Introduction & Guest Bio:

Anti-diet eating-disorder recovery mentor, fat activist, and video content creator Daph Levy joins us to discuss her journey from being a dieting “success story” and weight-loss camp counselor to pursuing a career in eating-disorder treatment and recovery, privilege within the eating-disorder-treatment field, the feeling of not belonging and dieting to try to fit in, sitting with discomfort in recovery, and so much more.

Daph Levy (she/her) is an anti-diet eating-disorder recovery mentor, fat activist, and video content creator based in Boston, MA. She completed her Bachelor of Science degree in Dietetics, Nutrition & Food Science at the University of Vermont, and her Dietetic Internship from Simmons University. As a person who identifies as queer, fat, and Latina, Daph strives to offer a unique perspective on how to view health and wellbeing. She brings forth her expertise in the area of size diversity and health with conviction and care to the individuals with whom she speaks. Daph draws from her infinite curiosity and advocacy work to listen reflectively in order to best inform how she shares her valuable knowledge from her educational background, clinical training, and lived experiences in her recovery from eating disorders on her YouTube channel and Instagram “dishinwithdaph.” On the channel she dives deep into topics including eating disorder recovery, Health at Every Size, Intuitive Eating, and more. In the near future, Daph hopes to offer one-on-one and group coaching services to support people who struggle with body image and relationship to food. You can support her work by following her on social media platforms and subscribing to her YouTube channel.

We Discuss:

• How coming from an immigrant family affected Daph’s relationship with food and body growing up

• The juxtaposition of food as pleasure and food policing that she experienced

• Dieting as a means of “fitting in”

• The effects of absolute and relative socioeconomic status and privilege, including Daph and Christy’s personal experiences with this growing up

• Daph’s experiences going to a weight-loss camp as a teenager and becoming a weight-loss “success story”

• How she went from working as a weight-loss camp counselor to starting on the path of recovery

• The normalization of dieting behaviors

• Daph’s first steps in pursuing a career as an eating-disorder treatment provider

• Her traumatic dietetic internship experience

• The role Daph’s partner played in her eating-disorder recovery

• Daph’s experiences in different levels of eating-disorder treatment

• Her continued sense of not belonging

• Privilege within the eating-disorder treatment field

• Where Daph is now in terms of her career and eating-disorder recovery

• Acceptance and compassion, and its role in Daph’s recovery

• Sitting with discomfort and not knowing

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 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

• Brianna Campos’s work, and her Food Psych® episode

• Brené Brown’s work (TW/CW: Some fatphobic language/beliefs)

• “Money and Happiness: Rank of Income, Not Income, Affects Life Satisfaction” 

• “Dimensions of human hierarchy as determinants of health and happiness”

• “Outclassed: how your neighbor’s income might affect your happiness” 

• Kimmie Singh’s work, and her Food Psych episode

• Julie Duffy Dillon’s work, and her Food Psych episodes #69, #93, and #199

• Beth Rosen’s work

• Multi-Service Eating Disorders Association (MEDA)

• Nadia Craddock’s work, and her Food Psych episode

• Daph’s Instagram, Twitter, YouTube, and Venmo

• Double Vision Media’s Instagram