Food Psych BONUS: How You Can Help Fight Diet Culture in Your Life with Heather Caplan, Anti-Diet Dietitian
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BONUS: How You Can Help Fight Diet Culture in Your Life with Heather Caplan, Anti-Diet Dietitian
Introduction
To celebrate the release of ANTI-DIET in paperback, we're bringing you a special bonus episode with a rare recording from the hardcover book tour! Fellow anti-diet dietitian Heather Caplan interviews Christy in front of a live audience about how to fight the co-opting of the anti-diet movement; language to use when talking to people who are brand new to this approach; how to spread the anti-diet message in healthcare, schools, the social sciences, and your own life; how Christy got away with writing a book called ANTI-DIET in a culture that’s very much *pro* diet; and lots more. The interview was recorded at East City Bookshop in Washington, DC, in February 2020, and it's still all too relevant for the coming New Year.
Heather Caplan is an anti-diet, weight-inclusive registered dietitian with a virtual private practice. She is the founder and director of Weight Inclusive Nutrition and Dietetics (WIND), a continuing-education and networking event series for dietitians and healthcare professionals. Her work pulls from the foundations of medical nutrition therapy, non-diet and intuitive eating principles, and weight-inclusive practices. In her business, all practitioners take a non-diet, weight-inclusive approach to care. Heather works 1:1 with clients across the country, and offers support and supervision to fellow RDs (and dietitians-to-be), especially those in transition from traditional nutrition practices to an approach informed by body liberation and Health at Every Size principles. As a free option to learn more about non-diet and weight-inclusive practices, Heather hosts a weekly podcast, RD Real Talk, talking with fellow anti-diet, weight-inclusive practitioners. Heather and her work have been featured in national publications such as The Washington Post, Runner’s World, Outside Online, NBC News, EatingWell, and Women’s Running. Find more of her writing and real talk at heathercaplan.com.
Christy Harrison, MPH, RD, CEDRD is an anti-diet registered dietitian nutritionist, certified intuitive eating counselor, certified eating disorders registered dietitian, and journalist. She’s the author of Anti-Diet: Reclaim Your Time, Money, Well-Being, and Happiness Through Intuitive Eating (Little, Brown Spark 2019), and her second book, tentatively titled Rethinking Wellness, will be published by the same imprint in 2023. Since 2013 Christy has hosted Food Psych, a weekly podcast exploring people’s relationships with food and paths to body liberation. It’s been one of Apple’s top 100 Health podcasts for the past 5 years, reaching tens of thousands of listeners worldwide each week. In addition to her media work, Christy offers online courses and private intuitive eating coaching to help people all over the world make peace with food and their bodies. Christy began her career in 2003 as a journalist covering food, nutrition, and health, and she’s written for publications including The New York Times, SELF, BuzzFeed, WIRED, Refinery29, Gourmet, Slate, The Food Network, and many others. Learn more about Christy and her work at christyharrison.com.
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If you're ready to break free from diet culture once and for all, come check out Christy's Intuitive Eating Fundamentals online course.
We Discuss:
Why Christy decided to write Anti-Diet at the time it was originally published
Her own experiences with disordered eating
How her first, unfinished book proposal on emotional eating led her to learn about intuitive eating and Health At Every Size®
How the title Anti-Diet came about
Isabel Foxen Duke, and how she helped Christy change the direction of the Food Psych® podcast
Where Christy anticipates diet culture will go next
Recognizing the ways that diet culture co-opts the anti-diet movement
Effective ways to call out diet culture, particularly in conversations with loved ones
How to start spreading the anti-diet message in healthcare education
The history of diet culture
Connecting with people who are completely new to the anti-diet movement
Setting the scene for talking about diet culture and anti-diet work
Activism and advocacy through an anti-diet lens
Christy’s own experiences working in public health and health policy
How non–health professionals can advocate for the anti-diet movement
Making Anti-Diet more accessible through libraries
How to share the anti-diet message to healthcare providers
Fear of gaining weight when you stop dieting/start eating intuitively
Ways to bring intuitive eating and Health At Every Size to children and schools
What questions need to be asked in social-science research
How the co-opting of the anti-diet message contributes to weight stigma
The effects of “subtle” forms of fatphobia
Resources Mentioned
Some of the links below are affiliate links. Affiliates or not, we only recommend products and services that align with our values.
Subscribe to the weekly newsletter, Food Psych Weekly
Submit your questions for a chance to have them answered in the weekly newsletter
My online course, Intuitive Eating Fundamentals
My first book, Anti-Diet: Reclaim Your Time, Money, Well-Being, and Happiness Through Intuitive Eating
Help spread the anti-diet message by subscribing to the podcast
Isabel Foxen Duke’s work, and her Food Psych episodes #36, #74, #118
Katie Dalebout’s work, and her Food Psych episodes #34, #37, #95
Melissa Fabello’s work, and her Food Psych episodes #43 and #115
Slide deck from Christy’s presentation at the 2018 Food and Nutrition Conference Expo (FNCE)
Tracy Tylka’s work
Traci Mann’s work (TW/CW: weight-stigmatizing language)
Rachel Millner’s work, and her Food Psych episodes #145 and #233
A. Janet Tomiyama’s work
Weight Inclusive Nutrition and Dietetics (WIND) website, Facebook, and Instagram