Easy Prey28 Jun 2023

Diet Culture and Wellness Traps with Christy Harrison

With the appearance of health taking focus in today's culture, many are persuaded to try extreme trends to achieve quick weight and health results. Conventional healthcare may not always have the answers we're looking for but it's important to not let our fears and concerns be exploited for someone else's profit.

Today's guest is Christy Harrison. Christy and a Registered Dietician Nutritionist, Certified Intuitive Eating Counselor, and a journalist who has been covering food, nutrition, and health for more than 20 years. She is the author of two books, The Wellness Trap and Anti-Diet and the producer and host of the podcasts Rethinking Wellness and Food Psych which has helped tens of thousands of people around the world think critically about diet and wellness and culture and develop a more peaceful relationship with food.

Show Notes:

[1:05] - Christy shares her background and what she specializes in as a Dietician Nutritionist.
[2:19] - Christy describes her past experiences with disordered eating and combined her perspective with her journalism career.
[5:15] - Through her own recovery, she discovered her passion for helping others at a large scale.
[6:21] - This is not a substitute for physical or mental health advice.
[7:20] - There is a long history of how our current societal focus on weight and body shape has evolved.
[11:18] - As society developed an anti-fat approach, diets became trendy and scammy weight loss products became prevalent.
[13:07] - There's a lot of motivation for scammers to make money in the health and wellness space as it is a huge industry.
[14:22] - Christy shares some history on the first diet book and how we are currently seeing similar trends again.
[17:03] - Watch out for anything that purports a product to be a cure-all.
[19:16] - While there are problems with mainstream healthcare, anyone who turns fear into a sales pitch is a red flag.
[22:02] - A lot of people in ads, especially on social media, are paid to promote a product that they probably have never tried.
[23:14] - Be aware of the differences between real studies and anecdotal science-sounding claims.
[26:32] - A problem with nutritional research is that it is mostly observational.
[28:15] - It's not all down to the individual. We can certainly do things to make ourselves less susceptible, but the system needs to change.
[29:35] - Unless it is coming from your own medical provider who knows you and your needs, be skeptical of medical information.
[32:17] - Before adopting a health and wellness practice, you should do research.
[33:39] - Check in with yourself on any emotional pull you have.
[35:34] - There are also claims from scammers who will say that you have to feel worse to feel better, which isn't generally the case.
[38:37] - Diet culture creates a yo-yo effect for a lot of people.
[40:28] - Self efficacy is critical to mental health and dieting takes it away. They have a hugely negative psychological effect.
[44:40] - Christy shares some things to consider before making changes to your diet.
[46:42] - What are the things you have control over in your life? Don't demonize yourself for the choices you make when there isn't anything else you can choose.
[47:56] - There isn't one solution for every single person.

Thanks for joining us on Easy Prey. Be sure to subscribe to our podcast on iTunes and leave a nice review.

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