Introduction & Guest Bio:

Anti-diet dietitian and mental health counselor Aleta Storch joins us to discuss diet culture in the ADHD and autoimmune disorder communities, her and Christy’s experiences of living with chronic illness, how social determinants of health are often ignored or twisted to uphold diet culture, wellness culture and its stigmatization of medication, and so much more. Plus, in “Ask Food Psych,” Christy answers a listener question about how to tell whether something is a diet in disguise and how to avoid common diet-culture traps—in the New Year and beyond. 

Aleta (she/her) is a Registered Dietitian, Mental Health Counselor, Body Trust Provider, and owner of Wise Heart Nutrition based out of Seattle, WA. She offers weight-inclusive, anti-diet care to support folx in the process of letting go of diet culture, and finding pleasure, joy, and freedom with food and body. She specializes in working with both ADHD and autoimmune conditions. Find her online at WiseHeartNutrition.com.

We Discuss:

• The factors that contributed to Aleta’s positive relationship with food as a child

• How having ADHD affected her eating as a teen

• When Aleta’s relationship with food and body began to shift, and eventually became an eating disorder

• Christy and Aleta’s experiences with childhood bullying and the desire to belong

• The culture of food in sports and athletics

• How Aleta’s diagnosis of Hashimoto’s thyroiditis was delayed because of her smaller body

• Why she became interested in becoming an eating-disorder treatment provider

• Accepting and adopting Health At Every Size® principles as someone with an active eating disorder

• Aleta’s experiences standing up against healthist beliefs during her dietetics training

• The Wellness Diet, and why it is still a part of diet culture

• The biopsychosocial model of healthcare

• How social determinants of health are often ignored or twisted to uphold diet culture

• Aleta’s path to eating-disorder recovery and intuitive eating

• How working at an eating-disorder treatment center helped in her own recovery

• How having Hashimoto’s thyroiditis contributed to Aleta’s and Christy’s disordered eating

• Wellness culture’s stigmatization of medication

• ADHD and disordered eating, and how trying to treat symptoms with diet can often make things worse

• How ADHD medications can be abused

• Weight-loss medications and side effects

• Diet culture in the autoimmune disorders and ADHD communities, and how Aleta works with people in these areas

• Intentional and unintentional restriction

• Self-care cues for folks who struggle with attuning to their hunger and fullness cues

• Aleta’s upcoming online ADHD course

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

• Be Nourished, and co-founders Dana Sturtevant and Hilary Kinavey’s Food Psych® episodes, #76 and #90, respectively

• James Macinko’s work

• Aleta’s website, Instagram, and Facebook

Ask Food Psych

Listener Question:

“How can you tell when a program/protocol/system/etc is really a diet in disguise?”

We Discuss: 

• What diet culture is

• Why dieting is not a part of intuitive eating

• Examples of the Wellness Diet

• Why anti-diet is not anti-health or anti-nutrition

• Christy’s four pillars of diet culture

Resources Mentioned: 

• Christy’s book, Anti-Diet: Reclaim Your Time, Money, Well-Being, and Happiness Through Intuitive Eating.