Food Psych #166: How to Resist Diet Culture & Build Community with Lilia Graue
Eating-disorders specialist and Certified Body Trust® Provider Dr. Lilia Graue joins us to discuss letting go of perfectionism, the importance of community in body acceptance and overcoming shame, diet culture as a form of trauma, why working toward societal change is just as important as individual recovery, and so much more! Plus, Christy answers a listener question about how the Health At Every Size® framework addresses the notion of an “obesity epidemic.”
Lilia Graue, MD, LMFT, is an eating disorders specialist and clinical supervisor; mindfulness, compassion and mindful eating instructor; and Certified Body Trust® Provider. With 18 years of clinical experience, she is intimately familiar with bodies and minds and our healing processes, and how we relate to, nourish and take care of ourselves and our bodies in ways that bring us closer to wholeness, radical presence, fierce embodiment and joy.
Lilia practices at the intersection of different healing modalities, centering lived experience and the body as a source of knowing. Her own life experiences with developmental and complex trauma, depression, anxiety, chronic pain, and a healing journey through psychotherapy and mind-body practices, have shaped her approach. Her practice is trauma informed, and rooted in intersectional feminism. She is Mexican and provides services in both English and Spanish.
Lilia loves working with providers navigating the challenges of advocating bravely for body liberation, embodiment and freedom from performative health who wish to cultivate and honor boundaries that allow for their self-care and replenishing empathy and compassion.
Lilia is an avid amateur cook, baker, and foodie. She and her partner share their home with their beloved cats, Thomas and Ziggy. Find her online at fiercelyembodied.com.
This episode is brought to you by Casper. Get $50 toward select mattresses by visiting casper.com/foodpsych and using the code FOODPSYCH at checkout.
This episode is also brought to you by TomboyX. Go to tomboyx.com/foodpsych and check out their special bundles and pack pricing. Food Psych listeners will also get an extra 15% off with the code FOODPSYCH!
You can also get my Master Your Anti-Diet Message course in Spanish thanks to today’s guest, Lilia Graue! Just go to christyharrison.com/spanish to learn more and sign up.
We Discuss:
Lilia’s complex relationship with food as a child
Growing up with, and eating around, family members that had mental health concerns
How being a competitive swimmer while going through puberty affected her relationship with food and with her body
The interrelationship between depression and disordered eating
Fatphobia and healthism in the medical field
How performative health can actually push people into a disordered relationship with food and body
The role of privilege in intuitive eating and recovery
Being more connected to food through eating and cooking with our hands
Sensory issues, and how they can affect a person’s eating preferences and relationship with food
Incorporating gentle nutrition without falling back into the diet mentality
Yoga, meditation, and mindful eating
Attuning to our body’s own needs instead of trying to be “normal”
Learning from our mistakes in our intuitive eating practice
The role of trauma in our relationship with food
Diet culture as a form of trauma
Why intuitive eating and mindful eating are about more than our relationship with food
How our societal ideals are causing harm to non-conforming bodies
The importance of community in body acceptance and overcoming shame
White supremacy and the mythic norm
Why it’s typical for people with a history of trauma to become caretakers
Connection through embodiment and vulnerability
Moving past black-and-white terms in eating disorder recovery
Living with and resisting diet culture at the same time
Finding community in your recovery journey
The difficulty of translating concepts across cultures, and the need for local communities within different cultures
How diet culture has co-opted mindful eating
Why we need to work toward societal change along with individual recovery
Lilia’s current projects as a medical provider and mindful eating teacher
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, which includes monthly listener Q&A podcasts and access to my private Facebook support group
Maria Paredes’s Food Psych Podcast episode
Carolyn Costin’s work
Domina Tu Mensaje Anti-Dieta (My Master Your Anti-Diet Message course in Spanish, translated by Lilia)
Lilia’s coaching practice, Fiercely Embodied and Facebook Page
Lilia’s medical and mental health practice (in English and Spanish)
This episode is brought to you by Casper. Get $50 toward select mattresses by visiting casper.com/foodpsych and using the code FOODPSYCH at checkout.
This episode is also brought to you by TomboyX. Go to tomboyx.com/foodpsych and check out their special bundles and pack pricing. Food Psych listeners will also get an extra 15% off with the code FOODPSYCH!
Listener Question of the Week
How does Health At Every Size® fit in with research that shows that we are becoming heavier as a population? Is HAES® concerned with “obesity” prevention? If HAES views that there is nothing wrong with being in a larger body, and that there is no effective way to lose weight, does it matter what causes some bodies to be larger than others? How can “obesity” prevention potentially be harmful? What other changes have happened at the same time as our population increasing in weight? What are some resources where I can continue to learn about HAES?
(Resources Mentioned: Misclassification of cardiometabolic health when using body mass index categories in NHANES 2005-2012, Perceived Weight Discrimination and 10-Year Risk of Allostatic Load Among US Adults, Weight Science: Evaluating the Evidence for a Paradigm Shift, What’s Wrong with Fat? by Abigail Saguy, Medicare’s Search for Effective Obesity Treatments: Diets Are Not the Answer)