Food Psych #153: Healing Body Dysmorphia & Dating While Plus-Size with Sophia Carter-Kahn

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Writer and “She’s All Fat” podcast co-host Sophia Carter-Kahn joins us to talk about her path from extreme dieting to intuitive eating, how dating interacts with fatphobia and weight bias, overcoming body shame and body dysmorphia, how parents are influenced by diet culture and healthism, why we need to think about weight stigma as an important variable in terms of health, and so much more! Plus, Christy answers a listener question about using meal plans in eating disorder recovery.

Sophia Carter-Kahn is a writer and podcaster based in Los Angeles, California. Along with April K. Quioh, Sophie is the co-host, -producer, and -creator of She's All Fat, the podcast for body positivity, radical self love, and chill vibes only. Sophia and April created She's All Fat to tell the stories of fat women and femmes. They discuss everything from pop culture to strategies to approaching tough conversations with family and friends, all through the lens of fat positivity. She's All Fat has listeners all over the world, and will have its first live show at the end of April at Flyover Fest in Iowa.

As a freelance writer and editor, Sophia is interested in obscure history, weird literature, queer culture, and media. You can find more of her writing on her website, or sign up for her TinyLetter for weekly dispatches of curated reading from around the internet.

 

We Discuss:

  • Sophia’s relationship with food growing up, including experiencing body shaming and food shaming from the doctor at a young age

  • Her first experiences with dieting and disordered eating, and how restriction led to bingeing

  • How parents are influenced by diet culture and healthism, and how current parents have more resources to guide their children to body positivity, Health at Every Size, and intuitive eating

  • Sophia’s experience at Weight Watchers, and how the program taught her more creative ways to engage in disordered eating

  • Disordered eating versus eating disorders, and how the current DSM options are limiting in terms of eating experiences

  • The pervasive nature of fatphobia, including medical fatphobia

  • Why we need to think about weight stigma as an important variable in terms of health rather than just assuming that a larger body size equates to an unhealthy body

  • Health outcomes as a product of intuitive eating versus chronic dieting

  • Sophia’s path from extreme dieting to intuitive eating, healing her relationship with food, body positivity, and body acceptance

  • How dating interacts with fatphobia and weight bias, and how Sophia learned to accept her body through online dating

  • The power in validation from our romantic and sexual partners

  • Overcoming body shame and body dysmorphia

  • Sophia’s experience finding her sexuality and queer identity within her fat identity

  • Casting aside beauty standards and turning our back on the beauty ideal

  • Ageism, and the power in aging women

  • Ableism, and why we need to start thinking differently about bodies with disabilities

  • How to determine who is ready to hear the social justice, HAES, body-positive message

  • The power in setting boundaries, both interpersonally and within ourselves, and grappling with negative self-talk

  • The value in helping others feel less alone, why representation matters, and how it helps to overcome shame

  • Sophia’s podcast, She’s All Fat, and the fun of talking about popular culture from a fat perspective

 

Resources Mentioned

Some of the links below are affiliate links. Affiliates or not, we only recommend products and services that align with our values.

 

Listener Question of the Week

How do meal plans fit into eating disorder recovery? Are meal plans necessary for full recovery? What does recovery look like for people who don’t have or can’t afford formal treatment? Why is it so important to eradicate weight bias within treatment programs?

(Resources Mentioned: Rachel Cole’s Food Psych Podcast episode)

Christy HarrisonEating disorder recovery, eating disorders, recovery, diet culture, the life thief, ableism, ageism, queer identity, LGBTQ, sexuality, dating, beauty standards, fatphobia, weight bias, body positivity, body acceptance, intuitive eating, healthism, health at every size, haes, body shame, food shame, medical fatphobia, disordered eating, chronic dieting, S518