How to tell if your diet is really disordered eating

2024-03-13T09:45:33-07:00By |

Dieting to lose weight (even under the guise of “lifestyle changes”) is so normalized in our culture that it indeed feels normal. And if it’s “normal” it must be OK…right? Let me break this to you gently — not only can dieting lead to disordered eating, but in many cases, dieting IS disordered eating.

What do ‘non-diet,’ ‘anti-diet’ and Health at Every Size® mean?

2024-03-13T09:45:44-07:00By |

Non-diet, anti-diet, Health at Every Size (HAES) — these terms are showing up more and more in books, magazines, blogs and social media. I hear a lot of questions about what these terms even mean, along with, “Everyone eats some type of diet, so how can anyone be ‘anti-diet’?”

Is there life after dieting? Yes, and it’s beautiful

2024-03-13T09:46:11-07:00By |

If not dieting, then what? That question tends to loom heavy in your mind when you've decided it's time to get off the diet rollercoaster, but aren't sure what life after dieting would look like. And there are many reasons for saying goodbye to dieting, a.k.a. the intentional pursuit of weight loss.

Look inside (not in a mirror) with intuitive exercise

2024-03-13T09:46:57-07:00By |

I have a mantra when I exercise: “Exercise to be strong, not smaller.” It’s what gets me through on those days when body image is not exactly in peak form, as I dare say is the case for everyone, at least from time to time. It’s also a way of continuing to deprogram myself from decades of believing that the primary benefit of exercise was weight loss.

It’s time to call out the “really, it’s not a diet” gaslighting

2024-03-13T09:47:27-07:00By |

(Includes some important 2022 updates!) Diets in disguise...they’re everywhere. But increasingly, diet promoters have turned to gaslighting by verbally jumping on the “non-diet” trend, then promoting what is in fact a diet while telling you it’s not. Well, if it looks like a duck, swims like a duck, and quacks like a duck, it’s probably a duck.

Why are we suppressing joy and creating barriers to health?

2024-03-13T09:47:37-07:00By |

Want to know what simultaneously breaks my heart and makes me want to punch something? When I hear the stories of stigma, shame and self-doubt my clients experience simply because they have the audacity to walk this earth in a body that is deemed larger than what’s appropriate.

Perfectionism: setting the stage for eating disorders?

2024-03-13T09:47:38-07:00By |

Perfectionism can be strongly related to eating disorders because the drive to be (or appear) perfect can trigger disordered eating patterns at various points along the spectrum. This could mean anything from occasional emotional/stress/comfort eating to orthorexia to full-fledged eating disorders.

Exercise to stay strong, not to become less

2024-03-13T10:09:32-07:00By |

I have a mantra when I exercise: “Exercise to be strong, not smaller.” It’s what gets me through on those days when body image is not exactly in peak form, as I dare say is the case for everyone, at least from time to time. It’s also a way of continuing to deprogram myself from decades of believing that the primary benefit of exercise was weight loss.

Beyond Health at Every Size: A body manifesto

2024-03-13T10:09:34-07:00By |

I attended the Association for Size Diversity and Health conference a few weekends ago. I've been processing ever since. My thinking about sizeism and how it intersects with racism, sexism, classism and a whole lot of other -isms certainly evolved in this weekend, in part because of the words of Linda Bacon.

Celebrating diversity…and Health at Every Size

2024-03-13T10:09:35-07:00By |

I'm in Portland this weekend at the Association for Size Diversity and Health conference, which I'm totally excited about, and not just because the speakers include Linda Bacon, author of Health At Every Size: The Surprising Truth About Your Weight, and Christy Harrison, host of the "Food Psych" podcast.

Embrace Your Body

2024-03-13T10:09:54-07:00By |

One of the things I love about spending time on a beach in Hawaii is the bodies on display. All kinds of bodies. It's a really good reality check about your own body...namely, the fact that, yes, you have one and it's carried you this far in life. I kind of got that Hawaii feeling when I watched Embrace. We all have bodies, and those bodies are not one-size-fits-all.

Health obsession and “body projects”

2024-03-13T10:19:23-07:00By |

Have you ever done a “body project”? To some extent, any diet is a body project, but I did an “official” body project four summers ago, dedicating four months of my life to an online fat loss competition. Like, one of those competitions where you post before-and-after photos of yourself wearing not a lot of clothing, with the chance of winning a trip to Hawaii dangled in front of you as a carrot.

HAES and the healthcare system

2024-03-13T10:19:23-07:00By |

In yesterday’s post, I presented observations from Lucy Aphramor, PhD, RD, about how society-wide weight stigma and social disparities contribute to obesity. Social determinants of health, which include income and education level, among other things, are a major focus of public health. Linda Bacon, her co-author on the upcoming book Body Respect, said she has observed a failure to turn words into actions in the spheres of health education and public health.

HAES and society: Why weight stigma affects us all

2024-03-13T10:19:24-07:00By |

Talk to Linda Bacon and Lucy Aphramor for an hour in a coffee shop, as I did for The Seattle Times, and you walk away quite clear that the root causes of obesity go much deeper than individual choice and responsibility. Weight stigma and social disparities are profound contributors to the so-called obesity epidemic.

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