#35: Giving up Diets with Australian Nutritionist Jessica Sepel

Australian Nutritionist Jessica Sepel the wellness expert behind the JSHealth brand is here today to talk about giving up diets to heal our relationship with food and begin practicing balance and moderation.

In this episode of the Clean Eating for Women podcast, we talk about:  

• How fad diets lead to deprivation and an unhealthy relationship with food
• Jessica shares her painful journey of having an eating disorder
• The difference between being weight conscious and health conscious

Some highlights of this episode on giving up diets:

1. Jessica Sepel is a clinical nutritionist and health author of two books. She is passionate about her relationship with food. Her brand JSHealth stands for finding balance and freedom with food. [01:28]
2. Jessica was trapped in the fad diet world for years. Diets associated with restriction and deprivation always backfire. These create a vicious cycle where you have a really complicated relationship with food. There is another way to achieve a healthy life. [02:33]
3. How disordered eating came about in Jessica's life. She started fad dieting at 14 and continued for 10 years. She developed an eating disorder and disconnected with her body. She developed fear and anxiety about her weight. [03:29]
4. Jessica studied nutrition and started a blog about her journey of becoming a more whole foods and balanced eater. She slowly started to heal her relationship with food. She also went to therapy and discovered recipes that made her feel good. [05:21]
5. The blog began as a personal journal. Her husband said she should make the blog live and use it as a tool to get new patients. Women will relate to the incredibly open and vulnerable story. She made the blog live six months after starting her writing, and she got 20,000 visitors. The positive feedback was motivating. [08:02]
6. She began coaching and really got to see what women were going through in real life. The blog took off and she doesn't practice in the clinic anymore, but she loves her larger platform. [10:38]
7. Jessica believes in a balanced moderation approach that is completely realistic to every person's life. None of the advice is unattainable. [13:06]
8. How restrictive diets are so hard to stick to over the long term. Many people can't go past three to six months. Then they start binging or obsessing about food. They are just not sustainable. [16:03]
9. How we are all so chemically unique. We have to think about what diet works best for our bodies and stop disconnecting and listening to all of the diet advice that doesn't fit our unique selves. We know best. [19:12]

Links mentioned in this episode:

• the GOOD fest
• JSHealth
• Jessica on Instagram
• JSHealth on Facebook
• @JessicaSepel on Twitter
• Jessica Sepel Pinterest
• Books by Jessica Sepel

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