#138-Why Is It So Hard to Trust Your Body? | Dieting, Food Rules & Body Image (Part 2)

🌿Ready to take the next step?

Listening is a great place to start, but lasting change happens when you begin putting these ideas into practice.

Join us inside the Healthy Ever After app, where you'll find:

✨ A supportive community of women on the same journey
🎙️ Every episode of PCOS Unfiltered
🥗 Healthy recipes and meal ideas
📝 Weekly challenges and Body Wisdom practices
🎁 Free guides and exclusive resources
📅 Live trainings, Q&As, and special events

Download the Healthy Ever After app today and join us!

📱 Apple
📱 Android

Body Wisdom Challenge

This week, I want you to identify ONE food rule you've been following that may no longer serve you.

Maybe it's:

❤️ Avoiding certain foods because a diet told you to
❤️ Ignoring your hunger to stick to a schedule
❤️ Feeling guilty when you eat something you enjoy
❤️ Believing you need to exercise to earn your food

Now ask yourself:

Is this rule actually helping me nourish my body, or is it keeping me disconnected from what my body needs?

Choose one small way to practice listening to your body instead of automatically following that rule.

Remember, your body deserves to be heard, not constantly controlled.

In This Episode, We Discuss:

• How diet trends have evolved from SlimFast and the grapefruit diet to Atkins, keto, and carnivore
• Why familiar weight-loss approaches continue to return under different names
• The history of restrictive dieting and its influence on food behaviors
• How dieting and food restriction can affect hunger, fullness, and our relationship with food
• Why nutrition recommendations should consider individual needs, preferences, and circumstances
• The importance of recognizing how different foods make you feel
• Paula's personal experience with childhood weight stigma, restrictive eating, and severe malnutrition
• How comments from family members and partners can influence body image and eating behaviors
• My own experiences with body shaming and restrictive food habits

Key Takeaways:

• Diet trends often repeat themselves. Many popular eating plans share similarities with approaches that have existed for decades. A new name or marketing strategy doesn't necessarily mean an entirely new approach to nutrition.
• Restrictive dieting can affect more than your weight. For some individuals, repeated food restriction can contribute to increased food preoccupation, stress around eating, and difficulty recognizing hunger and fullness cues.
• Nutrition isn't one-size-fits-all. Your nutritional needs can be influenced by your health, activity, preferences, medical conditions, and individual circumstances. A plan that works well for one person may not be appropriate for another.
• Words about our bodies can stay with us for years. Comments about weight, appearance, or food choices—especially during childhood or from people we trust—can have a lasting influence on body image and eating behaviors.
• Weight-loss treatments deserve informed conversations. Bariatric surgery and GLP-1 medications have potential benefits, risks, and limitations. Understanding those factors with qualified healthcare professionals is important when considering individual treatment options.

Connect with Paula Atkinson:

Paula D. Atkinson is a liberation psychotherapist, educator, and advocate for body acceptance who has spent more than 15 years working with individuals experiencing disordered eating, food obsession, exercise addiction, and body dissatisfaction.

As a former professor of Weight & Society at George Washington University, Paula developed and taught a course exploring the history of fatphobia and society's cultural preference for thinness.

Her work focuses on challenging harmful cultural beliefs about food, weight, and body image while helping individuals and organizations create more compassionate approaches to body acceptance.

Paula also trains healthcare professionals, clinics, and organizations on reducing weight stigma and harm in a weight-focused culture.

Her perspectives have been featured on NPR, numerous podcasts, and in national publications. She also appeared on Jubilee Media's Surrounded: 1 Health Expert vs. 20 Body Positivity Activists, participating in a conversation about body justice alongside Jillian Michaels.

Want to learn more about Paula and her work?

🌐 Website:
http://pauladatkinson.com/

🔗 Connect with Paula:
https://linktr.ee/pauladatkinson

If This Episode Resonated With You...

Please take a moment to:

❤️ Share this episode with someone who feels stuck or is ready for a fresh perspective.

⭐ Leave a review to help more women discover PCOS Unfiltered.

🎧 Subscribe so you never miss a new episode.

Remember:

Your life isn't determined by your past, your diagnosis, or your circumstances. The stories you believe shape the choices you make—and every new choice is an opportunity to create a different future.

⚠️ Podcast Disclaimer

This podcast is for informational and educational purposes only and is not intended as medical advice. Always consult with a qualified healthcare professional before making any changes to your health routine.

📘 Healthy for a Reason: 12 Practical Guidelines to Feel Like Yourself Again

If you're tired of starting over, trying harder, and wondering why nothing seems to work, Healthy for a Reason was written for you.

For years, we've been told the answer is more willpower, more restriction, and more rules. But if you've struggled with cravings, fatigue, emotional eating, poor sleep, or stubborn weight despite doing everything "right," you know it's not that simple.

What if those struggles weren't signs that you've failed?

What if they were your body's way of asking for something different?

In Healthy for a Reason, Lindsie combines nearly two decades of nursing experience with practical health coaching strategies to help you understand what your body has been trying to tell you all along. You'll learn how to calm your nervous system, recognize your body's signals, build sustainable habits, and create lasting health by working with your body instead of constantly fighting against it.

This isn't another diet book or a collection of quick fixes. It's a practical, compassionate guide to helping you reconnect with your body, rebuild trust in yourself, and finally understand why you're healthy for a reason.

✨ Available now in paperback and Kindle.

👉 Grab your copy HERE, available in paperback or on kindle

📝 Free Download: The Food Timeline Tracker

Unlock the clues your body is already giving you.
This simple worksheet helps you connect your meals to your hunger, cravings, and energy—so you can start spotting patterns, identifying insulin resistance symptoms, and making empowered food choices (no calorie counting required). Use it for just 2-3 days and prepare to be amazed at what you discover!

✅ What's included:

Meal tracking prompts (before, during, after, and long after)

Space to note physical, emotional, and energy changes

Bonus reflection questions to guide your next steps

📥 Grab it HERE!