Food Psych #245: Recovering from COVID-19 While Fat with Rachel Estapa, and Parenting Without Diet Culture with Anna Lutz

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Photographer: Khali MacIntyre

Anti-diet dietitian Anna Lutz joins us to discuss why it doesn’t make sense to provide both eating-disorder treatment and weight management, the influence of diet culture on parenting, how to provide structure for kids’ eating without creating restriction, managing picky eating, and so much more. Plus, size-inclusive yoga teacher Rachel Estapa returns to give us an update on her experience of having and recovering from COVID-19 in a larger body. 

Anna Lutz is an Anti-Diet Registered Dietitian in Raleigh, NC with Lutz, Alexander & Associates Nutrition Therapy. She specializes in eating disorders and pediatric/family nutrition and sees clients locally and virtually. In addition to her clinical work, she writes about nutrition and family feeding, free of diet culture, at Sunny Side Up Nutrition along with Elizabeth Davenport. Anna received her Bachelor of Science degree in Psychology from Duke University and Master of Public Health in Nutrition from The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She is a Certified Eating Disorders Registered Dietitian (CEDRD) and an Approved Supervisor, both through the International Association of Eating Disorder Professionals (iaedp). Anna provides trainings, workshops and clinical supervision to other clinicians on eating disorders, family feeding, and weight-inclusive healthcare. Find her online at SunnySideUpNutrition.com and LutzAndAlexander.com.

Rachel Estapa, founder and CEO of More to Love, is passionate about empowering people to love and appreciate their bodies. Her own path to body acceptance began many years ago. After yo-yo dieting throughout her teenage years and into adulthood, Rachel took stock of her life and realized she wasn’t happy. Even when she reached her “goal weight,” she felt something was missing. That’s when she decided she would stop trying to change her body and instead she would focus on loving the body she has. Find her online at: MoreToLoveYoga.com

Interview with Rachel Estapa:

  • Rachel’s experience with and recovery from COVID-19 as a person in a larger body

  • The role of body acceptance in her recovery

  • How medical weight stigma initially kept her from going to the doctor

  • Her initial fears of being stigmatized for having COVID-19, and why she decided to open up about it

  • Yoga and meditation, and its role in her recovery

  • Reframing inflammation as a positive response to illness

  • Turning to local leaders and authorities rather than national initiatives

  • How certain COVID-19 symptoms, like loss of taste and smell, can linger

  • How the COVID-19 pandemic is highlighting the importance of body acceptance and collective health

  • How Rachel is shifting her yoga practice and business in response to the pandemic

Resources Mentioned

Interview with Anna Lutz:

  • How Anna’s experiences growing up have influenced the way that she works with children and families as a dietitian

  • The influence of diet culture on parenting over time

  • What drew Anna to study nutrition and public health

  • The history of nutrition in public health

  • Anna’s early experiences as a pediatric dietitian, and the dissonance she felt providing both eating-disorder care and weight management

  • Ellyn Satter’s work, particularly her work on developmental appropriateness of nutrition education/counseling and the Division of Responsibility in Feeding and Eating

  • How eating-disorder prevalence has coincided with “o*esity epidemic” rhetoric

  • How Anna’s work has evolved to a non-diet, Health At Every Size® approach

  • Interpreting Ellyn Satter’s work through a HAES® lens

  • How Anna and Christy learned about HAES through their work in eating disorders

  • Starting a HAES-oriented dietetic private practice

  • Why it’s normal to be eating more during the COVID-19 pandemic

  • How to avoid turning the structure of the Division of Responsibility (DoR) into restrictive food rules

  • What parents need to consider when planning to implement DoR with their children

  • Using DoR as an adult to help “re-parent” yourself around food

  • Combining intuitive eating with DoR

  • Managing picky eating

Resources Mentioned

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