Food Psych #240: Aging, Diet Culture, and Body Changes Around Menopause with Erica Leon

Photographer: Khali MacIntyre

Fellow Health At Every Size® dietitian Erica Leon joins us to discuss why people are particularly vulnerable to diet culture as they age, intuitive eating in midlife and menopause, the importance of normalizing body changes throughout the life cycle, the role of public relations and journalism in spreading diet culture, how Erica transitioned her work from weight-centric to weight-inclusive, and so much more. Plus, Christy answers a listener question about how to process the constant headlines coming out about COVID-19 and weight. 

Erica Leon MS, RDN, CDN, CEDRD, is a New York-based Registered Dietitian Nutritionist, Certified Eating Disorders Registered Dietitian and Certified Intuitive Eating Counselor. Her specialty area of practice is nutrition therapy for the treatment and prevention of eating disorders. She works with adults, families, teens and children using a Health at Every Size®, non-diet and weight-neutral approach to help chronic dieters and those recovering from disordered eating to ultimately make peace with food and their bodies.

Erica’s more-than-30-year nutrition career has been quite varied. She has worked in hospitals, taught nutrition at the college level and worked in sales, public relations and marketing for a wide range of nutrition products. Ultimately, combining her skills and interests, Erica established a private nutrition practice in 1998. Her specialty work in eating-disorder treatment soon followed.

Erica has written professional articles on nutrition, is a frequent speaker on topics such as eating disorder prevention and childhood weight concerns and belongs to many professional organizations including the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, International Association of Eating Disorder Professionals, and the Academy of Eating Disorders. Find her online at EricaLeon.com.

This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp online counseling. If you’re looking for convenient and affordable mental-health support, go to betterhelp.com/christy and get your first week free.

We Discuss:

  • The events that shifted Erica’s relationship with food and her body as a child and teenager

  • How her college experience helped her move away from disordered eating

  • The different motivations behind her and Christy’s pursuit of a dietetics career

  • How Erica’s early work became more entrenched in diet culture, and how she decided to work in a way that better reflects her values

  • The role of public relations and journalism in spreading diet culture

  • How businesses use health professionals’ credentials to sell products

  • How Erica and Christy have evolved in their approach to nutrition and health

  • Why many private-practice dietitians offer weight management

  • How Erica transitioned her business from weight management to intuitive eating and Health At Every Size

  • Intuitive eating in midlife and during menopause

  • How disordered eating affects people as they age

  • The importance of normalizing body changes that happen with aging, particularly weight gain during menopause

  • Why perimenopause can make people more vulnerable to diet culture

  • Managing symptoms of perimenopause without trying to lose weight, including hormone-replacement therapy

  • How wellness culture has created a stigma around medications

  • How perimenopause can affect intuitive eating, and why it is still possible

  • The challenges of aging in our culture

  • The wisdom of lived experience

  • “Brain fog” and having compassion for the experience

  • Finding and advocating for respectful, weight-inclusive care for your perimenopause symptoms

  • How providers can make their spaces more accessible for larger folks

  • Refusing to be weighed at the doctor’s office

  • Erica’s resources for people in midlife or going through menopause

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

Are there any support groups for higher-weight people during the COVID-19 crisis? Are there any voices pushing back against the fatphobic messaging linking weight with COVID-19? How are these messages an extension of diet culture and medical fatphobia? What is the history of diet culture, medical fatphobia, and fat liberation? Why do HAES® practitioners need to push back against messaging linking weight and COVID-19? What are some of the factors that could explain the different health outcomes of larger-bodied people with COVID-19? What are some things to look for when searching for online support groups?

Resources Mentioned: 

 
Christy HarrisonDisordered eating, eating disorders, dietetics, dietitian, diet culture, public relations, journalism, capitalism, weight management, intuitive eating, Health At Every Size, menopause, midlife, aging, perimenopause, weight gain, wellness culture, The Wellness Diet, lived experience, brain fog, weight-inclusive, healthcare, accessibility, COVID-19, fatphobia, medical fatphobia, fat activism, fat liberation, anti-diet, S720