Have you been curious about whether an anti-diet / intuitive eating approach can coexist with a food budget, or whether it's possible to meal plan without it being rooted in diet culture? In this episode, Abbie does a deep dive into both of these questions from listeners. 

Question 1:

Hi Abbie!

I’d love to know what you recommend for eating intuitively on a budget. I’ve made so much progress with releasing guilt with food, and incorporating so many things that used to be off-limits, but I’m having trouble approaching it without some financial fears coming up. 

My food spending has increased since embracing anti-diet, and I just want to be able to keep healing without feeling this looming restriction hanging over me with money.

Thank you if you’re able to answer this!

Linda

Question 2:

Hi, Abbie!

I’m curious if you have tips on meal planning without falling into the diet culture mindset. For context, I am a mom of 3 with a pretty demanding job, and I do think it helps me to have some sort of plan for dinners each week. I have a history of dieting and disordered eating, and while I’ve made so much progress (many thanks to your instagram and the Full Plate podcast!), I know I have a lot of work to do on healing my body image and just feeling less crazy about food and exercise. While embarking on this anti-diet journey, it’s occurred to me that my meal planning might be part of the dieting mentality, and maybe even fueling some old disordered eating. But I can’t help but think that it’s still a useful tool in my life to make sure I can feed my family without losing my mind! Hoping you might have some thoughts on how to approach this. Thank you so much for all you do!

Megan

 

Looking for more support on these topics, and a gently structured approach to food freedom? Abbie's April group coaching cohort is open for enrollment: https://www.abbieattwoodwellness.com/group-coaching 

Full Plate is listener-supported (no ads!) so please support the show on Patreon for bonus episodes at Patreon.com/fullplate

Patreon is also home to the episode transcripts (which are publicly available to everyone, not just our patrons!). If you’re looking for those, head over to Patreon. 

Find the show on Instagram: @fullplate.podcast 

Find Abbie on Instagram: @abbieattwoodwellness 

Abbie’s website: www.abbieattwoodwellness.com 

 

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit abbieattwoodwellness.substack.com/subscribe

Dr. Gregory Dodell joins the pod to chat with Abbie about his work as an Endocrinologist using a HAES-aligned and weight-inclusive approach to treatment and caring for his patients. 

Topics discussed:

• Weight stigma in medicine and in diabetes care
• The harms of weight-cycling
• How stress impacts blood sugar and endocrine disorders
• Stress management
• The problem with the use of diabetes drugs for weight-loss
• Managing PCOS from an anti-diet, weight-inclusive lens
• Treating type II and type I diabetes without a focus on weight
• Taking medications to support your body
• How to advocate for yourself if your endocrinologist (or other providers) are not practicing weight-incusive care
• "Hormone balancing" and "adrenal fatigue"
• Dr. Dodell's hopes for endocrinology in the future

Full Plate is listener-supported (no ads!) so please support the show on Patreon for bonus episodes at Patreon.com/fullplate

Patreon is also home to the episode transcripts (which are publicly available to everyone, not just our patrons!). If you’re looking for those, head over to Patreon. 

Dr. Dodell on IG: @everything_endocrine

Dr. Dodell's website: https://www.centralparkendocrinology.com/ 

Find the show on Instagram: @fullplate.podcast 

Find Abbie on Instagram: @abbieattwoodwellness 

Abbie’s website: www.abbieattwoodwellness.com 

Apply for group coaching: https://www.abbieattwoodwellness.com/group-coaching

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit abbieattwoodwellness.substack.com/subscribe

This episode with Kelsie covers so much that it was difficult to give it a title! Above all, it is a conversation between friends, and just allows for the winding of an authentic and connected chat. 

Topics we discuss:

• We can't keep our plants alive
• What's been on Kelsie’s plate since we chatted last (Episode #14)
• Her experience directing a play and addressing representation and inclusion with bodies
• Unpacking fat-phobia with your therapist
• Experiencing a lot of anger while healing your body image and divesting from diet culture and other systems of oppression
• Setting boundaries with loved ones about fat-phobic comments and diet talk
• Trauma and seeing old photos
• Reparenting ourselves and thinking about our younger self
• Ableism and body acceptance
• Navigating the doctor’s office and medical weight-stigma

Full Plate is listener-supported (no ads!) so please support the show on Patreon for bonus episodes at Patreon.com/fullplate

Patreon is also home to the episode transcripts (which are publicly available to everyone, not just our patrons!). If you’re looking for those, head over to Patreon. 

Find the show on Instagram: @fullplate.podcast 

Find Abbie on Instagram: @abbieattwoodwellness 

Apply for Abbie's next group coaching program: https://www.abbieattwoodwellness.com/group-coaching 

Abbie’s website: www.abbieattwoodwellness.com 

Find Kelsie on Instagram: @iamkelsiejepsen

Kelsie’s website: https://embodyloveworkshop.com/

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit abbieattwoodwellness.substack.com/subscribe

We're baaaack! Abbie's husband, Jeb, returns to do Whole30 part two. If you haven't listened to part one, make sure to start there. 

Topics discussed:

• What Abbie and Jeb are fighting about
• Does dairy cause inflammation, skin issues, hormone imbalances, and digestive issues?
• Reintroduction of dairy and symptoms
• "The Pancake Rule" and emotional eating
• Are elimination diets safe?
• IBS and elimination protocols
• Orthorexia and disordered eating in wellness culture

Studies / links mentioned:

• Episode on Sugar Addiction
• Episode on Whole30 [Part One]
• Dairy does not increase markers of inflammation
• Dairy may be anti-inflammatory
• Restrained eating and food cues
• Psychological impacts of restriction and food rules

Full Plate is listener-supported (no ads!) so please support the show on Patreon for bonus episodes at Patreon.com/fullplate

Patreon is also home to the episode transcripts (which are publicly available to everyone, not just our patrons!). If you’re looking for those, head over to Patreon. 

Find the show on Instagram: @fullplate.podcast 

Find Abbie on Instagram: @abbieattwoodwellness 

Abbie's group program: https://www.abbieattwoodwellness.com/group-coaching 

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit abbieattwoodwellness.substack.com/subscribe

Jessica Wilson, author of the forthcoming book It's Always Been Ours: Rewriting The Story Of Black Women's Bodies, joins the pod to explore the ways in which white supremacy has influenced anti-fatness, the thin beauty ideal, and our current understanding of health and wellness. 

This is SUCH an important conversation and imperative to truly understanding the body shame that permeates our society. In order to heal, we must be able to see clearly the social injustice that underpins the diet industry, the pursuit of weight-loss, and the ever-increasing prevalence of eating disorders. Jessica is fantastic, brilliant, and a much-needed voice in this space. Go order her book!

Some of the topics we discuss:

• What’s on Jessica’s plate right now as an author(!!) and clinician
• Jessica’s body story, her experience of medical weight stigma growing up, and how that impacted her relationship with food
• Disordered eating and diet culture in her dietetics education
• How Jessica found HAES and anti-diet work
• Intersectionality and centering black women in weight-inclusive work
• The history of how anti-blackness informs anti-fatness and diet culture
• Where and why intuitive eating can miss the mark when it comes to hunger, whiteness, and privilege

Full Plate is listener-supported (no ads!) so please support the show on Patreon for bonus episodes at Patreon.com/fullplate

Patreon is also home to the episode transcripts (which are publicly available to everyone, not just our patrons!). If you’re looking for those, head over to Patreon. 

Find the show on Instagram: @fullplate.podcast 

Find Abbie on Instagram: @abbieattwoodwellness 

Abbie’s website: www.abbieattwoodwellness.com

Apply for April group coaching: https://www.abbieattwoodwellness.com/group-coaching 

Connect with Jessica on Instagram: @jessicawilson.msrd 

Learn more about Jessica: https://www.jessicawilsonmsrd.com/ 

Order the book: https://www.jessicawilsonmsrd.com/itsalwaysbeenours 

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit abbieattwoodwellness.substack.com/subscribe

TW: Mention of eating disorder behaviors in this epidode. Shira Rosenbluth, LCSW joins the pod to talk about her experience in eating disorder recovery as a clinician in the anti-diet, weight-inclusive space. 

We talk about so much, including:

• What’s going on for Shira in this moment of life with her recovery and her therapy practice
• Balancing structure and flexibility in meals during ED recovery
• The culminaiton of factors that led to Shira's eating disorder
• Weight stigma and diet culture in eating disorder treatment
• The trap of quasi-recovery
• The new AAP guidelines on higher weight children
• The problem with “atypical anorexia”
• Being a “good fattie”
• Health is not a moral imperative
• How we keep healing in this world

Shira Rosenbluth, LCSW, is a licensed clinical social worker treating clients in New York and California. She specializes in the treatment of disordered eating, eating disorders, and body-image dissatisfaction using a weight-neutral approach. She’s also the author of a popular body positive blog and has been featured in The New York Times, Insider, The Cut, The Everygirl, InStyle, and Healthline. You can find her on Instagram and Twitter @theshirarose. Find more about her therapy practice at ShiraRosenbluthLCSW.com.

Full Plate is listener-supported (no ads!) so please support the show on Patreon for bonus episodes at Patreon.com/fullplate

Patreon is also home to the episode transcripts (which are publicly available to everyone, not just our patrons!). If you’re looking for those, head over to Patreon. 

Find the show on Instagram: @fullplate.podcast 

Find Abbie on Instagram: @abbieattwoodwellness

Resources mentioned:

Shira's appearance in the NYT article on "atypical anorexia"

Ragen Chastain's post about the AAP guidelines

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit abbieattwoodwellness.substack.com/subscribe

Whether or not you’ve done a Whole30, this episode goes through how this diet is a specific example of wellness culture – the new version of diet culture, where restrictive eating is disguised as “health”. Abbie’s husband Jeb joins to keep her from going on a 3-hour tangent, which trust us, is a good thing. 

Topics discussed:

• Wellness culture and healthism as a new form of diet culture
• Abbie’s experience with Whole30
• Using “elimination protocols” outside of medical supervision
• Why Whole30 is popular and seductive
• Is Whole30 a “diet”?
• Food morality and sneaky weight-loss language
• What’s the deal with the food groups that are eliminated in Whole30, and is there science to support it (sugar, grains, legumes, alcohol…)
• The problems with this approach to “food freedom”

More to come on this one! So stick around for part 2.

Full Plate is listener-supported (no ads!) so please support the show on Patreon for bonus episodes at Patreon.com/fullplate

Patreon is also home to the episode transcripts (which are publicly available to everyone, not just our patrons!). If you’re looking for those, head over to Patreon. 

Find the show on Instagram: @fullplate.podcast 

Find Abbie on Instagram: @abbieattwoodwellness 

Abbie’s website: www.abbieattwoodwellness.com

 

Episodes referenced:

#35 - Jeb’s episode on sobriety and alcoholism

#47 - Sugar and sugar addiction research

 

Studies referenced: (TW for weight stigma)

 

Disordered eating and digestive disorders:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/16170899/ 

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21105315/

 

Restriction and binge eating, loss-of-control eating: https://www.apa.org/monitor/2013/10/hunger 

 

Grains and health outcomes:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3744518/#!po=22.7273

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26062574/ 

 

Legumes, digestion, and disease prevention:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4608274/ 

 

Soy not linked to hormonal imbalances:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5188409/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/33383165/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5188409/ 

 

Anti-nutrients and phytic acid health benefits:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19774556/

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit abbieattwoodwellness.substack.com/subscribe

Let's talk about MOVEMENT (without a side of diet culture). Kira Onysko Jones joins the pod to share her journey with fitness, body image, and her relationship with food. We discuss so much on this one -- from cooking new foods as a part of healing from disordered eating, to Gilmore Girls (just kidding, that was only for a few minutes at the end, I PROMISE). The main topics include: Disordered eating as an athlete, how wellness culture influences fitness goals, the process of releasing body control when it comes to movement, disconnecting food from exercise, finding joyful forms of movement, and making peace with rest. Abbie leaves you with a tip depending on whether you feel resistant or reliant on exercise at this point in your journey.

Kira Onysko Jones is a certified personal trainer and holds a Bachelor of Science in Exercise Science. She entered the fitness world during the days when skinny-tea promoting influencers and bodybuilders dominated social media. Because of that, she spent several years never feeling satisfied with her appearance, chasing the workout and eating habits of what she thought were her "healthy" role models, and as a result, developed disordered eating habits and a terrible relationship with exercise and her body. She now focuses her career around teaching people how to enjoy exercise without feeling pressured to lose weight, or letting it consume their lives, and how to fight back from the constant messaging online that tells us that our bodies aren't good enough.

Full Plate is listener-supported (no ads!) so please support the show on Patreon for bonus episodes at Patreon.com/fullplate

Patreon is also home to the episode transcripts (which are publicly available to everyone, not just our patrons!). If you’re looking for those, head over to Patreon. 

Find the show on Instagram: @fullplate.podcast 

Find Kira on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kiraonysko/ 

Find Abbie on Instagram: @abbieattwoodwellness 

Abbie’s website: www.abbieattwoodwellness.com

 

Studies / research mentioned:

Obligatory exercise and eating pathology: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17606231/

Obligatory exercise attitudes and negative affect: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3427598/

 

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit abbieattwoodwellness.substack.com/subscribe

Aleta Storch joins the pod to talk about her experience growing up with ADHD, how her disordered eating began in college, and the ways in which that manifested alongside her navigating a mental health condition. Abbie shares ways in which this relates to her experiences with anxiety and OCD. We also discuss food rules when you have a mental health condition, how athletes are impacted by diet culture, how Aleta realized she needed support for disordered eating, what finally propelled her to look into a diagnosis for ADHD, and how she came into the weight-inclusive anti-diet approach. We also explore neurodivergence and eating – how to cultivate a less chaotic relationship with food so you can physically nourish your body while supporting yourself mentally and emotionally. This was a wonderful conversation, and I think there is something for everyone in this one, regardless of what you’ve experienced from a mental health standpoint. 

Aleta is a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist as well as a Washington State Licensed Mental Health Counselor. She is the founder of Wise Heart Nutrition where she provides weight-inclusive, compassionate nutrition and mental health support. Aleta has combined-type ADHD, and dedicates much of her work to the neurodivergent population.

Find Aleta on IG: https://www.instagram.com/the_adhd_rd/

Aleta’s website: https://www.wiseheartnutrition.com/ADHD 

Full Plate is listener-supported (no ads!) so please support the show on Patreon for bonus episodes at Patreon.com/fullplate

Patreon is also home to the episode transcripts (which are publicly available to everyone, not just our patrons!). If you’re looking for those, head over to Patreon. 

Find the show on Instagram: @fullplate.podcast 

Find Abbie on Instagram: @abbieattwoodwellness 

Abbie’s website: www.abbieattwoodwellness.com

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit abbieattwoodwellness.substack.com/subscribe

In this episode, Abbie answers a listener question from Patreon and talks about the seduction of diet culture in the New Year. You’ll hear about how you can challenge the diet culture mindset using self-compassion rather than comparison, a values-based framework, and the body of evidence on "weight management". This episode is an important reminder of ways to navigate the feeling of wanting to do a “reset”, and how to take tangible action to approach those feelings and desires without spiraling. Diet and wellness culture is STRONG in January, but you are stronger.

The question in this episode comes from Christina, who writes:

Hi Abbie! Thank you so much for everything you're doing! I've been off dieting for a few months, and I've had a generally very positive experience, but I feel like I'm always waiting for the other shoe to drop. I had a couple of big setbacks early on, and with work stress and the holidays coming, I'm really anxious about the idea that the stress will cause me to start panic-dieting again. I'd like to have a game plan for what to do when I start to freak out, and I'd love to know if you have any advice for how to plan in advance for those bad days.

 

Full Plate is listener-supported (no ads!) so please support the show on Patreon for bonus episodes at Patreon.com/fullplate

Patreon is also home to the episode transcripts (which are publicly available to everyone, not just our patrons!). If you’re looking for those, head over to Patreon. 

Find the show on Instagram: @fullplate.podcast 

Find Abbie on Instagram: @abbieattwoodwellness 

Abbie’s website: www.abbieattwoodwellness.com 

 

Studies / resources mentioned: *TW for mention of “obesity” and other forms of weight-stigma

• The Weight-Inclusive versus Weight-Normative Approach to Health: Evaluating the Evidence for Prioritizing Well-Being over Weight Loss

• https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11684524/

• https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17469900/ 

 

This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit abbieattwoodwellness.substack.com/subscribe