotional, sensory—and shares how to tell them apart in the moment.

She also walks us through her powerful decoding tool: a series of thoughtful questions designed to get to the root of “why am I doing this with food?” You’ll hear a story of how a craving for salami led one of her clients to a major life pivot, plus a deeper look into how meeting your intrinsic needs can transform your relationship with food. If you’ve ever felt stuck in a craving cycle, this conversation offers both insight and hope.

Karen’s Website: www.mindful-nutrition.com

Karen’s Decode Your Cravings Download

Leah’s Emotional Eating Solution with Feeling Wheel

In this powerful episode, I’m joined by Liza Katsman—ICF-Certified Life and Leadership Coach, Certified Intuitive Eating Counselor, and queer-inclusive practitioner—for a conversation that goes far beyond the basics of body image. Liza shares her early struggles with food insecurity, body shame, and bulimia, and how healing her relationship with food became deeply intertwined with learning to trust herself as a leader and human.

We dive into the unique and often overlooked ways diet culture shows up in the LGBTQ+ community—from the pressures and stereotypes faced by gay men, to the complex dynamics queer women face in decentering the male gaze while still experiencing body shame. Liza opens up about why coming out with an eating disorder was even harder than coming out as queer, how body checking is normalized in queer spaces, and why trans and nonbinary folks face heightened stakes when it comes to body image and safety. We also touch on the intersections of immigration, self-advocacy in medical settings, and the emotional layers of “shoulding” that come with navigating queerness and recovery.

In this fun and fire-filled episode, Leah chats with Confidence Coach and certified hype girl Jemma Haythorne about what body confidence really means—and spoiler alert: it’s not just about loving your body in the mirror. Jemma shares her personal journey from deep body shame to fierce self-love, and why confidence isn’t something you’re born with, it’s something you build.

They dive into why you shouldn't wait to feel confident before doing the damn thing, how body confidence is more than mindset—it’s nervous system work too—and why regulating your body is the secret sauce to showing up bigger in life. From handling the inner critic to expanding your “window of tolerance” (yes, even in a crop top), Jemma breaks it all down. Plus, they explore how body confidence spills into relationships, career, and everything in between. If you’ve ever wished you could just feel good in your skin and trust yourself more—this one's for you.

Banish Your Inner Bitch: https://inspirewellnessau.com.au/banish-your-inner-bitchJemma’s Website: https://www.inspirewellnessau.com.au

Jemma’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/inspire__wellness

Jemma’s Podcast: https://open.spotify.com/show/3TxBxkB8ITxfhwmtN8Atwb

In this episode of The Anti Diet Life, I’m joined by Amy Slabaugh, a registered dietitian nutritionist who specializes in gut health and Intuitive Eating. We dive deep into Principle #10: Honor Your Health with Gentle Nutrition—what it actually looks like, why it’s often misunderstood, and how to approach it without slipping back into diet mentality. Amy shares powerful insights on why nutrition is just one small piece of the health puzzle, and how emotional well-being, social connection, and variety in meals play equally important roles.

We talk about how to recognize if you’re putting too much pressure on nutrition, ways to rebuild body trust, and how to create structure without rigid rules. Amy offers her "attendance checklist" approach while I share my "magic plate" method to help you explore freedom and balance in your eating. Whether you're navigating dietary limitations, trying to tune out external noise, or learning how to trust how food makes you feel, this episode is a gentle reminder that your relationship with food can be both empowering and flexible.

Amy’s Website: www.amyslabaugh.com

In this episode of The Anti Diet Life, I’m joined by Jill Monico, a fitness coach and newly certified Intuitive Eating Counselor with over 15 years of experience helping women feel strong and confident in their bodies—without falling into the traps of diet culture. After a 35-year struggle with dieting and body image, Jill shares how she reclaimed movement as a joyful, compassionate practice and now helps others do the same, especially women in perimenopause navigating body changes with grace.

We dive into Intuitive Eating Principle #9 (Movement—Feel the Difference) and explore everything from internalized rules about exercise to nervous system cues, and the difference between movement and exercise. Jill also shares her powerful “5 R’s” framework for making peace with movement, how to find your “why” for fitness beyond calories burned, and why celebrating your body—yes, even now—is a non-negotiable. If you’ve ever felt at war with working out, this one’s for you.

Website jillmonicocoaching.com IG @Jill-Monico IG @intuitiveeatingcollab FB Intuitive Eating Collab

In this episode, I’m joined by Gillian Hood, a Certified Intuitive Eating Counselor and Eating Disorder Recovery Coach, to dive into Intuitive Eating Principle #8: Respect Your Body. Gillian shares her personal journey with binge eating disorder and how it led her to study exercise physiology, shifting her perspective on movement and body respect. We explore what it truly means to respect your body, whether you need to love your body to have a positive relationship with it, and why acceptance isn’t the same as giving up.

Gillian also breaks down the barriers that make body respect challenging and offers three practical skills to develop a more compassionate relationship with your body. Plus, we tackle the role of comparison—are you using it against yourself or as a tool for growth? If you’ve ever struggled with accepting body changes or felt stuck between body positivity and body neutrality, this conversation is for you!

Poodle Science video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H89QQfXtc-kFearing the Black Body  by Sabrina Strings

Gillian’s Website: https://HealthierOutcomes.com

Gillian’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/gillianthood/

Gillian’s Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/healthieroutcomes

Bad Body Image Day Guide: https://healthieroutcomes.kit.com/bodyrespect