Food Psych #134: Disordered-Eating Recovery & Body-Positive Power with Megan Jayne Crabbe of @bodyposipanda
Megan Jayne Crabbe, creator of the @bodyposipanda Instagram movement and author of the new book Body Positive Power, joins us to discuss why we need to ensure the most marginalized groups are included in body positivity, how we can root out healthism in body-positive communities, how diet culture promotes disordered eating, her experience in eating disorder treatment, the need to expand our view of mental health and holistic wellness, exploring perfectionism and all-or-nothing-thinking, and so much more! PLUS, Christy answers a listener question about what the “health” in “Health at Every Size” really means.
Meet Megan Jayne Crabbe, the rainbow-haired creator of Bodyposipanda. She's an anorexia survivor, anti-diet enthusiast, and believer in fat acceptance and intersectional body positivity. Since starting an Instagram account in 2014 to chronicle her own recovery and body acceptance journey, her following has grown to over 850,000. Her bestselling debut book, Body Positive Power is an exploration of the ways we've been taught to hate our bodies, a middle finger to the diet industry, and an uplifting call to arms for anyone who's ever struggled to accept their body. It's been called life saving, game changing, and awe inspiring. When Megan isn't promoting body positivity, she can probably be found in her pjs talking to her dogs, or eating cheese. Find her online at BodyPosiPanda.com.
Grab Christy's free guide, 7 simple strategies for finding peace and freedom with food, to start your intuitive eating journey. You can also text "7STRATEGIES" to the phone number 44222 to get it on the go :)
Get Christy's online course for fellow health & wellness pros, Master Your Anti-Diet Message, at christyharrison.com/message.
Ready to learn how to cook, make movies, and more from the masters? Just in time for the holidays, MasterClass has launched the All-Access Pass – a thoughtful gift for the home cooks or lifelong learners in your life. Food Psych listeners can get the All Access Pass at MasterClass.com/FOODPSYCH.
Give your wardrobe an upgrade with MM.LaFleur by going to MMBento.com. Use the code PSYCH at checkout and MM.LaFleur will donate 10% of profits to GlobalGiving.
We Discuss:
Megan’s relationship with food, including going from having an intuitive relationship with food to learning about the calories-in-calories-out model
The effect of being weighed at school, and the increasing messages around body and food in school systems
How perfectionism feeds into disordered eating
Using the label of “health” to hide disordered-eating behaviors
Experiencing body judgement and body shame as a child
How weight loss compliments can encourage restriction
Megan’s experience with anorexia, and how her relationship with food became a way to to control anxiety
The ways in which diet culture promotes eating disorders
The problem with all-or-nothing thinking
The importance of including mental health in our conversations around true holistic health
Weight bias and eating disorder diagnosis
Megan’s negative experience with classic eating disorder treatment, including how much emphasis was placed on the physical body rather than the mental health aspects
How diet culture contributes to relapse
Megan’s experience with the classic restrict-binge cycle, and how our society demonizes bingeing behaviors
The consequences of “clean eating”
Megan’s experience finding body positivity and intuitive eating, and rooting out the rest of her disordered behaviors
Allowing recovery to take the time that it needs, the ways in which we do the best we can to heal, and how revisiting old wounds is sometimes the only way to process trauma
How to balance setting boundaries and holding compassion for others
Megan’s experience becoming a body-positive Instagram celebrity
Using our own healing experience to help others through their own struggle
Megan’s experience coming to recognize her own privilege, and using her voice to make sure the most marginalized voices are heard
How fatphobia affects body image
Shifting to a systemic perspective, rather than an individualistic one, and recognizing the victimization of diet culture
Megan’s experience of diet culture as The Life Thief, and her process of learning how to be unapologetically herself
The intersections of diet culture and patriarchy, including how women and femmes are socialized
The #MeToo campaign
Healthism, ableism, and why the body positivity movement needs to include people regardless of health status
Thin privilege, and understanding the role of people in thin bodies in the body-positive movement
Resources Mentioned
Some of the links below are affiliate links. Affiliates or not, we only recommend products and services that align with our values.
Alan Levinovitz’s Food Psych Podcast episode
Body Positive Power by Megan Jayne Crabbe
Things No One Will Tell Fat Girls by Jes Baker
Submit your questions for a chance to have them answered on the podcast!
My online course, Intuitive Eating Fundamentals, which includes monthly listener Q&A podcasts and access to my private Facebook support group
Learn more about our gift certificates at christyharrison.com/gift
Ready to learn how to cook, make movies, and more from the masters? Just in time for the holidays, MasterClass has launched the All-Access Pass – a thoughtful gift for the home cooks or lifelong learners in your life. Food Psych listeners can get the All Access Pass at MasterClass.com/FOODPSYCH.
Give your wardrobe an upgrade with MM.LaFleur by going to MMBento.com. Use the code PSYCH at checkout and MM.LaFleur will donate 10% of profits to GlobalGiving.
Listener Question of the Week
What does the “health” part of “Health at Every Size” really mean? How does wellbeing and self-care fit into HAES? Does HAES mean I’m healthy at whatever size I am now, no matter what? What’s the best way to go about trying to find a HAES-friendly provider in eating disorder recovery?
(Resources Mentioned: the listener question in Food Psych Podcast Episode #128, NEDA’s Find Treatment Tool and Helpline, HAES Community Registry)