As a woman growing up in the thick of diet culture, I've developed body image issues and disordered eating behaviours that have been difficult to navigate on my own. But I found a wealth of knowledge, support, and encouragement to embrace intuitive eating and self-love through the wonderful world of podcasts. Here are four of my favourites, along with must-listen-to episodes.
The Food Pysch podcast is probably the one podcast that impacted my relationship with food and my body the most. Led by Christy Harrison, MPH, RD, CDN, she's all about health at every size, intuitive eating, eating disorder recovery, and rejecting diet culture.
In the first five to 20 minutes of each episode she answers a reader's question to help them navigate a personal issue regarding anything from anti-dieting to body issues. The last 40 to 60 minutes she brings on an expert to discuss topics such as binge eating, healing body dysmorphia, and eating disorder recovery. I love that she always begins the interview saying, "Tell me about your relationship with food growing up." Her podcast has helped me regain trust in my own intuitions about food and exercise and encouraged positive self-talk.
Episodes I love:
This is the podcast I've been listening to lately, specifically on my morning drives to CrossFit. Led by Julie Duffy Dillon, RDN, the Love, Food podcast is in the form of readers' letters written to food — yes, the readers actually begin with "Dear Food." All the questions are so relatable, and Julie calls on fellow experts to help answer the readers' questions. Some examples are how to be OK with gaining weight with intuitive eating, dealing with feeling embarrassed about having struggles with food, and how to control eating out of anger or sadness; it's so helpful and informative.
This podcast is easy to listen to, and I always feel like I learned a tidbit or tip to help understand my history with dieting and improve my relationship with food.
Episodes I love:
When beginning my journey exploring intuitive eating, this is the first podcast I found. Body Kindness by certified exercise physiologist Rebecca Scritchfield, RDN, talks about how to be healthy and improve your physical and emotional well-being with kindness and self-love and with zero emphasis on weight loss.
This podcast helped remind me to have compassion toward myself, to quiet that inner self-critiquing voice, and gave me the tools to start breaking free of dieting mentality and the need to change. Her interviews with fellow dietitians and other experts include topics about self-care, sleep, body image, and sex.
Episodes I love:
The BodyLove Project podcast led by Jessi Haggerty, RDN, CPT — I think it's great that she's both a registered dietitian and a personal trainer. She discusses topics including diet culture, body image and body positivity, and how to get off the diet-binge roller coaster.
Jessi's interviews with experts, including fellow registered dietitians, writers covering intuitive eating, and doctors, let me know that others shared my experiences with food, diet, and body image. Knowing I was not alone in my emotions and habits helped me feel supported in my rejection of diet culture.
Episodes I love:
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