Food Psych #218: The Life Thief, Part 4: How Diet Culture Steals Your Happiness with Stephanie Zone

Photographer: Khali MacIntyre

Eating-disorders therapist Stephanie Zone joins us to discuss how diet culture steals our happiness and joy, the physical and emotional effects of restriction and self-blame, why dieting and disordered eating are like being in an abusive relationship, the problem with the narrative that trauma “causes” larger body size, and so much more. Plus, Christy answers a listener question about studying nutrition and dietetics while trying to heal from your own disordered eating. 

Stephanie Zone, PsyD, JD, is a clinical psychologist specializing in eating disorders and trauma, as well as other issues including anxiety and depression. She works with all types of clients at an HMO and in private practice in the San Francisco Bay Area. She is also a professor, workshop leader, and yoga teacher.

Stephanie began her career as a lawyer. Her passion for legal aid and social justice fueled a career change to psychology. She wrote her dissertation on feminism and eating disorders, with the theory that feminism might have a protective effect for women. She taught for 18 years at City College of San Francisco and created the class Psychology of Food, Weight, and Eating. Health at Every Size® is the guiding principle of her work. Stephanie also utilizes EMDR, Acceptance Commitment Therapy, and Mindful Self-Compassion to help people heal from trauma and weight stigma and live with vitality. To learn more about Stephanie, visit her website at DrStephanieZone.com.

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We Discuss:

  • Stephanie’s earliest memories of living in diet culture

  • Reframing bullying as a form of social injustice

  • How she became aware of counter-culture movements and feminism

  • How she internalized a negative attitude toward her body growing up

  • Being present, and its role in joy

  • How she cultivates joy in her therapy sessions

  • Therapy as a tool for finding happiness

  • The growing community of Health At Every Size® providers

  • Trauma, and the problematic narrative that it causes weight gain

  • Why dieting and disordered eating are traumatic

  • How Stephanie’s dog was affected by having her food restricted

  • The Minnesota Starvation Experiment

  • The physical and emotional effects of restriction and self-blame

  • How and why eating disorders can evolve within a person

  • Why diet culture and eating disorders are like an abusive relationship

  • How diet culture steals your happiness

  • Why connecting is more important than “fixing” when a loved one is struggling with disordered eating

  • The effects of diet culture on teens

  • Objectification, and how it can affect romantic relationships

  • Christy and Stephanie’s relationship experiences

  • Pressures to lose weight from the wedding industry

  • What inspired Stephanie to do the work that she does today

  • Growing HAES® activism

Resources Mentioned

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Listener Question of the Week

How can someone reconcile their interest in nutrition and dietetics without contributing to diet culture? Why is diversity important in the dietetics field? How does thin privilege show up in the nutrition field? How can nutrition science be helpful for HAES® care? What might be a reason that a person would leave dietetics and change careers?

Resources Mentioned:

 
Christy HarrisonDiet culture, The Life Thief, social justice, bullying, counter-culture, feminism, happiness, joy, therapy, psychology, Health At Every Size, HAES, trauma, restriction, self-blame, eating disorders, disordered eating, dieting, relationships, dating, activism, S719