Health At Every Size® life coach Kristina Bruce joins us to discuss how diet culture can affect relationships, how to find self-trust and self-acceptance in recovering from disordered eating, how diet culture shows up in spiritual communities, why health and well-being is about so much more than eating and exercise, and so much more! Plus, Christy answers a listener question about weight stigma in the military.

Kristina Bruce is a Certified Integrative Life Coach and advocate of the Health at Every Size paradigm. Calling upon her education in health studies, sociology, yoga, meditation, and The Work of Byron Katie, Kristina works one-on-one with people to help them reconnect to their bodies and feel more trusting and accepting of themselves. Find her online at KristinaBruce.com.

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We Discuss:

• Some of the covert diet culture messaging that Kristina received growing up, despite her parents avoiding overt diet talk

• The evolution of diet culture, particularly over the last few decades

• How Kristina’s relationship with her body changed from childhood to young adulthood

• Yoga culture, and how it uses “spirituality” to reinforce The Wellness Diet

• How relationships—particularly romantic relationships—can highlight and be affected by disordered relationships with food, exercise, and/or the body

• What helped Kristina stop dieting and embrace Health At Every Size

• Her experience of returning to dieting while in recovery

• Diet culture in spiritual communities

• Relearning self-trust, and why the “honeymoon phase” is sometimes necessary to get there

• The body-soul connection

• Self-acceptance, and its importance in recovery

• Letting go of our inner critic

• How relationships transform with recovery

• Why health and well-being is about so much more than eating and exercise

Resources Mentioned

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

• Submit your questions for a chance to have them answered on the podcast!

• My online course, Intuitive Eating Fundamentals

• Help spread the anti-diet message by subscribing to the podcast

• Isabel Foxen Duke’s work

• David Foster Wallace’s work

• Be Nourished, and co-founders Dana Sturtevant and Hilary Kinavey’s Food Psych® episodes

• The Gluten Lie: And Other Myths About What You Eat, and author Alan Levinovitz’s Food Psych episode

• Marie Kondo’s work

• Kristina’s website, and on Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube

• The Body Acceptance Jumpstart Guide

• This episode is brought to you by Poshmark, the fun and simple way to buy and sell fashion (including many plus-sized options!) Get $5 off your first purchase when you sign up with the invite code FOODPSYCH.

   

Listener Question of the Week

Is it possible to challenge the BMI and body-size standards required by the military? How can a person choose between their health and their career? How can individuals advocate for systemic and institutional change? Why are some organizations and people quicker to adopt new ideas than others?

(Resources Mentioned:

• Fiona Willer’s work and Food Psych episode

• Email Christy’s team with your response to this question: admin@christyharrison.com

• Christy on Twitter and Instagram)