Introduction & Guest Bio:

Anti-diet yoga teacher and body-image coach Fiona Flynn joins us to discuss how yoga philosophy has been co-opted by diet culture, how having “forbidden” foods keeps us stuck in the restrict-binge cycle, how confronting her own weight stigma helped to heal her relationship with her body, bringing an anti-diet approach to the yoga community, and so much more. Plus, Ask Food Psych guest co-host Christyna Johnson answers a listener question about how to navigate orthorexic thoughts around veganism. 

Fiona Madhuri Flynn E-RYT 500, YACEP, founder and director of Body Wisdom Intuition, is a Health At Every Size® and Anti-Diet advocate, an Intuitive Eating Guide and a Nutrition and Body Image Coach and has been offering support in attuned eating since 2011.

Having lived in an ashram for 16 years and taught yoga consistently in the Bay Area since the 1990s, she has experienced the problems with disordered eating and exercise behaviors in the world of yoga, and she is now on a mission to awaken the yoga community to the harmful effects of co-option by diet culture. Her passion and specialty is guiding and supporting people in recovering an easeful and satisfying relationship with food, body and mind.

Fiona offers a free monthly “Good Newsletter” with tips and inspiration, one on one guidance, group programs and Yoga Alliance approved continuing education, both in-person and virtually. Believing that compassionate embodiment and empowerment are for EVERY-BODY, scholarships are available for all her offerings. Find her online at BodyWisdomIntuition.com.

Christyna Johnson (she/her) is a registered dietitian working with eating disorders and intuitive eating. She provides education on food insecurity, food apartheid, and racial inequity as it relates to health, well-being, and our relationship with food. She works in private practice to support her clients in their journeys towards a peaceful relationship with food and body. In her free time she reads books, takes care of her plant babies, and is slowly learning to explore the outdoors. Find her online at EncouragingDietitian.com.

We Discuss:

• Fiona’s memories of being influenced by diet culture at a young age

• Her experiences with “forbidden” foods as a child

• How childhood trauma affected her relationship with food and body

• When she started dieting and engaging in disordered-eating behaviors

• How her parents responded to her dieting as a teen

• What led her to start practicing yoga

• The “Yoga Diet,” and how yoga philosophy has been co-opted by diet culture

• Fiona’s experiences with the restrict-binge pendulum

• Her experiences as an Overeaters Anonymous member

• How she first learned about attuned eating and intuitive eating, and how the diet mentality initially got in her way

• How confronting her own weight stigma helped to heal her relationship with her body

• How she’s bringing intuitive eating to the yoga community

• Pushing back against diet-culture messaging

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

• My 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

• Fiona’s website.

Ask Food Psych

Listener Question:

“I am a former vegan, and reintroducing all foods has been helpful in my recovery from disordered eating. I still feel guilt about the impact of eating meat on animal suffering and the environment, but when I try to reduce my intake, my eating-disorder thoughts return. Any advice?”—Taylor

We Discuss: 

• Intentionality and flexibility in intuitive eating

• Reducing animal suffering outside of food choices

• Christyna’s experiences as a vegetarian and former vegan

• Having an identity outside of vegetarianism/veganism

Resources Mentioned: 

• Christyna’s website, Instagram, Twitter, and Venmo