#310: Rethinking Wellness: Fitness Culture with Natalia Mehlman Petrzela
Food Psych Podcast with Christy Harrison
Release Date: 01/31/2023
#335: GLP-1 Hype, Handling Haters, and Dating in a Larger Body with Virginia Sole-Smith
Food Psych Podcast with Christy Harrison
Journalist Virginia Sole-Smith joins us to discuss how GLP-1 hype has changed the conversation about diet culture, the importance of body autonomy, how “bro” diet culture became public policy, how she handles haters, the “fed is best” approach to parenting, and lots more. Behind the paywall, she shares her experience of weighing herself for the first time in years, what it’s been like to date for the first time in a larger body, how she’s changed her relationship to cardio, and more. This episode is cross-posted from our other podcast, Rethinking Wellness. As a journalist, Virginia...
info_outline
#334: “Adrenal Fatigue” + Anti-Inflammatory Diets + Eating-Disorder Recovery with Oona Hanson
Food Psych Podcast with Christy Harrison
Parent coach Oona Hanson joins us to discuss how going to a physical therapist for back pain led her down a wellness-culture rabbit hole, why dietary restrictions to “fight inflammation” just ended up harming her relationship with food and her body, how she got the dubious diagnosis of “adrenal fatigue,” and more. Behind the paywall, we get into how she helped her child heal from an eating disorder (and how that process changed the course of her career), how parents can help their kids navigate pressures from diet and wellness culture, why smart and science-minded people can still fall...
info_outline
#333: Blood-Sugar Myths and Intuitive Eating for Diabetes with Janice Dada
Food Psych Podcast with Christy Harrison
Dietitian and diabetes educator Janice Dada joins us to discuss why there’s so much stigma and blame on people with diabetes, the wellness-culture belief that people can “reverse diabetes” by restricting foods and taking a bunch of supplements, why people don’t “give themselves diabetes” by eating too much sugar, the myth that people with diabetes can’t eat sugar or carbs, her new book on intuitive eating for diabetes, and more. Behind the paywall, we get into the myths about diabetes and body size, the harms of trying to lose weight with diabetes, issues with the...
info_outline
#332: "All Instinct, No Rational Thought," and Other Myths About Intuitive Eating - with Elyse Resch
Food Psych Podcast with Christy Harrison
Registered dietitian and INTUITIVE EATING co-author Elyse Resch returns to help dispel myths about intuitive eating, including that it means *only* listening to instinct and not the rational brain, that it’s incompatible with eating-disorder recovery, that it’s impossible in an environment rife with “ultraprocessed” foods, and more. She also shares her definition of gentle nutrition, plus some behind-the-scenes looks at the latest books in the IE series and her new intuitive eating app in development. This episode is cross-posted from our other podcast, Rethinking Wellness. Elyse...
info_outline
#331: How Is Your Relationship with Alcohol? Ft. Jenna Hollenstein
Food Psych Podcast with Christy Harrison
Dietitian and author Jenna Hollenstein joins us to discuss her experience with alcoholism and recovery, the intersection of disordered eating and disordered drinking, the sobriety trend in wellness culture, Dry January, mindful drinking, “food addiction,” and more. (This episode is cross-posted from our other podcast, Rethinking Wellness.) Paid subscribers can hear the full interview, and the first half is available to all listeners. To upgrade to paid, go to . Jenna Hollenstein, MS, RDN, CDN, is an anti-diet dietitian-nutritionist, certified Intuitive Eating Counselor, speaker, meditation...
info_outline
#330: Fashion for Every Body, Functional-Medicine Failings, and Finding Your True Style with Dacy Gillespie
Food Psych Podcast with Christy Harrison
Anti-diet personal stylist Dacy Gillespie joins us to discuss diet and wellness culture, her bad experience with functional medicine (and what attracted her to it in the first place), how she’s dealing with her chronic symptoms now, and why she doesn’t think clothes should be “flattering.” Behind the paywall, we get into how to shop for clothes after your body changes, how to start discovering your authentic personal style beyond diet culture’s ideals, the advice that revolutionized Christy’s approach to fashion, the parallels between intuitive eating and fashion, and more. This...
info_outline
#329: Challenging the Hype About Gut Health and Ultra-Processed Foods with Laura Thomas
Food Psych Podcast with Christy Harrison
Registered nutritionist, author, and friend of the pod Laura Thomas joins us to unpack the problematic notion that you need to eat a ridiculously large number of plants per week for gut health, and what we actually know about how plant foods affect the gut microbiome. We also get into how to distinguish good science from hype, how ultra-processed foods have become so demonized despite a lack of strong evidence, how anti-fat bias is baked into the discourse about both gut health and ultra-processed foods, and lots more. (This episode originally aired on in March 2024.) Laura is a Registered...
info_outline
#328: Escaping Diet and Wellness Culture in Fashion and Dietetics with Shana Minei Spence
Food Psych Podcast with Christy Harrison
Registered dietitian and author Shana Minei Spence joins us to discuss how a career in fashion affected her relationship with food and her body, her experience with a holistic provider who recommended elimination diets, how values and social norms influenced her use of alternative medicine, her disordered motivations for becoming a dietitian, and more. Behind the paywall, we get into how she recovered from her eating disorder, why she takes an anti-diet approach to nutrition, her experience working in the public-health field, cultural appropriation in wellness, and where she stands on wellness...
info_outline
#327: Hormone-Health Myths and Facts with Endocrinologist Gregory Dodell
Food Psych Podcast with Christy Harrison
Endocrinologist Gregory Dodell joins us to discuss myths and facts about hormones, including the problems with doing diets and supplement protocols for “hormone balancing,” why weight-loss recommendations aren’t helpful for hormone health, how to manage thyroid conditions without falling prey to wellness fads, the truth about “adrenal fatigue,” the Ozempic craze, and more. This episode is a cross-post from our sister podcast, Rethinking Wellness, where paid subscribers can hear an with Greg. Gregory Dodell, MD FACE is a board-certified endocrinologist. He received his medical degree...
info_outline
#326: Body Image: What the Evidence Really Says, with Charlotte Markey
Food Psych Podcast with Christy Harrison
Psychologist and body-image researcher Charlotte Markey joins us to discuss myths and misinformation about body image, how chronic illness and pain affect perceptions of our bodies, the body positivity vs. body neutrality debate, the potential body-image harms of social media (and how to mitigate them), how the discourse about GLP-1 weight-loss drugs is influencing people’s body image, and more. This is a cross-post from our other podcast, . Paid subscribers can hear the full interview, and the first half is available to all listeners. for the whole thing! Charlotte Markey,...
info_outlineFitness and wellness historian Natalia Mehlman Petrzela joins Christy to discuss her new book, Fit Nation; the historical shifts that made fitness go from being viewed as a narcissistic practice to being seen as a good thing across the political spectrum; why so many people are disillusioned with our medical system and looking for answers and validation in the alternative medicine space; how people can be critical consumers of online wellness content; and more. (Content warning: discussions of fitness and the food environment.)
Natalia Mehlman Petrzela is a historian of contemporary American politics and culture. She is the author of FIT NATION: The Gains and Pains of America's Exercise Obsession (University of Chicago Press, 2023) and Classroom Wars: Language, Sex, and the Making of Modern Political Culture (Oxford University Press, 2015). She is co-producer and host of the podcast WELCOME TO YOUR FANTASY, from Pineapple Street Studios and Gimlet – and recognized as the “best of 2021” by Vogue, Esquire, the New York Times, and Vulture – and the co-host of Past Present Podcast. Her work has been supported by the Spencer, Whiting, Rockefeller, and Mellon Foundations.
Natalia is a frequent media guest expert, public speaker, and contributor to international and domestic news outlets, from the New York Times to the Washington Post to CNN to the Atlantic. She is Associate Professor of History at The New School, co-founded and directed the wellness education program Healthclass 2.0, and is a Premiere Leader of the mind-body practice intenSati. She holds a B.A. from Columbia and a master’s and Ph.D. from Stanford and lives with her husband and two children in New York City. Learn more about her and her work at NataliaPetrzela.com.
Pre-order Christy's second book, The Wellness Trap, for its April 25 release!
If you're ready to break free from diet culture and make peace with food, come check out Christy's Intuitive Eating Fundamentals online course.
Christy's first book, Anti-Diet, is available wherever you get your books. Order online at christyharrison.com/book, or at local bookstores across North America, the UK, Australia, and New Zealand.
Grab Christy's free guide, 7 simple strategies for finding peace and freedom with food, for help getting started on the anti-diet path.
Subscribe to our newsletter, Food Psych Weekly, for weekly Q&As and more.
For full show notes and a transcript of this episode, go to christyharrison.com/foodpsych.
Ask your own question about intuitive eating and the anti-diet approach at christyharrison.com/questions.