Life. Unrestricted.

Latest Episodes:

LU 075: When ED treatment fails, being on the spectrum, feeling low, boundaries & exciting news. Dec 09, 2018

Lovely radicals...

Today on the "Life. Unrestricted." Podcast you are going to hear... me. After one year of shameful silence... Let it be broken. I think we need to talk about what it is that might be going wrong in many eating disorder treatment clinics, and all I can do to inspire a conversation is contribute my own experience; colored – of course – by my own shadows and blind spots. So if you feel like you are in a position to listen to this, I am honored. May it be for the betterment of the current state of many ED treatment facilities. I’ll also talk about how and why this year was so dark and confusing for me, and what my plans are to hopefully make the start of 2019 more pleasant. Lovelies, this one’s long and highly personal, and I already have a vulnerability hangover, just from thinking that I’m putting all of this out there. But I would love for you to listen. I just think this need out.

So, inshallah!

Last but not least, dear ones: Happy holidays, take utmost care of yourself. Love to all of you. <3. M.

Please consider supporting the podcast with a donation by becoming a "Patreon"; so that I can keep producing it. Thank you! Here's the link: https://www.patreon.com/lifeunrestricted

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LU 074: Cyndi Springford – Breaking decades of body shame, food rules and exercise addiction. Jun 06, 2018

Today on the "Life. Unrestricted." podcast, I’m so happy to share with you my conversation with Cyndi Springford from Plaistow, New Hampshire. Cyndi's varied background includes being a Personal Trainer, a Running Coach, and a certified Eating Psychology Coach. She has been in the fitness industry since 1993, encouraging REAL well-being and fitness with her clients. Many of you know Cyndi from her "Love Your Body Project"-Facebook page. Currently, she is working out of her home, coaching clients both remotely and in person. Cyndi shares her background about her body image challenges, chronic dieting, disordered eating and excessive exercise and how she made peace with all of it through discussions, articles, and podcasts with the media. Cyndi talks about: – Why she doesn’t remember a time when she ever felt good in her body as a child – How her mother related to food and exercise in a punishing way – How her lack of trust in her own body led her into a severely disordered way with exercise and eating – Why she felt dependent on outside approval, especially in terms of her appearance and performance – How her relationship with exercise spiraled out of control – How her obsession with exercise and her body negatively affected her relationships and her entire life – How unprocessed trauma played into her disordered ways with food and exercise – Why she couldn’t receive unconditional love – How she felt she was dying inside while people thought of her as an "inspiration" – At what point she started to allow herself to wonder "maybe there’s more to life than presenting a body ideal and eating a certain diet, and maybe there’s more to life than hating myself" – How she sat with the fears and anxieties that she felt when she gave up dieting and overexercising – How she turned her thinking around and started to apply her perfectionism to recovery and healing – How getting angry helped her in recovery – How women often hide their disordered exercise and eating behaviors behind being a "fitness professional" or a "nutritionist" – How she found a new "identity" after having been a "fitness professional" for so long – Why it might be best for some people to just go "cold turkey" and cut exercising out completely – Why her FB page was a tool in her recovery – How mirror work helped her in her recovery – What she did to quiet the negative body image thoughts – How she helps her clients through all their struggles with overcoming food and body fears – What makes dieting so addictive and what it distracts us from – Why your weight is the LEAST interesting thing about you – What she wants every woman to know... ... And so much more! For more information check out Cyndi’s website at: www.loveyourbodyproject.org Here’s the link to Cyndi’s "LYB Project" Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/LoveYourBodyProject/ Here’s the link to Cyndi’s coaching on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/coachcyndilou/ Here’s the link to the book "Overcoming Overeating" by Jane Hirschmann and Carol H. Munter that Cyndi mentioned: https://www.amazon.com/Overcoming-Overeating-Break-Healthier-Satisfying/dp/1456413333/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1505754598&sr=8-1&keywords=overcoming+overeating+by+jane+hirschmann+and+carol+munter And here’s the link to the "Intuitive Eating Workbook", the new workbook by the authors of "Intuitive Eating", Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch: https://www.amazon.com/Intuitive-Eating-Workbook-Principles-Relationship/dp/1626256225/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1505754704&sr=1-3&keywords=intuitive+eating Please consider supporting the podcast with a donation by becoming a "Patreon"; so that I can keep producing it. Thank you! Here's the link: https://www.patreon.com/lifeunrestricted ********* Don't forget!********* Make sure to join my tribe and meet some of the most supportive, loving and kind people of all shapes and sizes, including great coaches and leaders! We’re right over here at: http://www.lifeunrestricted.org/join/

LU 073: Tabitha Farrar – Adult EDs, the lure of energy deficit, and going "food first" in recovery. Apr 23, 2018

In today's episode of the "Life. Unrestricted." podcast, you’ll hear my conversation with Tabitha Farrar from Boulder, Colorado. Tabitha developed anorexia at age 17 and – as she says so herself – this devastating illness took pole position in her life until, at 25, she finally started her recovery journey. She successfully recovered from her eating disorder and the complicated matrix of obsessions and habitual eating disorder behaviors that came with it. Since recovering she has done a lot of work to help adults with eating disorders, and she has written a book called "Love Fat", an educational memoir on eating disorder recovery and all the insights that she gained. Tabitha is a founding member of IEDA, International Eating Disorder Action and World Eating Disorders Action Day, and she has written countless eating disorder recovery guidelines for adults. Apart from that, she has set up two forums for adults in active recovery, she founded AEDRA, the Active Eating Disorder Recovery for Adults Meal Support Service, she has been selected to be a Coordinated Specialty Care Grant Advisory Board member, and she hosts a podcast called "Eating Disorder Recovery Podcast". On top of that, she coaches adults and family of adults in recovery from eating disorders and she frequently gives talks about understanding eating disorders, how to spot them, and how to treat them. Tabitha talks about: – How long she was able to keep the body-confidence she felt as a child – What triggered her eating disorder – What the almost inexplicable lure of "being in energy deficit" can feel like – What her eating disorder took from her – How her compulsions and obsessions only grew the more her illness progressed – Why eating disorders are such isolating illnesses – Why so many people with eating disorders also struggle with excessive exercise – What makes eating disorders to hard to break free from – What the "Adapt To Flee Famine" model explains when it comes to eating disorder behaviors – What she learned from animal studies – How she differentiates anorexia and bulimia, and why her recovery guidelines apply for both illnesses – What it was that made her start recovery – Why she prioritizes food over everything else when it comes to recovery – Why "going cold turkey" with exercise was the only thing that got her out of her compulsive and obsessive ways with exercise – How she dealt with the fear of eating – What she experienced in recovery – Where she looked for advice regarding recovery – How she dealt with her changing body in recovery – How not to get stuck in "quasi-recovery" – Why overshooting (weight) in recovery isn't just "a good thing", but maybe even critical to a full recovery – How she now understands, trusts and feeds her body – What her advice is for clients suffering from anorexia or bulimia – Why eating disorder treatments that still have a weight-centric approach often backfire and make a full, lasting recovery impossible... ... And so much more! If you are interested in Tabitha’s extensive work and all the resources she has, please check out her website: http://www.tabithafarrar.com Here’s the link to Tabitha’s book called "Love Fat", a memoir about her insights from recovering from her eating disorder: https://www.amazon.com/Love-Fat-autobiography-Tabitha-Farrar/dp/0692461426/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1501769393&sr=8-1&keywords=tabitha+farrar Here’s the link to Tabitha’s podcast called "The Eating Disorder Recovery Podcast": https://itunes.apple.com/ca/podcast/the-eating-disorder-recovery-podcast/id1138563928?mt=2 Podcasting is expensive. So if you enjoy and love my podcast, please consider supporting it by becoming a "Patreon"! It would greatly help me to keep those episodes coming to you. Thanks! https://www.patreon.com/lifeunrestricted ********* Don't forget!********* Make sure to join my tribe and meet some of the most supportive, loving and kind people of all shapes and sizes, including great coaches and leaders! We’re right over here at: http://www.lifeunrestricted.org/join

LU 072: Dr. Michael Levine – The internet affects our body image & dealing with negative thoughts. Mar 19, 2018

Hey, lovely radicals... podcast ahead! In today’s episode of the "Life. Unrestricted." podcast, I have the pleasure to bring to you my conversation with Dr. Michael P. Levine from Santa Barbara, California. Michael is an Emeritus Professor of Psychology who actively taught for 33 years. In the field of eating disorders, Michael’s commitment to research, writing, and activism focuses on the intersection between sociocultural risk factors, prevention, community psychology, and developmental psychology. He has authored two books and three prevention curriculum guides, and he has co-edited three books on prevention. In addition, he has authored or co-authored approximately 110 articles and book chapters, and he has presented his work throughout the United States, as well as in Canada, England, Spain, Austria, and Australia. He is a member of countless advisory councils such as The National Eating Disorders Association (NEDA), or the Center for Study of Anorexia and Bulimia (CSAB, NY), among others, and he has been awarded with awards for Leadership in Public Awareness and Advocacy, for Excellence in Eating Disorders Prevention and Awareness, a Research-Practice Partnership Award, and one for Lifetime Achievement. To this day, Dr. Michael P. Levine is an absolute expert in the field of eating disorders, and he is still working on informing people regarding research, advocacy and activism related to eating disorders prevention, body image, public health, dietetics/nutrition, community, health psychology and social work. Listen in and hear Michael talk about: – How his father influenced what he believed about the world, men, women and bodies – What his first reaction was when he heard about feminism – Why he became a feminist, and why he thinks that many men feel threatened by the idea of feminism – Why feminism is as much for men as it is for women, as it should help all humans to liberate themselves from oppressive, gender-based ideals – Why healing can only start when we start questioning the beliefs that we’re passed on to us – How important it is to question our automatic assumptions about the world, our bodies, weight, and our worth – Why we should all educate ourselves on the effect mass media has on us – What "the third person phenomenon" is – A good example of "the fundamental attribution error" – How important it is to recognize that all of us are being influenced by the messages we see all day, no matter how much we might think that we’re "above that" – Why the internet and social media can be the worst danger to our self-esteem AND a door to find people who help us to stay strong in recovery from all sorts of self-destructive behaviors – Why it is important to learn that it’s totally ok to have to opposing thoughts in our head, and to learn that we don’t have to act on our negative thoughts (that tell us to restrict/overexercise, etc.) – Why he loves the word "AND" – Why he considers America’s "war on obesity" to be an absolute madness – Why he thinks that how this society thinks about class, gender, race, health, age, etc. is only exacerbating the problem – How we can create more resilience in ourselves against the onslaught of diet-culture messages and images – How to make the best of the internet and social media and disregard what isn’t helpful for us – What he means when he talks about "the mass media being a power tool" – Why we so easily internalize ideas that we were raised with or exposed to, and why only by questioning whether we really agree with those ideas, we get a chance to change our mind and rise above harmful beliefs – What you could do as "a radical act" – Why, weirdly, body image issues are so intimate for people, and why it takes guts to honestly talk about them – Why he thinks that if we would feel NO anxiety, and NO doubt on this journey, then we wouldn’t really be on it at all (because that’s what courage is about)... ... And so much more! Michael is happy to answer any questions by email. You can reach him at: levine@kenyon.edu Find great resources about Health at Every Size here: www.haescommunity.org Find the "7 C's of prevention" in this pdf-file: Levine Exciting Recent Developments in Prevention Please consider supporting the podcast with a donation by becoming a "Patreon"; so that I can keep producing it. Thank you! Here's the link: https://www.patreon.com/lifeunrestricted Aaand if you want this sort of badassery come to your phone automatically, please DO subscribe on iTunes (Apple): https://itunes.apple.com/ch/podcast/life.-unrestricted.-podcast/id1130713233?mt=2 or on Stitcher (Android): http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=93987&ref ********* Don't forget!********* Make sure to join my tribe and meet some of the most supportive, loving and kind people of all shapes and sizes, including great coaches and leaders! We’re right over here at: http://www.lifeunrestricted.org/join/

LU 071: Dr. Michelle May – Eating without fear, specifically for diabetes, WLS, and binge eating. Feb 14, 2018

Today on the "Life. Unrestricted." podcast, you’ll hear my follow-up conversation with Dr. Michelle May from Phoenix, Arizona that we promised to have in our first talk (episode 56 - in case you haven’t had a chance to listen to that one yet, I highly recommend it to you). Michelle is a former physician, mindful eating speaker, and recovered yo-yo dieter who founded the "Am I Hungry?" company that offers "Mindful Eating" programs and trainings. "Am I Hungry?" empowers people to end chronic dieting and overeating, and to get back a fulfilling life without deprivation and guilt. She is also the award-winning author of the book "Eat What You Love, Love What You Eat". Based on the success people had with her first book, Dr. Michelle May wrote and published three more books: "Eat What You Love, Love What You Eat for Diabetes", "Eat What You Love, Love What You Eat for Binge Eating" and "Eat What You Love, Love What You Eat for Bariatric Surgery". Her books, programs and retreats are all designed to help people increase self-awareness of beliefs, habits, thoughts, feelings and physical sensations, to finally understand why diets do not work, to discover simple yet powerful methods for knowing when, what, and how much to eat without restriction. Since finding her passion in helping people get out of their dieting traps, Michelle has retired from her medical practice to focus fully on sharing the mindful eating method. Along the way she has been featured on countless media outlets and publications, and her personal story is even featured in "Chicken Soup for the Dieter’s Soul". Today, you’ll hear Michelle talk about: – The "Eat – Repent – Repeat" –cycle – All the cases she hears where people tell her "Michelle, I love your idea to be able to love what we love and love what we eat, BUT I CAN'T, because ... " – Why she is convinced that everybody is able and allowed to eat without fear – What she wants people who are managing diabetes to know – What the common misperceptions are about food when it comes to diabetes are (often perpetuated by uninformed health professionals) – General myths about weight, food and eating in relation to diabetes – Myths about food and eating in relation to "treat" binge eating – How "mindful eating" could look like for people with diabetes – What she tells people who deal with binge eating – How "mindful eating" could look like for people who deal with binge eating – What she advises to clients who had bariatric surgery – How "mindful eating" could look like for people who had bariatric surgery – Why abstinence or elimination eventually leads to reactionary eating... ... And so much more! Check out Michelle’s website: www.amihungry.com Here’s the link to Michelle’s books on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=michelle+may ********* Don't forget!********* Make sure to join my tribe and meet some of the most supportive, loving and kind people of all shapes and sizes, including great coaches and leaders! We’re right over here at: http://www.lifeunrestricted.org/join/

LU 070: Lu Uhrich – End the restrict/binge/overexercise-cycle & get your health and period back. Jan 18, 2018

Hey, lovely radicals... podcast alert! In today’s episode of the "Life. Unrestricted." podcast, you’ll hear my conversation with Lu Uhrich from Pennsylvania. Lu and I spoke a few months ago, and I'm happy to announce that she shares a great deal of knowledge with us here on the show. Lu is a Certified Eating Psychology Coach, Body Image Mentor and Life Coach who helps women worldwide to grow in self-awareness, find food freedom and practice body love. She also host the "Untamed" podcast, where she interviews women who are living beyond limits and who are helping others to do the same. Lu specializes in guiding her clients to overcome struggles with yo-yo dieting, food restriction, binge eating, loss of periods, shame, body hate and other unwanted symptoms, mindsets or behaviors. Through her one-on-one coaching program and online courses, she teaches participants to end the exhausting hustle for food and body perfection by finding out who they really are, what they truly want, and how to finally get it. Listen in as Lu talks about: – How her parents raised her in a very body positive and food positive (and therefore unusual) way – How well her body and food confidence protected her from falling for diet-messages and body negativity – Why the messages she got in church threw her for a loop with regards to her confidence about herself as a woman – What it was that made her slip into disordered ways with eating and exercise – What we get wrong when "the diet doesn’t work anymore", and why we end up digging an even deeper hole for ourselves – What made her lose her period – Why not having a period is so dangerous for a woman’s health – Why being on the pill only masks Hypothalamic Amenorrhoea (HA) by producing a "withdrawal bleed" – Why we usually only seek help when the uncontrollable binges start (reactionary eating after restriction) – Some of the mental traps she set up for herself that made her think "she had to keep the body she worked so hard for" – Why we often fear weight-gain more when we’re at our sickest/thinnest – How diet-mentality can distort our inner compass and our true values – How she dealt with weight gain in recovery from hear disordered eating and lack of period – How she advises her clients who suffer from Hypothalamic Amenorrhoea (HA) in terms of exercise and food – Why resting, eating plenty and finding joy in what we do are essential for recovery – Why she would never wear a Fitbit or count calories again – How to deal with the internalized "should"s – How we can apply curiosity and self-compassion when our bodies change shape/size – How to understand your binges and how to deal with them – What our culture’s obsession with "eating right" is often code for – What she means when she says "the only way out is through" – What food freedom looks like and why it is liberating on many different levels – Why weight-gain after menopause is the best life-protection for you... ... And so much more! For more information check out Lu’s website at: www.lueats.com Please consider supporting the podcast with a donation by becoming a "Patreon"; so that I can keep producing it. Thank you! Here's the link: https://www.patreon.com/lifeunrestricted Aaand if you want this sort of badassery come to your phone automatically, please DO subscribe on iTunes (Apple): https://itunes.apple.com/ch/podcast/life.-unrestricted.-podcast/id1130713233?mt=2 or on Stitcher (Android): http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=93987&ref ********* Don't forget!********* Make sure to join my tribe and meet some of the most supportive, loving and kind people of all shapes and sizes, including great coaches and leaders! We’re right over here at: http://www.lifeunrestricted.org/join/

LU 069: Me, solo – How to never fall for diet-y "New Year's Resolutions“ again and become more YOU. Dec 23, 2017

Download Episode! Hey there, lovely radicals! Podcast ahead. Today on the "Life. Unrestricted." podcast, your ears are in for a re-treat. Because it's THAT time of year again. Christmas and New Year's are at the door and with them a lot of tension. And a lot of misguided "resolutions". So I think we're all in need of some reminders as to why we DON'T have to listen to all the diet-y New Year's Resolutions and false promises. Some soul-saving words to stay true to our own body's needs and to keep trusting it. So in todays' episode I want to remind us of that by replaying something I said a while ago. See, all around us, people are in a buying frenzy, we are all being bombarded by "special offers" and "limited editions" and "gift ideas". And I can't help thinking of this excellent quote (credited to 15 different people, so I wonder if I should make it mine...?—Just kidding!) that says: "We are persuaded to buy things we don't need, with money we don't have, to impress people we don't care about." And as if THAT wasn't enough to give me a million ideas for this podcast, we are ALSO being bombarded by the same old, sucked dry, tried-and-failed weight-loss New Year's resolutions. I can't even with this nonsense anymore! It makes me want to poke my eyeballs with a pencil and make monkey noises. This has got to change. So I'm going to talk about it. This episode is packed full of what I know about present-day marketing and how this ties into our world's collective, terrible state of body image. In my opinion, this knowledge is crucial to become more critical as a consumer and better equipped to see behind façades. This episode also contains a truckload of NEW "New Year's Resolutions" to keep you strong on this path towards liberating your wonderful self, and not to fall for the tired old bunch of weight-lossy ones. And lastly, this episode is full of love. Full of gratitude for you showing up, full of respect for your continuous growth, full of awe for our collective support, our community, our sister- and brotherhood, for lack of a less wooo-wooo word. All of what I say today, is based on my interest to see us blossom. One promise: After listening to this, you will be perfectly equipped to step into the New Year with an awake mind, a well-oiled internal bullshit-detector, and a protective shield against the onslaught of body negative messages around you. One warning: Listening to this may cause you to question some beliefs you might have subconsciously been holding on to, and that might feel uncomfortable. One secret: That's a sign of growth! Growth happens out of your comfort zone. Thank you a million times for being on this journey with me.... You are incredible people, radicals. I love you. Happy holidays, merry everything! <3, Meret. "And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom."—Anaïs Nin. Please consider supporting the podcast with a donation by becoming a "Patreon"; so that I can keep producing it. Thank you! Here's the link: https://www.patreon.com/lifeunrestricted Aaand if you want this sort of badassery come to your phone automatically, please DO subscribe on iTunes (Apple): https://itunes.apple.com/ch/podcast/life.-unrestricted.-podcast/id1130713233?mt=2 or on Stitcher (Android): http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=93987&ref ********* Don't forget!********* Make sure to join my tribe and meet some of the most supportive, loving and kind people of all shapes and sizes, including great coaches and leaders! We’re right over here at: http://www.lifeunrestricted.org/join/

LU 068: Jonah Soolman – Weight stigma, chronic dieting & overexercise have adverse health effects. Dec 14, 2017

Hey lovely radicals, podcast time! In today's episode of the "Life Unrestricted." podcast, I am happy to bring you my conversation with Jonah Soolman from Wellesley, Massachusetts. Jonah is a Registered Dietitian and Certified Personal Trainer. He and his wife Joanne co-own "Soolman Nutrition and Wellness LLC", a private practice where they offer individualized nutrition counseling using a non-diet approach. His writing has appeared in BuzzFeed, Boston Baseball magazine, and other local and international publications. Jonah talks about: – What messages about bodies and weight he picked up from society when he grew up – What makes dieting and restricting so insidious – Why people often only realize much later (if ever!) that dieting/restricting/overexercising was what set in motion a vicious cycle for them – Why going back and retracing our diet-stories can really be enlightening as to what caused the downward spiral/yoyo-dieting, or even the development of an eating disorder – Why a story of "I am a sugar/bread/food addict" will only reinforce itself if the person decides to cut out certain foods or food groups, and how to break that story – What the problem is with weight-loss studies – The different ways fat-phobia manifests (out in the world and in our own minds) – Why never to underestimate the power of the mind when it comes to making ourselves believe certain things about food – Why he thinks it’s unethical to put people on diets and promise them weight-loss, even though that would make his business "better bucks" – What he observes in gyms he frequents, and his thoughts on today’s "gym-culture" and exercise bulimia – How he got stuck in years of exercise and an exercise addiction – What needs to change in the way personal trainers, nutritionists and dietitians are schooled – Why eating disorders need the diverse representation that they deserve, and not just the stereotypical depiction – How he and his wife work with clients – How hard it is for males to seek help, because eating issues are still considered "a female issue" – Why he strongly believes that there needs to be a therapist on board when he is helping clients with eating disorders – An example of a client story that is hope-inspiring – Why we all must absolutely follow him on social media... ... And so much more! Check out Jonah and his work: www.soolmannutrition.com Please consider supporting the podcast with by becoming a "Patreon"; so that I can keep producing it. Thank you! Here's the link: https://www.patreon.com/lifeunrestricted Aaand if you want this sort of badassery come to your phone automatically, please DO subscribe on iTunes (Apple): https://itunes.apple.com/ch/podcast/life.-unrestricted.-podcast/id1130713233?mt=2 or on Stitcher (Android): http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=93987&ref ********* Don't forget!********* Make sure to join my tribe and meet some of the most supportive, loving and kind people of all shapes and sizes, including great coaches and leaders! We’re right over here at: http://www.lifeunrestricted.org/join/

LU 067: Lindsay Meisel – When "healthy" becomes unhealthy... How a runner got her period back. Nov 25, 2017

In today's episode of the "Life. Unrestricted." podcast, you’ll hear my conversation with Lindsay Meisel from San Francisco. I’ve known Lindsay from the Facebook groups we're both in that are specifically for women who are dealing with Hypothalamic Amenorrhoea (or – in layman's terms – women who are missing their periods). Lindsay is one of the strong voices in those groups, and I always wanted to talk to her, since she has recovered from "HA", as we call Hypothalamic Amenorrhoea (to not have it be such a mouthful), and she is clearly very knowledgeable about this. Lindsay works as the head of content for Ava, a women's health technology company that makes a sensor bracelet that monitors the menstrual cycle. She was a long distance runner for over a decade, but gave it up to get her period back. You'll hear Lindsay talk about: – What set off her disordered eating and exercise behaviors – Why the lure of "reaching energy deficit" can be so addictive and dangerous – How she was only able to break that compulsion by actively changing her behaviors towards "reaching energy surplus" – Why she is angry at people in the medical field who give women terrible advice when it comes to issues like missing periods – Why her own doctor encouraged her to dismiss her HA, which kept her in her disorder for a number of years to come – How the stages of her disordered eating/exercise morphed over the years – What her breaking point was – How she started to wake up to the fact that she wasn’t healthy – Why, when she decided to start recovering, she unknowingly went about it in the completely wrong way – Why it was only when she read Nicola Rinaldi’s book "No Period. Now What?" that she finally got an idea of what real recovery looks like and what she had to do to "go all in" – How long it took her to break free (and feel free) from her exercise addiction – Why we often compensate not "formally exercising" by compulsively ramping up low-level movement – How she reframed her thought-patterns and taught herself to think about her recovery as her goal and mission to get healthy – How she started filling up her time and using her energy for different things than exercising – Why recovery without the mental work doesn’t work, and why a person with HA is never at "a healthy point“ with exercise and eating – Why for women with HA (coming from a history of overexercising, undernourishing) it takes a phase of letting the pendulum swing in the other direction (full rest and complete replenishment of the body’s depleted energy stores) – Why it’s important to stay "all in" for 4-6 months more after getting the menstrual cycle running again – How there really is no "cheating" in HA recovery since the "feel good hormones" of exercising are exactly what cause the hypothalamus to stay shut down – Why it’s completely normal to experience exhaustion and pretty extreme hunger in recovery – Why it is important to work on body image while recovering – How HA is impacting a person’s health in worse ways than one might suspect at first glance (bone loss, depression, anxiety, thin hair/nails, mood swings, irritability, low libido, lowered body temperature, sleep issues, etc.) – Why (even though many physicians might recommend it!) going on the birth control pill is NOT solving the problem of HA, but, in fact, only masking the problem by producing a so-called "withdrawal bleed" – Why she says that life "after recovery" is a million times better than before... ... And so much more! Check out Lindsay’s blog at: https://differentkindofhuman.blogspot.com/ Here’s the link to the company Lindsay works at, the company that produces a bracelet that tracks a woman’s cycle: www.avawomen.com The book on HA (Hypothalamic Amenorrhoea) that Lindsay and I highly recommend is called "No Period, Now What?" by Nicola Rinaldi: https://www.amazon.com/Period-Now-What-Regaining-Improving/dp/099723668X If you enjoy and love my podcast, please consider supporting it by becoming a "Patreon"! It would greatly help me to keep those episodes coming to you. Thank you! https://www.patreon.com/lifeunrestricted ********* Don't forget!********* Make sure to join my tribe and meet some of the most supportive, loving and kind people of all shapes and sizes, including great coaches and leaders! We’re right over here at: http://www.lifeunrestricted.org/join/

LU 066: Dr. Deb Burgard – The obsession with thinness is keeping us trapped in a senseless loop. Nov 01, 2017

Hey there, lovely radicals... podcast time! In today's episode of the "Life. Unrestricted." podcast, I bring to you the absolutely amazing Dr. Deb Burgard, a FAED (Fellow for the Academy of Eating Disorders) from the San Francisco Bay Area. I had the great pleasure to talk to her a few months ago. Deb is a psychologist and activist specializing in concerns about body image, eating, weight stigma, and relationships. She is also one of the founders of the "Health at Every Size" model, as well as the very original Body Positive website "bodypositive.com", and the "Show Me the Data" listserv, building communities where people can find each other and the resources to resist weight stigma, especially in medical and psychological treatment. Her activism includes working with healthcare providers to integrate an understanding of the social determinants of health and creating interventions that address structural oppression and support stigma resistance. Deb has a PhD in psychology, and has been licensed psychologist ever since 1993. In the early nineties, she was the director of Clinical Services as Woodside Women’s Hospital, and after the mid-nineties, after having started working in private practice, she was also the supervising psychologist at the Santa Clara University Counseling Center. Since 1997, she has been working exclusively in private practice where she helps clients with eating disorders, weight and body preoccupation, sexuality, depression and relationship concerns. I’m very happy to say that, in the time since we spoke, Deb has been rewarded with the "Frances. J. Bonner" award for her outstanding work in the field. Today, Deb talks about: – Why she never lost touch to that part of her that felt joyful and carefree about her body – What she remembers about her mother’s relationship to food and diets – Why she started questioning our culture’s "assignment to become thin" fairly early on – Why most people almost automatically take on the "body project" and assume it’s their "duty" to invest all they can into it – What made her realize that she didn’t have to do this anymore – Why most therapists never address the body and food issues of a client – What the "cult of thinness" promises and never delivers – Why we tend to blame bad things that happen to us on our looks/bodies/weight – What the medical model fails to acknowledge when it comes to health – What constitutes the most important factor in a person’s health – Why stigma and oppression are detrimental to a person’s health – Why she believes this continuous assignment "to be thinner" amounts to a misspent, lost life – What made her observe that "we prescribe to fat people what we recognize as disordered eating in thin people" – What working with eating disorders has taught her in relation to how this society’s views on weight/weight-loss might be, indeed, backwards – How she approached data and studies related to weight-science – Why she calls dieting "weight-cycling" – Why she calls eating disorders "disorders of the pursuit of weight-loss" – Why eating disorders often get mis-classified, or missed altogether, when weight is used as the main criteria for the diagnosis – How people who are eating highly restrictively (and suffering severely), are almost always either complimented for their "efforts", or their malnourishment is missed, because people tend to not believe them when they say how little they actually eat – What the Minnesota Semi-Starvation experiment proved about the effects of caloric deficit (through dieting, restricting or overexercising) on people’s physical AND mental health – How she explains the logic of size diversity – Why people recover from disordered eating and eating disorders much faster and much more completely with a weight-neutral approach – Why communities where people can support each other in resisting this culture’s fixation on weight together is so important in recovery – How we can work on our resiliency to stay strong in a world that promotes disordered eating – The cost of conformity versus the opportunity to live your truth – Some of the history of the weight-loss industry and why/how it has come back with a vengeance after having being exposed as a failing concept in the nineties – Why most weight-loss studies only hold up because they only track people’s weight-loss for less than 2-5 years, so "it looks like they have been successful" – Why she is optimistic that this weight-inclusive paradigm will eventually persist over the old weight-normative approach – Why the faster people stop cooperating with and participating in our society’s imperative on "weight-loss at all costs", the faster the paradigm will change – Why it takes each and every one of us speaking up about our experience with weight-suppression to make a harmful system change – Why recovery is an "authenticity task", leaving behind the "conformity task"... ... And so much more! Find out more about Deb (including her email address) here: https://sizediversityandhealth.org/haes-expert.asp?id=56 Here’s the link to the "Health at Every Size Blog" of the Association for Size Diversity and Health (ASDAH): https://healthateverysizeblog.org/ Here’s the link to the original, award-winning body image website "Body Positive": www.bodypositive.com Here’s the link to "Adios Barbie": http://www.adiosbarbie.com/#results Here’s the link to "The Body Is Not An Apology": https://thebodyisnotanapology.com/ Here’s the link to "Trans Folx Fighting Eating Disorders": http://www.transfolxfightingeds.org/ Here’s the link to the (fantastic!) "Poodle Science" video of the Association for Size Diversity and Health (ASDAH): https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=poodle+science&spfreload=1 Here’s an interesting article about the "Minnesota Starvation Experiment": http://www.refinery29.com/minnesota-starvation-experiment Please consider supporting the podcast with a donation by becoming a "Patreon"; so that I can keep producing it. Thank you! Here's the link: https://www.patreon.com/lifeunrestricted Aaand if you want this sort of badassery come to your phone automatically, please DO subscribe on iTunes (Apple): https://itunes.apple.com/ch/podcast/life.-unrestricted.-podcast/id1130713233?mt=2 or on Stitcher (Android): http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=93987&ref ********* Don't forget!********* Make sure to join my tribe and meet some of the most supportive, loving and kind people of all shapes and sizes, including great coaches and leaders! We’re right over here at: http://www.lifeunrestricted.org/join/

LU 065: Me, solo – Giving up control, going to residential treatment & my plan for this podcast. Oct 16, 2017

Hey there, lovely radicals... podcast time! Today, on the "Life. Unrestricted." podcast, you'll hear the episode that was the toughest—by far—to record for me. And therefore the toughest for me to release. Yet, maybe it's also the most important one. When I say: I’m flying blind from this point on, I mean it quite literally. Find out my plans for the next months, as well as what’s happening with the podcast. One thing's for sure: You'll be hearing from me. As always, with love. <3, Meret. www.lifeunrestricted.org/lu065 Please consider supporting the podcast with a donation by becoming a "Patreon"; so that I can keep producing it. Thank you! Here's the link: https://www.patreon.com/lifeunrestricted Aaand if you want this sort of badassery come to your phone automatically, please DO subscribe on iTunes (Apple): https://itunes.apple.com/ch/podcast/life.-unrestricted.-podcast/id1130713233?mt=2 or on Stitcher (Android): http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=93987&ref ********* Don't forget!********* Make sure to join my tribe and meet some of the most supportive, loving and kind people of all shapes and sizes, including great coaches and leaders! We’re right over here at: http://www.lifeunrestricted.org/join/

LU 064: Me, solo – How is your country’s culture influencing you? My thoughts about Switzerland. Oct 11, 2017

Download Episode! Hey, lovely radicals... podcast time! In today's episode of the "Life. Unrestricted." podcast, we’re going to change perspectives a little bit. We’ve been talking a lot about how our upbringing, our parents, our environment – and of course the insidious messages that our diet-obsessed culture bombards us with! – shape the way we grow to view ourselves, our bodies and the world. Today, however, I will share another possible angle with you: Could it also be our country’s traditions and our country’s culture that are influencing the way we show up, the way we interact with others, and how we deal with our insecurities? It just might! I’d love to share my thoughts about how my own country might be influencing the way how we, as Swiss people, tend to deal with our perceived weaknesses, our mental health struggles, our vulnerabilities, and how that often keeps us from finding support, or even to share our struggles with others. I hope you like it! With love from Zurich, Meret www.lifeunrestricted.org If you enjoy and love my podcast, please consider supporting it by becoming a "Patreon"! It would greatly help me to keep those episodes coming to you. Thank you! https://www.patreon.com/lifeunrestricted Aaand if you want this sort of badassery come to your phone automatically, please DO subscribe on iTunes (Apple): https://itunes.apple.com/ch/podcast/life.-unrestricted.-podcast/id1130713233?mt=2 or on Stitcher (Android): http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=93987&refid ********* Don't forget!********* Make sure to join my tribe and meet some of the most supportive, loving and kind people of all shapes and sizes, including great coaches and leaders! We’re right over here at: http://www.lifeunrestricted.org/join/

LU 063: Chris Sandel – Effects of food restriction (and exercise) on your body and hormones. Oct 04, 2017

Hey, lovely radicals... podcast time! In today's episode of the "Life. Unrestricted." podcast, I talk to Chris Sandel from outside of London, UK. Chris is a health and nutrition expert who runs his own company called "7 Health", and alongside that, his wonderful podcast "Real Health Radio". Chris works with clients all over the world through private consultations, and he also creates and runs online training programs. Chris’ approach to health and food is completely non-dogmatic, and he knows that there IS no solution that’s perfect for everybody, and that the more anxious and stressed out we are about food and weight, our health and our life will only suffer for it. Chris wants his clients to find their own personal best health, whatever that means for each individual, mentally, physically and emotionally. He also has a specific interest in improving client’s general relationships with food and body image issues. Listen to Chris talk about: – Why he considers himself lucky in terms of body image, and relaxedness around food – How he went from being a "fast food" youngster to a food-appreciating, health-conscious cook – Why it’s the people who are most "keen" to go on detoxes, cleanses and any types of restrictive eating are the very people that should avoid all that – Why he thinks that the majority of "diet-y" tipps out there are dangerous, and why we should NOT restrict our food – Why anyone with a "difficult" relationship to food should never do a cleanse or detox – Why we should broaden what foods we allow ourselves to eat, instead of narrowing the choices – Why he thinks weight-loss as a focus is not conducive to improve health – How he works with clients and what he focuses on – What kind of questions he asks of his clients to find out what the real issue is – What he would do with our imaginary client Susy who’s experiencing a loss of periods, bad sleep, digestive issues, who’s often restricting food and overexercising – Why sleep is a central piece when it comes to health – How eating and sleep are related – What frequent nightly peeing (and/or nightly sweating) points to – Why restricting is directly linked to the increase of stress hormones, and how they wreak havoc with our system – What HA (Hypothalamic Amenorrhoea – when the menstrual cycle goes missing) translates to, in terms of why a body decides to shut down the reproductive system – How HA is impacting a person’s health in worse ways than one might suspect at first glance (bone loss, depression, anxiety, thin hair/nails, mood swings, irritability, low libido, lowered body temperature, sleep issues, etc.) – Why (even though many physicians might recommend it!) going on the birth control pill is NOT solving the problem of HA, but – in fact – will only mask the problem by producing a so-called "withdrawal bleed" – What the Minnesota (Semi-)Starvation Experiment tells us about our own experiences with restriction, the impact on our physical and mental health, and how it is all related to a lack of energy availability – How he helps his clients deal with weight gain when they start recovering from dieting/overexercising – What is usually hidden underneath the fear of gaining weight – Why, especially in the "health and wellness (and weight-loss) realm", we are prone to fall for the "survivorship bias" (meaning that just because something worked for someone, we automatically assume that the same advice must be true for us) – What we trip over with the "halo effect" – What the "negativity bias" does to our judgment – How recovering from Hypothalamic Amenorrhoea improves much more than a woman’s hormones – Why he brings the ACE (Adverse Childhood Experience) study with all of his clients, and why taking this test can give a lot of insight as to why a person is struggling in life – What his latest project "Tummy" is about... ... And so much more! Here’s the link to Chris’s website: www.seven-health.com Here are some of Chris’ podcast episodes that you might find interesting! 1. The Minnesota Starvation Experiment: http://www.seven-health.com/2016/06/042-the-minnesota-starvation-experiment/ 2. The difference between eating disorders and disordered eating: http://www.seven-health.com/2016/08/054-eating-disorders-and-disordered-eating/ 3. Issues with a woman’s menstrual cycle: http://www.seven-health.com/2016/02/025-issues-with-your-menstrual-cycle/ 4. Chris’ overeating experiment: http://www.seven-health.com/2016/05/040-my-over-eating-experiment/ The book on HA (Hypothalamic Amenorrhoea) that Chris and I highly recommend is called "No period, now what?" by Nicola Rinaldi: https://www.amazon.com/Period-Now-What-Regaining-Improving/dp/099723668X The podcasts Chris mentioned where cognitive biases are addressed (something we all fall prey to) are called: "You Are Not So Smart" and "Hidden Brain". There are also lots of great books on human misjudgment/cognitive bias/implicit bias out there, I highly recommend: – "Mistakes were made (but not by me)" by Elliot Aronson: https://www.amazon.com/Mistakes-Were-Made-But-Not/dp/1491514132 – "Thinking, fast and slow" by Daniel Kahnemann: https://www.amazon.com/Thinking-Fast-Slow-Daniel-Kahneman/dp/0374533555 – "The Righteous Mind" by Jonathan Haidt: https://www.amazon.com/Righteous-Mind-Divided-Politics-Religion/dp/0307455777/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_14_img_0?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=71BTDKKRKBBCBRZTKZFK – "You Are Not So Smart" by David McRaney: https://www.amazon.com/You-Are-Not-So-Smart/dp/1592407366/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_14_img_2?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=71BTDKKRKBBCBRZTKZFK Here are a few example of biases that mess up our decision making process: http://www.businessinsider.com/cognitive-biases-that-affect-decisions-2015-8 If you enjoy and love my podcast, please consider supporting it by becoming a "Patreon"! It would greatly help me to keep those episodes coming to you. Thank you! https://www.patreon.com/lifeunrestricted Aaand if you want this sort of badassery come to your phone automatically, please DO subscribe on iTunes (Apple): https://itunes.apple.com/ch/podcast/life.-unrestricted.-podcast/id1130713233?mt=2 or on Stitcher (Android): http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=93987&refid ********* Don't forget!********* Make sure to join my tribe and meet some of the most supportive, loving and kind people of all shapes and sizes, including great coaches and leaders! We’re right over here at: http://www.lifeunrestricted.org/join/

LU 062: Dr. Michelle Lelwica – The origins of "The Religion of Thinness and Physical Improvement". Sep 27, 2017

Lovely radicals... it's podcast time! In this week’s episode of the "Life. Unrestricted." podcast, it’s my great pleasure to talk to Dr. Michelle Lelwica from Minnesota. Michelle is a professor of religion at Concordia College in Moorhead, Minnesota, where she teaches courses on the intersection of religion, gender, culture, and the body. She did all of her graduate work at Harvard Divinity School, where she received a Masters of Theological Studies in Christianity and Culture (1989) and a Doctorate of Theology in Religion Gender and Culture (1996). She is the author of "Shameful Bodies: Religion and the Culture of Physical Improvement" (2017), "The Religion of Thinness: Satisfying the Spiritual Hungers behind Women’s Obsession with Food and Weight" (2009), and "Starving for Salvation: The Spiritual Dimensions of Eating Problems among American Girls and Women" (1999). She has also written different scholarly articles and popular blogs addressing women’s conflicted relationships to their bodies. In our conversation, Michelle talks about: – How early she started to feel self-conscious about her body – How she spiraled down into an eating disorder, while nobody knew or saw how sick she was – How getting taught how to think critically, as well as learning about the history of how women are being kept small by narrow beauty standards helped her to recover – How religious narratives influence our culture’s obsession with "physical improvement" – Where some of the roots of our hope for "salvation" and "finding happiness" in thinness can be found in Christianity – How women’s desires, appetites and bodies are contextualized in religious narratives – How the story of Eve and the apple influenced the way women and their bodies are treated and perceived to this day, and how similar some of today’s diet-culture messages are framed – Questions to ask ourselves when it comes to our belief that we have to "be pretty" or "be skinny" or "look good": For whom? Why? Says who? – Why our use of language matters, especially around bodies, food, exercise and weight ("good", "bad", "sinful", "guilty", "get rid of", "burn", "eradicate", "purge", "repent", etc.) – How foundational myths bleed into modern day diet-culture – How dieting, diet-talking and wanting to belong to certain food/eating/fitness tribes (Paleo, Vegan, Crossfit, Keto...), gives many people a false sense of community where all they hear is the respective gospel – How women get distracted from giving their unique gifts and presence to the world by the pursuit of "a better body" – How our culture’s pursuit of "physical improvement" serves the interest of transnational capitalism – Why never to underestimate the effect of the intense amount of harmful imagery and messages our brains have to take in on a daily basis – How the BMI (which was never intended to be an indicator for health to begin with!) was manipulated and how this influenced how we view bodies and weight – Why the lowering of the BMI had everything to do with profit and how the financial ties to this decision lead to the weight-loss industry – How corporations deliberately send us contradictory messages – How getting angry about having been duped can awaken your internal drive for change – How Jean Kilbourne’s "Killing Us Softly"-series about the objectifying, narrowly defined, digitally enhanced depiction of women’s bodies in advertising shook her awake – How the "cruisade for thinness" and the "obesity epidemic" started around the same time and what that should tell us about the harmful long-term effects of dieting – Why "slowing down" can be the greatest blessing – How to start appreciating non-conformity – How she challenges her students to ask themselves what their true personal values are... ... And so much more! Michelle doesn’t have her own website (yet), but you can find the articles Michelle wrote by googling her name "Michelle Lelwica". Here are a few examples from Psychology Today: https://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/the-religion-thinness Here’s the link to her latest book called "Shameful Bodies"...: https://www.amazon.com/Shameful-Bodies-Religion-Physical-Improvement/dp/1472594940 And here’s the link to her books "Religion of Thinness" and "Starving For Salvation": https://www.amazon.com/Michelle-Mary-Lelwica/e/B001KD3N1O And here’s the link to the book she mentioned, "The Good Body" written by Eve Enzler: https://www.barnesandnoble.com/w/good-body-eve-ensler/1100627130 Also, here’s the link to "Descarte’s Error" by Anthony Damasio: https://www.amazon.com/Descartes-Error-Emotion-Reason-Human/dp/014303622X/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1501341198&sr=1-1&keywords=descarte%27s+error Jean Kilbourne addresses body image and women’s depiction in advertising in her award-winning "Killing Us Softly"-series as well as in all of her work, find out more here: http://www.jeankilbourne.com/ Hey, radicals, I need your help to keep up producing the podcast. Please consider supporting it with a monthly pledge on Patreon! Thank you very much. Here's the link: https://www.patreon.com/lifeunrestricted If you want this sort of badassery to come to your phone automatically, please DO subscribe on iTunes (Apple): https://itunes.apple.com/ch/podcast/life.-unrestricted.-podcast/id1130713233?mt=2 or on Stitcher (Android): http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=93987&refi ********* Don't forget!********* Make sure to join my tribe and meet some of the most supportive, loving and kind people of all shapes and sizes, including great coaches and leaders! We’re right over here at: http://www.lifeunrestricted.org/join/

LU 061: Alan Levinovitz, Ph.D. – The religious roots of modern food fears & "The Nocebo Effect". Sep 20, 2017

Download Episode! Hey there, lovely radicals... podcast time! In today's episode of the "Life. Unrestricted." podcast, I talk to Alan Levinovitz from Charlottesville, Virginia. Alan is an assistant professor of religion at James Madison University, and his academic work focuses on classical Chinese thought, the philosophy of play, and the intersection of religion and medicine. He studied philosophy and religion at Stanford, and received his Ph.D. in religion and literature from the University of Chicago Divinity School. His writing has appeared in numerous media outlets as well as academic journals. Listen to Alan talk about: – What made him see and investigate the connection between religion and our culture’s obsession with "wildly attaching morality/miracle powers" to different foods – Why he would personally have chosen a different title for the book – Where the inclination to attribute (somewhat random) superpowers to certain foods comes from – Why we are so susceptible to fall for miracle promises and fall for all the nutritional lies we are presented with – Where the science really stands on gluten-sensitivity – Why a lot of people with disordered eating hide their disorder by making up sensitivities they don’t really have – How living in fear of certain foods can severely limit our life, relationships and joy – What we are forgetting when we are obsessed with "healthy eating" – Why a fearful attitude about food/food groups/ingredients alone can cause the undesirable symptoms we were trying to avoid – How to not get caught up in the myth of "optimization" and "body hacking" when it comes to food and exercise – How we should really be thinking about the concept (and consequences!) of "dieting" – Why fear-mongering myths about food can have a powerful, long-lasting effect on people – Why, when "the honeymoon phase" of a certain diet is over, we tend to think it’s us that sucks at dieting – What the "Sunk Cost Bias" is and how you can recognize it if it happens in your own mind – Why books by medical doctors (like "Wheat Belly" or "Grain Brain") are misrepresenting actual scientific evidence, and are causing nothing but unnecessary hysteria and fear – Why in science, any "exaggeration" is, in fact, a lie; yet science is often misquoted or taken out of context to create a new sensationalist, fear-mongering narrative – Why we hold on to false beliefs even in light of disproving evidence – What the "Wind Turbine Syndrome" is – Why the powerful "Nocebo Effect" is way too often forgotten – What our beliefs about food have to do with our own mortality – Why irrational fears can cause major obsessions, and why thinking critically and staying objective is so important – Why, when we feel stressed out, we tend to repeat actions that don’t actually work for us, and we tend to do those even harder ("diet’s not working! – let’s diet harder, then...") – Why diet-gurus summon up demons that don’t exist (and how often they get rich doing just that) – Why 30% of the American population is interested in "going gluten-free", even though only 1% actually are affected by Celiac Disease – How to stay sane in a world that constantly throws contradictory nutritional advice at us... ... And so much more! Here’s the link to Alan’s workplace: https://www.jmu.edu/philrel/people/faculty/levinovitz-alan.shtml You can also check out his Twitter account: https://twitter.com/alanlevinovitz?lang=en And here’s the link to his book "The Gluten Lie" on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Gluten-Lie-Other-Myths-About/dp/1941393063 If you enjoy and love my podcast, please support it on Patreon! It would greatly help me to keep those episodes coming to you. Thank you! https://www.patreon.com/lifeunrestricted If you want this sort of badassery to come to your phone automatically, please DO subscribe on iTunes (Apple): https://itunes.apple.com/ch/podcast/life.-unrestricted.-podcast/id1130713233?mt=2 or on Stitcher (Android): http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=93987&refi ********* Don't forget!********* Make sure to join my tribe and meet some of the most supportive, loving and kind people of all shapes and sizes, including great coaches and leaders! We’re right over here at: http://www.lifeunrestricted.org/join/

LU 060: Marya Hornbacher – Fighting the stigma of mental illness and eating disorders. Sep 13, 2017

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Hey, lovely radicals... podcast time! In today's episode of the "Life. Unrestricted." podcast, I’m talking to Marya Hornbacher from Minneapolis, USA. Marya is known for many things. She is an assistant professor of Writing Arts at Rowan University, she is an award-winning journalist and – as most of you might know – she is also a bestselling author, most known for her memoir on anorexia called "Wasted" (which was published when she was 22 years old). Ten years after that, she published a memoir on Bipolar Disorder called "Madness", after which she came out with an acclaimed novel called "The Center of Winter", followed by two books about mental health, addiction, recovery and spirituality; one called "Sane", the other one "Waiting". Marya has a lot more in the works, but we’ll talk about that – among myriad of other things – in our beautiful conversation. You'll hear Marya talk about: – When and why she became self-conscious about her body as a child – How her parents related to weight – What she was hungry for as a child (apart from food) – Why we grow up with the idea that our various emotional hungers are unwelcome – Why people with a sensitive nature are often prone to eating issues – What her own journey of finding out about (and coming to terms with) her mental illness was like – How she fell into the trap of identifying herself by her problems, issues, and chaos – How she found out that recovery meant to go beyond that "black hole of trouble"-identity – How, for many people (not all!), an eating disorder represents a symptom of a larger issue, rather than the problem itself – Why misdiagnosis are so rampant when it comes to mental illness – How she started to re-establish trust in herself and advocate for herself when faced with medical professionals – Why educating ourselves is vital in the process of healing from our own personal issues – Why the right sort of medication can make all the difference – What the key pieces were for her to finally start her healing journey for good – Why recovery (from anything) is so hard at times, bringing forth what a person has been running from – Why the investment we put into healing is the best we will ever do for ourselves – How she understands her own past eating disorder in retrospect – Why she ended up becoming an alcoholic after her eating disorder was "under control" (aka: addiction transfer) – Why she doesn’t believe in the theory of certain people "just having an addictive personality" – Why what we’re all looking for is already inside us, and why our need to "feel in control" often leads us into the trap of "being controlled" (be that by food / rules / compulsions, or substances) – Why it is crucial for the healing process to develop our own opinion and to advocate for our own truth instead of just following random popular people’s advice – Why we all need to be careful with our social media consumption – Why self-acceptance really is the key to become comfortable with who we are – What she finds helpful on the path to finding out "who we really are", and what brings us the greatest joy in life – What she wants us to know about Bipolar Disorder (I and II) – How she deals with her illness and manages it these days – How we can accept and live with our own personal limitations without beating ourselves up over them – Why it is our personal responsibility to step out of the game our society seems to want us to play – How important it is to find our own tribe outside of the masses – Why the key to finding "our sort of people" is to step out of comparison-mode ourselves – Why making friends with solitude can be a key step on the healing journey – What "resilience" means to her – How not to fall for "Do THIS... and you’ll be happy!"-lies anymore... ... And so much more! Check out Marya and her books: www.maryahornbacher.com Lovelies, I need your support. If you enjoy and love my podcast, please consider supporting it by becoming a "Patreon", so that I can keep producing it for you. Thank you! https://www.patreon.com/lifeunrestricted If you want this sort of badassery to come to your phone automatically, please DO subscribe on iTunes (Apple): https://itunes.apple.com/ch/podcast/life.-unrestricted.-podcast/id1130713233?mt=2 or on Stitcher (Android): http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=93987&refi ********* Don't forget!********* Make sure to join my tribe and meet some of the most supportive, loving and kind people of all shapes and sizes, including great coaches and leaders! We’re right over here at: http://www.lifeunrestricted.org/join

LU 059: Dana Sturtevant – How being truly nourished helps your body to trust you (and vice versa!) Sep 06, 2017

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Lovely radicals, it's podcast time! In today's episode of the "Life. Unrestricted." podcast, I get to talk to Dana Sturtevant from Portland, Oregon. Dana is a trainer, mentor, Kripalu Yoga teacher, and Registered Dietitian specializing in Health at Every Size (HAES) and Intuitive Eating. She is the co-founder of "Be Nourished", a revolutionary business helping people heal body dissatisfaction and reclaim body trust. In her work, Dana loves to incorporate mindfulness and self-compassion practices, and she is specialized in Motivational Interviewing techniques. She has facilitated more than 300 workshops throughout the United States for health care providers looking to enhance their skills in behavior-change counseling, and her work has been published in various media outlets. You'll hear Dana talk about: – How lucky she was to be able to grow up in a household where there were no diets, body shaming or any sort of hyper-focus on "healthy eating" – When and why she became self-conscious about her shape and size – Why she went into the field of nutrition – What she found out about her younger self from reading her own letters to her late grandmother – What she experienced in her previous work as a "weight management" dietitian – Why that work started to feel deeply unethical for her – Why living a free, flexible life and weight-suppression don’t go together – How our inner "trance of unworthiness" drives us to keep abandoning ourselves – Why no amount of weight-loss will improve how you feel about yourself, and why feeling worthy and confident really is an inside job unrelated to weight – The importance of recognizing the difference between "fitting in" and feeling a sense of "belonging" – How her and Hilary’s clients often react when they first hear their message – Why it is so hard to claim something (that we KNOW is true) for ourselves – Why this current "health-ism" (hyper-focus on "having to be healthy, or else it’s our own fault") is really about money – Why so many people, including health-care providers, are in denial about "prescribing diets" – Why we are often tricked into believing "well, this is not a diet, this is only a lifestyle change" – What happens when one coping mechanisms is being forcefully removed without working on the underlying issue – Why compulsive exercise always points to a complicated relationship with food/weight – Why it’s totally ok that not all people are athletes – Why today’s "gym-culture" is ruining a healthy relationship to movement for most people – Why nobody can tell you what your body needs, and why there IS no black or white strategy that works – Why it is always wise to be suspicious of people who claim to "have found the true way to health/fitness/weight-loss", especially when they are trying to sell said truth – Why it takes some time (and effort) to heal the "dieting mind" – Why the healing process really only works when we put concerns about weight on the back burner – Why most people have to hit "diet bottom" to kick-start the healing process – What needs to be grieved when we find the courage to step into our fears and work towards freedom – Why diet-talk is basically nothing else but women keeping up their own oppression – Why the fear of a particular food is worse for your body than the actual food – Why the moralization of food is particularly dangerous for people – Why "going Paleo" and "going gluten-free" (except for the 1% of the population who actually has celiac disease) and "going vegan" are fads, too – How absurd the whole "nutritionism" in the world looks when we zoom out for a minute to really look at all the contradicting advice out there – What real success looks like for clients of "Be Nourished" – Why rules are the problem, and not – as we might think – the solution – How "full permission to eat" looks like and why it is the solution to stop the diet-binge-cycle – Why it is important to process and release the anger that we have directed inwards for so long – Why it is important to realize that it is not your fault that you have a complicated relationship to food (Dana’s dog agrees strongly here) – How "Be Nourished" helps private clients as well as health care providers get rid of weight-bias... ... And so much more! Check out Hilary Kinavey's and Dana Sturtevant’s work with "Be Nourished" here: www.benourished.org Here's the link to their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/benourishedpdx/?fref=ts Please consider supporting the podcast with by becoming a "Patreon"; so that I can keep producing it. Thank you! Here's the link: https://www.patreon.com/lifeunrestricted If you want this sort of badassery to come to your phone automatically, please DO subscribe on iTunes (Apple): https://itunes.apple.com/ch/podcast/life.-unrestricted.-podcast/id1130713233?mt=2 or on Stitcher (Android): http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=93987&refi ********* Don't forget!********* Make sure to join my tribe and meet some of the most supportive, loving and kind people of all shapes and sizes, including great coaches and leaders! We’re right over here at: http://www.lifeunrestricted.org/join/

LU 058: Me, solo – "You don’t have to be thin to be underweight": Anorexia at higher weights. Aug 30, 2017

Lovely radicals... podcast time! This week on the "Life. Unrestricted." podcast, I am talking about a topic that sadly doesn't get addressed nearly enough: The importance of recognizing anorexia in people in bigger bodies. In our thin-obsessed culture, eating disorders go undetected at alarming rates. With the stereotypical depiction of an emaciated teen (white, female, cis-gendered) being at the forefront of people's minds when it comes to eating disorders, the majority of sufferers either don't "feel sick enough" to seek treatment, or their symptoms get dismissed if they don't present said emaciated weight-status. This has horrendous ramifications. The majority of eating disorders happen OUTSIDE of this severely underweight range. We need to start asking patients about symptoms, not weights. How about: – Is your hair thinning out? – Are you still getting your period? (Meaning a natural period, not a withdrawal bleed from the birth control pill!) – Do you have trouble sleeping? – Tell me about your mood. Is it stable? Are you irritable? Depressed? – Do you feel anxious a lot? – How are you relating to food, your body, your weight, and exercising? We need to start talking about anorexia in people with higher weights. Doctors need to start asking better questions. Love, always. Meret. "You don't have to be thin to be underweight". (Tabitha Farrar, host of "The Eating Disorder Recovery Podcast" - I highly recommend you listen to her episode with Dr. Rachel Mullner.) And here's the link to the article I read in this episode: https://www.verywell.com/anorexia-nervosa-in-individuals-of-higher-weights-1138302 Please consider supporting the podcast by becoming a "Patreon"; so that I can keep producing it. Thank you! Here's the link: https://www.patreon.com/lifeunrestricted If you want this sort of badassery to come to your phone automatically, please DO subscribe on iTunes (Apple): https://itunes.apple.com/ch/podcast/life.-unrestricted.-podcast/id1130713233?mt=2 or on Stitcher (Android): http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=93987& ********* Don't forget!********* Make sure to join my tribe and meet some of the most supportive, loving and kind people of all shapes and sizes, including great coaches and leaders! We’re right over here at: http://www.lifeunrestricted.org/join/

LU 057: Dr. Steven Prentice – Are you ready for "Healthnut Rehab"? Here’s how real health works. Aug 23, 2017

Hey, lovely radicals... podcast time! In today's episode of the "Life. Unrestricted." podcast, I talk to Dr. Steve Prentice from Columbus, Ohio. Steve, as a practicing chiropractor and health contrarian since 1996, has spent his career questioning the status quo and the accepted norms when it comes to health and wellbeing. His experience working with thousands of patients over the past 20 years led him to create what he termed quote "the stress-centered approach to health" and he now leads his patients through the process of restoring their health and quality of life while rejecting many of the restrictive and obsessive health recommendations that are promising quick results and lead so many people into feeling of increased trapped-ness and misery. His brand-new book called "Wrecked" has just come out, and rarely before has a small book made me sigh with relief like his. Steve will tell us: – When he started to feel self-conscious about his body – Why it was in his chiropractor education that he basically stopped trusting his own body and started dieting – What he thought when he started regaining the weight, and what that set off – How many disordered eaters make up sensitivities that they don’t really have and end up believing their own fear-narrative – Why, when we hold on to a certain food fear (carbs, fat, gluten...) in our minds, we start brainwashing ourselves into believing that any negative reactions are caused by that particular food and we go look for confirmation for this – Why eliminating foods from our diets (for no other reason than believing the latest diet fad) most often leads to more obsession, and subsequently, more eliminations, and more health problems – Why restricting, overexercising, obsessing, compulsive behaviors around food and movement and fear of food are actual stressors for the body and therefore, in themselves, harm our health – Why he recommends never to slap any labels on ourselves when it comes to eating and exercising – The social, mental and physical dangers of food tribes and their moral pressure and group identity – How diet culture, food tribes and eating/exercise rules make us forget that we really are free people with individual needs and bodies – How much pressure he built up around his own "quest for the better body" – How he found out the hard way that diets and restriction never work long term – How rules set us up for obsession, especially around food, weight and exercise – His guilt about having lectured people about weight-loss and dieting – What today’s culture of "Go! Go! Go!", social media, comparison, and unrealistic imagery does to people’s mental and physical health – Why people get sucked into being health-nuts and actually risking their health in the name of "hardcore health" – Why he recommends to just "take the pressure out" and stop believing that you need to be "fixed" – When he came to the realization that he, too, was barking up the wrong tree and something had to give – How we can all live the life that is being promised to us "once we’re thin/toned/better looking" RIGHT NOW, with the body that we have – Why some soul searching is necessary to find out about our true values in life – How his own diet-recovery looked like – Why letting go of rules will automatically lead to a decrease in food-obsession and compulsive thinking – Why, after diet-recovery, our bodies will find the weight they are happy and healthy at – Why living at war with your body is just no way to live, and not the way to happiness – How true self-acceptance is never related to size/shape/weight... ... And so much more! If you are interested in working with Steve, you can find him here: www.healthnutrehab.com Here’s the link to his book "Wrecked" on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Wrecked-Quest-Health-Weight-Failed-ebook/dp/B074K5BBLB/ref=sr_1_6?ie=UTF8&qid=1501955529&sr=8-6&keywords=steve+prentice Please consider supporting the podcast by becoming a "Patreon"; so that I can keep producing it. Thank you! Here's the link: https://www.patreon.com/lifeunrestricted If you want this sort of badassery to come to your phone automatically, please DO subscribe on iTunes (Apple): https://itunes.apple.com/ch/podcast/life.-unrestricted.-podcast/id1130713233?mt=2 or on Stitcher (Android): http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=93987&refi ********* Don't forget!********* Make sure to join my tribe and meet some of the most supportive, loving and kind people of all shapes and sizes, including great coaches and leaders! We’re right over here at: http://www.lifeunrestricted.org/join/

LU 056: Michelle May – "Eat What You Love, Love What You Eat" as the way to heal eating issues. Aug 16, 2017

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Hey there, lovely radicals... podcast time! This week on the "Life. Unrestricted." podcast, I get to talk to Dr. Michelle May from Phoenix, Arizona. Dr. Michelle May is a former physician, mindful eating speaker, and recovered yo-yo dieter who founded the "Am I Hungry?"-company that offers mindful eating programs and training. "Am I Hungry?" empowers people to end chronic dieting and to get back a fulfilling life without deprivation and guilt. She is also the award-winning author of the book "Eat What You Love, Love What You Eat" and, based on the success people had with her first book, Dr. Michelle May wrote and published three more books: "Eat What You Love, Love What You Eat for Diabetes", "Eat What You Love, Love What You Eat for Binge Eating" and "Eat What You Love, Love What You Eat for Bariatric Surgery". Her books, programs and retreats are all designed to help people increase self-awareness of beliefs, habits, thoughts, feelings and physical sensations, to finally understand why diets do not work, to discover simple yet powerful methods for knowing when, what, and how much to eat without restriction. Since finding her passion in helping people get out of their dieting traps, Michelle has retired from her medical practice to focus fully on sharing the mindful eating method. Along the way she has been featured on countless media outlets and publications, her personal success story is featured in "Chicken Soup for the Dieter’s Soul", and it could well be that Michelle’s unique yet common sense approach will change the way we think about eating. Today, Michelle talks about: – How she felt in her body as a child – Why she though she "needed to go on a diet" when she was only 11 years old – How easy it is to market anything "weight-loss-y" to people, and what specific product her mother bought to "suppress her hunger" – How much we tend to keep believing the "weight-loss guaranteed"-products/programs because their advertisements is so convincingly designed, and at what cost that comes – What lies she bought into as she was looking for "the best diet" – How, as a physician, she sees behind the mechanisms of specific diets that falsely promise results – What "ketosis" really means for the body (!), and we should never override our body’s signals of distress – How many women get sidetracked by diets, and how much energy gets wasted in "trying to figure it out" – How different the world could look if women invested their energy into living fully, instead of perpetually chasing the "once I’m thin"-illusion – How women perpetuate the cultural oppression by comparing/diet-talking/body-shaming behavior – How she describes the "eat, repent, repeat"-cycle – Why never to fall for the "sugar/carbs are the devil" narrative – How to disprove the "you are addicted to food" narrative by digging one layer deeper – How to use the "Mindful Eating Cycle" and its brilliant questions to decipher your food behaviors – How dieting, food-obsessing, and a hyper-focus on weight messes with our natural "Mindful Eating Cycle" – How dieting/restriction is just as much a coping mechanism as eating is – Why stopping dieting/overexercising/restricting/overeating is harder than jumping on the next diet bandwagon – Why no company will ever sell you the message that "you can trust yourself" – Why empowering yourself works better than following rules in every case – How to stop proving your diet-beliefs right and start seeing how it was all set up to fail you – How, at first, the pendulum might swing widely, and how not to give up and keep trusting the process when that happens – How mental restriction has the same ramifications as physical restriction and how to combat restrictive thoughts – How to find out what unmet needs we might have that we are restricting/overexercising/overeating over – How not to demonize emotional eating and fall into the trap of turning Mindful Eating into another diet – What she learned in all those years of teaching her programs (and why „weight-management“ is not in her vocabulary anymore) – What she thinks about the way bariatric surgery is being marketed – What the misconceptions about the efficacy of bariatric surgery are – How to be there for someone when the "honeymoon phase" of the initial weight-loss after bariatric surgery passes... ... And so much more! Check out Michelle’s website: www.amihungry.com Here’s the link to Michelle’s books on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_2?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=michelle+may If you are interested in going to an Am I Hungry retreat, there is one coming up this fall. The "Am I Hungry? Mindful Eating for Emotional Eating and Binge Eating Retreat" will be from Thursday, Sept. 14 – Monday, Sept. 18, 2017, near Chicago, Illinois. Here are the details: https://amihungry.com/mindful-eating-for-binge-eating-retreat/ And: This conversation will be continued! Michelle and I have already set a date for a follow-up conversation in which we will address the specific cases she encounters where people tell her "Well, this is all great, BUT I can’t do this, because...", and how she counters that and helps those people, too. We will be diving into the topics of diabetes, weight-loss surgery, athletics and how "Eat What You Love, Love What You Eat" works for all of them individually. Please consider supporting the podcast with a donation by becoming a "Patreon"; so that I can keep producing it. Thank you! Here's the link: https://www.patreon.com/lifeunrestricted If you want this sort of badassery to come to your phone automatically, please DO subscribe on iTunes (Apple): https://itunes.apple.com/ch/podcast/life.-unrestricted.-podcast/id1130713233?mt=2 or on Stitcher (Android): http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=93987&refi ********* Don't forget!********* Make sure to join my tribe and meet some of the most supportive, loving and kind people of all shapes and sizes, including great coaches and leaders! We’re right over here at: http://www.lifeunrestricted.org/join/

LU 055: Me, solo – Stuck on the island of disordered eating? Miserable, yet afraid of leaving it? Aug 09, 2017

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Hey there, lovely radicals... podcast time! This week on the "Life. Unrestricted." podcast, I'm telling you about the shame we feel to be stuck in patterns of disordered eating, disordered exercise and our fears to break out of those patterns. It's not a coincidence that I should be talking about this in this week's episode; it's the humbling experience of the persistence of my own struggles and my own seeming inability to change certain behaviors for good. It's the painful realization that, for most of us – certainly for me – recovery isn't something "we just waltz through", even if we have all the expert's advice in our heads. Also, I'm in the mood for a little metaphor, inspired by my internal challenge. A little story about: – How we get tempted by the diet-siren's call – How our disordered eating thoughts convince us that recovery is too hard – How we get sucked into diet-cultures images, messages and false promises – How we often lose faith in ourselves and our strength – How we doubt ever finding that long-lost trust in our body's wisdom again – How we forget that we are FREE to leave the miserable island of diets, disordered eating, overexercising and eating disorders, the island that was once sold to us as the "happy, skinny, self-confidence island", the place we believed we would find what we were yearning for – Why we often forget how much we really do sacrifice when we're stuck on this island that only causes us misery, despair and obsession, just to keep suppressing our body's natural weight – How we forget that our bodies are our friends, not projects to be fixed – Why we end up putting up with increasingly unacceptable conditions and more and more rules – How we're influenced by the people surrounding us who have bought into the same set of body-lies and – Why we often don't leave, or why we return to this miserable place. Love, always. M. Please consider supporting the podcast by becoming a "Patreon"; so that I can keep producing it. Thank you! Here's the link: https://www.patreon.com/lifeunrestricted If you want this sort of badassery to come to your phone automatically, please DO subscribe on iTunes (Apple): https://itunes.apple.com/ch/podcast/life.-unrestricted.-podcast/id1130713233?mt=2 or on Stitcher (Android): http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=93987&refi ********* Don't forget!********* Make sure to join my tribe and meet some of the most supportive, loving and kind people of all shapes and sizes, including great coaches and leaders! We’re right over here at: http://www.lifeunrestricted.org/join/

LU 054: Amy Pence Brown – Taking a badass stand for radical self-acceptance & body image healing. Aug 02, 2017

Download Episode! Hey there, lovely radicals... podcast time! This week on the "Life. Unrestricted." podcast, I get to talk to Amy Pence-Brown from Boise, Idaho. Amy describes herself as a fat feminist mother who believes in opening her mouth and her heart. From both of these places she tells stories – as a writer on her blog and other local & national publications, as a historian giving tours for Preservation Idaho, and as a visual artist creating subversive stitchings and performance pieces. She has a Master in Art & Architectural History, she has worked at many museums and has juried and curated numerous exhibitions. You might know Amy from her radical stand for self-love at the Capital City Public Market on August 29, 2015, in Boise, Idaho, or from her TED talk. Amy's message of self-love and the value of all bodies, no matter their size, went viral and has been written about by countless media outlets. You’ll hear Amy talk about: – How she remembers feeling about her body as a kid – How her chubbiness was perceived at different stages of childhood – Why she considers herself lucky in terms of how her parents related to food and bodies – Where the bullying about her body came from – What her parent’s ideas were about "beauty" and "being a woman" – What she describes as her "first defiant feminist act" – Why she got pulled in the direction of feminism – How her experience with boys and their reaction to her body influenced her view of herself – Why books and education were (and still are) key to her body positive attitude – How early she started drawing attention to the public body image crisis – When she first experienced online trolling and what that did to her – Why she created the "Boise Rad Fat Collective" – Why feminism and a positive attitude about bodies must go together – Why feminism is not a concept "against men", but including men – Why we all get hurt when we get put in societally predefined boxes of what "masculinity" and "femininity" are supposed to look like – Why women are often other women’s harshest critics, and thereby reinforcing the very limitations that they would like to free themselves from – How her famous "stand for self-love" came about and subsequently went viral – What she experienced in those 50 minutes of standing half-naked and blindfolded in the middle of a public square in Boise, Idaho – How men engaged with her during her stand – Why she wore a blindfold – How the media shapes our culture’s assumptions about bodies and how different it would be if there were adequate representation of those people who are happy with their bigger bodies (instead of the usual, dehumanizing depiction) – Why it is crucial to feel secure and confident enough in your own body positivity to do such a thing – How, after her video went viral, lots of women started speaking up – How each one of us can find ways to send a powerful message to the world – Why stepping out of our comfort zone is leading us to live fuller lives – What she does in her "Radcamps"... ... And so much more! Check out Amy’s website: www.amypencebrown.com Here’s one of the video’s of Amy’s famous "Stand for Self-Love": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2n50KVLgwlY&index=4&list=PLXsBK-DbXmku30EaoWD4AZxBdbAo2mt3a Here’s the link to Amy’s TED talk: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VnTLFlQ419s Please consider supporting the podcast by becoming a "Patreon"; so that I can keep producing it. Thank you! Here's the link: https://www.patreon.com/lifeunrestricted If you want this sort of badassery to come to your phone automatically, please DO subscribe on iTunes (Apple): https://itunes.apple.com/ch/podcast/life.-unrestricted.-podcast/id1130713233?mt=2 or on Stitcher (Android): http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=93987&refi ********* Don't forget!********* Make sure to join my tribe and meet some of the most supportive, loving and kind people of all shapes and sizes, including great coaches and leaders! We’re right over here at: http://www.lifeunrestricted.org/join/

LU 053: Me, solo – When the inner Gremlin insists on perfectionism and productivity, give him this. Jul 26, 2017

Download Episode! Hey there, lovely radicals... podcast time! This week on the "Life. Unrestricted." podcast, it’s time to call out the inner Gremlin voice and all its rules that it is constantly making up for us. Most of you might be familiar with those thoughts; the ones that tell us we have to be "on" all the time, that we "better pull ourselves together", that we have "to soldier on, no matter what", that we have "to power through", that it's our "duty to be productive", that we need "o prove our worth", that it's our job to always "be the responsible one", and that we – heaven forbid! – can never (ever!) be perceived as "a slacker"... Sound familiar? Now... wait a minute. Whose thoughts are these? Mine? Yours? No way! These are inner Gremlin thoughts. They are NOT truth. And in order for us to keep our sanity, and to take responsibility for ourselves and our wellbeing, we need to talk back to those Gremlin thoughts. We have to learn to let those Gremlin thoughts be just what they are: Thoughts. Not something we have to act upon. Because we are of no use to the world when we are burnt out, when we are running on empty, and when we are secretly breeding resentment left and right, because we aren't listening to our needs, and not creating healthy boundaries. Also in this shortie: – Why the myth of „we should be happy all the time“ is detrimental to our wellbeing – What the myth of „we should be productive at all times“ does to our mental and physical health – Why „I’m Fine!“ is one of the most common lies – Why we take on false identities ("The Fit one", "The Healthy Eater", "The Perfect Mom", "The Not-Ever-Complainer", "The Productive One", "The Happy, Smiley One" etc...) and how these false identities end up shackling and constricting us – Why it’s an act of bravery and the only path to true liberation to step up from behind our masks and reclaim our truth, our own personal values, our purpose, and to let go of old identities that might once have served us – Why we will only find „our people“ when we start showing up „real and authentic“ ourselves... ... And so much more! Time for some permission slips! Re-listen to episode 23 with me: www.lifeunrestricted.org/lu023 Please consider supporting the podcast with a donation by becoming a "Patreon"; so that I can keep producing it. Thank you! Here's the link: https://www.patreon.com/lifeunrestricted If you want this sort of badassery to come to your phone automatically, please DO subscribe on iTunes (Apple): https://itunes.apple.com/ch/podcast/life.-unrestricted.-podcast/id1130713233?mt=2 or on Stitcher (Android): http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=93987&refi ********* Don't forget!********* Make sure to join my tribe and meet some of the most supportive, loving and kind people of all shapes and sizes, including great coaches and leaders! We’re right over here at: http://www.lifeunrestricted.org/join/

LU 052: Jennifer Rollin – Exercise bulimia, engrained habits, ED myths, and getting very personal. Jul 19, 2017

Download Episode! Hey there, lovely radicals... podcast time! This week on the "Life. Unrestricted." podcast, it’s not just vulnerability time, it’s not just real, raw badassery time, no, it’s also ... Well, it’s actually the most fun episode with the most unexpected circumstances I’ve ever had. Mix that with the incredible depth of the conversation, and you’ve got a pretty unique ride ahead of you. And the mission for this one is pretty simple: It is to say, hey, who ever you are out there, you are not alone, you are not crazy, you are not broken... Recovery is messy like that. Eating disorders really come in all shapes and sizes, and they take many forms for the sufferer too. So, lovely radicals, It is my extreme pleasure to bring you Jennifer Rollin, a professional psychotherapist in private practice in Rockville, Maryland. Jennifer is an eating disorder and body image specialist, and expert writer and speaker. She is passionate about helping people to find freedom from eating disorders and body-hatred. Jennifer has completed certificates in CBT-E for Eating Disorders (Dialectical Behavioral Therapy), and is a Certified Intuitive Eating Counselor. She is a member of The Junior Board of Directors for The National Eating Disorders Association, and her articles have reached thousands of people through print and online media including The Huffington Post, Psychology Today, FabUplus Magazine, Social Work Today Magazine... From out of her practice in Rockville, she offers eating disorder therapy and eating disorder recovery coaching to people worldwide. If you were wondering where the fun part of the situation comes in...... Well, listen for yourself! Jennifer talks about: – Why this very interview is proof that perfectionism is a hindrance to fully experiencing life – How she discovered Health at Every Size (HAES) and why she didn’t fully understand it at first – Why being weight-centric is an active hindrance to recovery from yoyo-dieting, disordered eating, eating disorders AND binge eating – Why she often gets frustrated when people completely misunderstand the message of HAES – When to invest in educating others about HAES and when to prioritize self-care and step back – Why it is so hard to recover into a world that actively promotes disordered eating and disordered exercise behaviors – How we can talk to ourselves when we’re struggling and there’s no one around who seems to understand – How weight-stigma in eating disorders treatment often hinders a full recovery for those who are in treatment, and prevents millions who suffer from actually GETTING treatment – What she would want the world to know about eating disorders and the myths surrounding them – Why the common depiction of eating disorders (anorexia, skeletally skinny, mostly white teenage girls) in the media actually represents the smallest percentage of how eating disorders manifest, and why this is detrimental for all of those who suffer and "don’t feel sick enough" – Why some of the sickest people are not officially diagnosable – What she means when she describes eating disorders as being "competitive and comparative diseases" – Her thoughts on exercise bulimia and why this – very common! – subtype of eating disorders is not being openly addressed more widely – What makes exercise bulimia so hard to overcome – How to reframe exercise behaviors in recovery from compulsive exercise, when the voice in our heads tells us that we "can’t rest" – How to decode those negative body thoughts and find what they really stand for – How to find out what our compulsive behaviors around exercise and food are really about – How to make behavioral changes and set small challenges that support recovery – Why discomfort is an inevitable result of going against our ED voice, and how to see that discomfort as a sign of success in recovery – How she would deal with a client who suffers from exercise bulimia – How she would address entrenched behaviors and habits/rituals that have been in place for years – Why it is so important (in any process of recovery) to find out what really brings us joy in life, and add those things into our lives that do NOT revolve around food or exercise – How we can start to decode and make sense of our are behaviors – How we can recognize moments of body neutrality and slowly create more of those – Why it’s important to ask ourselves "what would I like my life to look like in 5 years from now?" – How she addresses the fear of weight gain with her clients – How to find out what we really want when we say that we "just want to be thin" – How to give less of a damn about what other people think of our recovery, our looks, our eating, our weight or any other comments – How to see the gift in losing those people who only "loved" us for an artificial version of ourselves – Why this process of recovery is the doorway to finding those people who really love us for who we are – The advantage of getting into the mindset of "giving recovery a try", just as one would do with an experiment – Why we need to change behaviors first, in order for the thoughts to be able to adjust and change (or in other words, why there is no "thinking ourselves into recovery") – Why eliminating all restrictions is the crucial step in recovery from anorexia and bulimia – How, after eliminating all restrictions, the most important next step must be to eliminate all compensatory behaviors for eating – Why never to forget that eating disorders are sneaky, and so behaviors can sneak back in almost unnoticeably and suddenly we’re deep in unwanted behaviors again – Why having an accountability partner when reducing the amount and intensity of exercise can be the key to avoid denial... ... And so much more! Check out Jennifer’s website: www.jenniferrollin.com Please consider supporting the podcast with a donation by becoming a "Patreon"; so that I can keep producing it. Thank you! Here's the link: https://www.patreon.com/lifeunrestricted If you want this sort of badassery to come to your phone automatically, please DO subscribe on iTunes (Apple): https://itunes.apple.com/ch/podcast/life.-unrestricted.-podcast/id1130713233?mt=2 or on Stitcher (Android): http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=93987&refi ********* Don't forget!********* Make sure to join my tribe and meet some of the most supportive, loving and kind people of all shapes and sizes, including great coaches and leaders! We’re right over here at: http://www.lifeunrestricted.org/join/

LU 051: Andrea Wachter – How to make therapy work for you (whatever your struggle might be). Jul 12, 2017

Download Episode! Hey lovely radicals, podcast alert! This week on the "Life. Unrestricted." podcast, it’s my pleasure to talk to Andrea Wachter from California. Andrea is a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist and the author of "Getting Over Overeating". She is also the co-author of "The Don’t Diet, Live-It Workbook" and "Mirror, Mirror on the Wall: Breaking the 'I feel fat' Spell", a book for kids who struggle with body image. Andrea is an inspirational counselor, author and speaker who uses professional expertise and her personal recovery to help others overcome their struggles with food, body image, exercise and weight. Today, you’ll hear Andrea talk about: – How she remembers feeling in her body as a child – How her parents related to food and weight – What made her feel ashamed about her body and got her to start dieting – How she hid her struggles with food from her family – Why she compares the way she related to food with the way a drug addict relates to drugs – Why she, as so many, believed "If I just change my body, I will be ok" – How her eating disorder took over her life, and no one had a clue, because she looked so "put together" and pretended everything was fine – Why she eventually did turn to alcohol and drugs to numb her pain from feeling "not enough" – How she found her way back to herself – Why she feels hope that more people are getting help these days – What concerns her about this "age of social media" we are living in today – How she has to deal with younger and younger girls and boys who are already obsessed with their appearance and restricting food – How to avoid the "addiction transfer"-trap – How our emotions (usually the ones we repress the most) play into the way we relate to our bodies – Why body- and weight-obsessing is often a distraction from deeper issues – Why for so many, their struggles with food tend to get overlooked in therapy – What she found out about people’s issues with their bodies when she worked with recovering drug addicts and alcoholics – Why having the "wrong" therapist can do much more harm than good – What to look out for in a therapist, and how to spot it it’s the right one for you – The fallacy of thinking that "staying in the disordered mindset is easier than having to face the pain" – The fallacy of believing that we are supposed to "be happy" all the time – What happens when we try to avoid difficult feelings – Why it is crucial never to forget the reality behind social media and people’s performance of "health", "happiness", "fitness", etc. – How we can all upgrade our unkind mind patterns – How to become aware of the nasty tricks our minds can play with us – How our negative thoughts turn into negative feelings and into negative behaviors – How to find out what the next steps are that you are actually capable of taking that will lead to more and more steps – What she found out about the bad body image legacy that was passed on to her from talking to her parents – How our own beliefs shape our perception, which, in turn, shapes our behavior – How we can break the bad body image legacy – Why never to expect other people to change, but to focus on our own growth instead... ... And so much more! Check out Andrea’s websites: www.andreawachter.com www.innersolutions.net Here’s the link to "The Human Fulfillment Institute": www.humanfulfillment.org And here’s the link to Andrea Wachter’s books on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Books-Andrea-Wachter/s?ie=UTF8&page=1&rh=i%3Abooks%2Cp_27%3AAndrea%20Wachter Please consider supporting the podcast by becoming a "Patreon"; so that I can keep producing it. Thank you! Here's the link: https://www.patreon.com/lifeunrestricted If you want this sort of badassery to come to your phone automatically, please DO subscribe on iTunes (Apple): https://itunes.apple.com/ch/podcast/life.-unrestricted.-podcast/id1130713233?mt=2 or on Stitcher (Android): http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=93987&refi ********* Don't forget!********* Make sure to join my tribe and meet some of the most supportive, loving and kind people of all shapes and sizes, including great coaches and leaders! We’re right over here at: http://www.lifeunrestricted.org/join/

LU 050: Sarah Harry – Yoga without pressure or fancy pants; the kind that is for... EVERY BODY! Jul 05, 2017

Download Episode! Hey, lovely radicals... podcast time! In today's episode of the "Life. Unrestricted." podcast, I talk to Sarah Harry from Melbourne, Australia. Sarah is a psychotherapist, yoga teacher, researcher, writer and university lecturer. As a leading body image and eating disorders specialist and experienced clinician she has a refreshing perspective on bodies, weight, movement and inclusivity. Sarah was the first yogi in Australia to offer yoga for bigger bodies. She has practiced yoga for more than 20 years, and as the owner and founder of "Fat Yoga", she runs specialist classes and retreats. She is also co-director of "Body Positive Australia" (alongside Fiona Sutherland, whom I interviewed in episode 28). Sarah is a member of the Yoga and Body Image Coalition USA, sits on the National Advisory Board of Health at Every Size Australia and she is a member of the National Eating Disorders Coalition. Listen in as Sarah tells us: – How Fiona and herself started working together, and how "Body Positive Australia" came into existence – Where they both see the problem with the term "Body Positivity", and how it’s being co-opted – Why there are opportunities to help change the system from the inside – How she aims to get her message across in interviews – Why authenticity and humor have helped her a great deal – How she decided to show up in regards to her own personal family story – What readers of "Fat Yoga" tell her they are most thankful for – What she remembers about growing up in a body that was different from what her parents believed was "a good body" – How her 20-year-long quest to be thin started, and what it cost her – Why she never told anyone about her raging eating disorder – How her body hate led her to have various surgeries and why she believed the massive pain those caused her was "the punishment for being bigger" – Why she would NEVER recommend weight-loss-surgery to anyone – At what point she started to turn her life around – Why she hit the jackpot with the person she ended up working with – Why yoga is often misunderstood in the west, and what it’s really about – Why she works on bringing more "real" yoga to the field of recovery – How she called out "The Yogi Times" on their weight-stigmatizing articles – Why people react with anger when their beliefs, that they were invested in for so long, are challenged – When and how to address people’s weight-biases, and what reactions to expect – Why "body love" can be a misleading and overwhelming term, and why "body acceptance" or "body neutrality" can be much more helpful – Why Instagram (and social media in general) are intensifying people’s focus on bodies and appearances, and what she has to say about that – Why there are people who dislike the term "all bodies are good bodies"... ... And so much more! Here's the link to Sarah’s website: www.fatyoga.com.au Check out the "Body Positive Australia" website: www.bodypositiveaustralia.com.au Link to the "Weight Bias & Stigma Tools" of the Uconn Rudd Center: http://www.uconnruddcenter.org/weight-bias-stigma-tools-for-researchers Please consider supporting the podcast by becoming a "Patreon"; so that I can keep producing it. Thank you! Here's the link: https://www.patreon.com/lifeunrestricted If you want this sort of badassery to come to your phone automatically, please DO subscribe on iTunes (Apple): https://itunes.apple.com/ch/podcast/life.-unrestricted.-podcast/id1130713233?mt=2 or on Stitcher (Android): http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=93987&refi ********* Don't forget!********* Make sure to join my tribe and meet some of the most supportive, loving and kind people of all shapes and sizes, including great coaches and leaders! We’re right over here at: http://www.lifeunrestricted.org/join/

LU 049: Erica Leon – Free yourself from chaotic patterns of yoyo-dieting and overexercising. Jun 28, 2017

Download Episode! Hey, lovely radicals... podcast time! This week on the "Life. Unrestricted." podcast, I get to talk to Erica Leon from Westchester County, New York. Erica holds a Bachelor’s degree in nutrition from Cornell University and a Master’s degree in clinical nutrition from New York University. Erica works with clients all over the globe - by all technical means necessary -, people who struggle with food, their body, and people who want to overcome years of dieting or being stuck in disordered eating. She meets people where they are at and guides them to a better relationship to food and their body with a non-diet approach. She has 25 years of experience under her belt and her career has included working in hospitals, corporations and colleges. Ultimately combining all of her skills and interests, she established a private nutrition practice over 15 years ago. As a Certified Eating Disorders Registered Dietitian (CEDRD) she also volunteers on the Board of the International Association of Eating Disorders Professionals, she has written professional articles on nutritions, she frequently gives talks, and she has often been quoted in the media on topics such as eating disorder prevention and childhood weight issues. Today, you’ll hear Erica talk about: – How she remembers being in a body felt like as a child – Where she internalized the message that her body was too big – What the role of her family was in the development of her relationship to food – What counting and tracking points/calories can do to our self-image – Why it is so important to curate your social media feed, and to look at bodies in all shapes and sizes – Why striving for "a flat stomach" is complete BS, and why having belly-fat is, in fact, important for a woman’s overall health as she gets older – Why it is crucial to realize that we are all so much more than a body – How it can be helpful to think about what we would love our legacy to be – How long she lived with her own internal diet-mindset – How she got into the field of nutrition – Why she was working in the marketing department for a weight-loss company (and what memories about her connection to one of Oprah’s many weight-loss incidents still make her cringe) – How she herself unknowingly contributed to diet-culture and its message that "thin is better" – What made her realize that something was not right – How working with eating disorders helped her on her own journey – What she would tell her younger self with the knowledge she has now – Why women often automatically objectify themselves according to what they see in the media and in ads – Why she loves the "Poodle Science" video of the Academy of Size Diversity and Health (ASDAH) – The problem with today’s celebrity worshipping culture and the unfortunate influence they have on our children’s self-esteem – How she’s helping one of her clients with exercise bulimia – What the key ingredient is in the journey to give up lifelong dieting, as well as recovering from disordered eating or eating disorders – Why it takes time, self-compassion, patience and community to heal our societally damaged body image and how we relate to food and weight – How she curated her social media feed and left all the groups (and unfollowed/unfriended people) that were repeatedly engaging in of diet- and weight-loss-talk – Why social media opened up a whole new world for her and made her realize that she wasn’t the only one AT ALL who was preaching the non-diet approach to health – Why it is so hard for the old paradigm-believers to change their minds – What kind of transformations she gets to witness in her practice... ... And so much more! Check out Erica’s website: www.ericaleon.com Here’s the link to the wonderful "Poodle Science" video of the Academy of Size Diversity and Health (ASDAH): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H89QQfXtc-k Make sure to support the podcast by becoming a "Patreon", so that I can keep producing it and help as many people as possible. Thank you! Here's the link: https://www.patreon.com/lifeunrestricted If you want this sort of badassery to come to your phone automatically, please DO subscribe on iTunes (Apple): https://itunes.apple.com/ch/podcast/life.-unrestricted.-podcast/id1130713233?mt=2 or on Stitcher (Android): http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=93987&refid ********* Don't forget!********* Feel free to join my tribe and meet some of the most supportive, loving and kind people of all shapes and sizes, including great coaches and leaders! We’re right over here at: http://www.lifeunrestricted.org/join/

LU 048: Chevese Turner – Breaking the stigma of Binge Eating Disorder with insight and compassion. Jun 21, 2017

Download Episode! Hey there, lovely radicals... podcast ahead! This week, on the "Life. Unrestricted." podcast, it’s my pleasure to talk to Chevese Turner from the Washington DC area. Chevese is the woman who almost 9 years ago founded the Binge Eating Disorder Association (BEDA) in June 2008, recognizing the need for an organization to advocate on behalf of individuals affected by Binge Eating Disorder (BED), as well as the providers who treat them. Turner’s well-rounded career in the health care, pharmaceutical, political and non-profit arenas, as well as her many leadership roles within these fields, prepared her to launch BEDA, the only organization specifically suited to support individuals and treatment professionals managing BED. Today, you’ll hear Chevese talk about: – How old she was when she lost the innocent, joyful, and non-judgmental attitude towards her own body – What drove her to start searching for, stealing and hoarding food – What every type of binging behavior stems from – How her mother related to food and weight – Why denial about unhealed past wounds always leads to us passing along the same pain (we can not outrun our own shadow) – Why those old painful memories are often the ones that leave the deepest imprint on our soul – Why we often treat ourselves the way we have been treated as children – Why food (restricting/dieting, or overeating) is so commonly used to try to escape difficult emotions – How we can start to make sense of our own behavior around food – Why there is no need to be ashamed for recognizing those behaviors for what they are – How shame and weight-bias affect a person’s physical and mental health – Why all the advice she got actually only perpetuated her eating disorder – Why she never really knew what she liked/what her hobbies were – Why she immediately regretted having lap band surgery – What is commonly misunderstood with Binge Eating Disorder (BED) – Why, at the root, anorexia and BED are much more alike as they outwardly seem – Why our society is too quick to categorize people, instead of listening to the person in question first – How terribly effective diet-culture and its constant messages and images really is, and why it is important to be aware of how all of that seeps into our subconscious and colors our own judgment – What she wants us all to know about our bodies – Why bariatric surgery is often done solely for profit, and why there’s so little information about the dangers and the long-term effects of it – The medical ramifications of our society’s belief that "healthy" looks a certain way – How she reacted when she first heard that her Binge Eating Disorder was only to be treated effectively by nourishment – How many years she wasted by being stuck in the diet-cycle, and having little mental space for anything that would have really sparked her interest – Why so many body-obsessed women have no idea who they really are outside of dieting – What led her to found BEDA, and how wonderfully that organization developed – What BEDA is about and what they are actively working on – Why it is important for all of us to resist any sort of weight-stigmatization, and to speak up against it... ... And so much more! Here’s the link to BEDA (where you’ll also find info about the conferences) www.bedaonline.com And here’s the toll-free number that Chevese mentioned (only for US listeners): 855 855 2332 Make sure to support the podcast by becoming a "Patreon", so that I can keep producing it and help as many people as possible. Thank you! Here's the link: https://www.patreon.com/lifeunrestricted If you want this sort of badassery to come to your phone automatically, please DO subscribe on iTunes (Apple): https://itunes.apple.com/ch/podcast/life.-unrestricted.-podcast/id1130713233?mt=2 or on Stitcher (Android): http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=93987&refid ********* Don't forget!********* Make sure to join my tribe and meet some of the most supportive, loving and kind people of all shapes and sizes, including great coaches and leaders! We’re right over here at: http://www.lifeunrestricted.org/join/

LU 047: Jessica Setnick – When eating and exercising turn into attempts at escaping emotions. Jun 14, 2017

Download Episode! Lovely radicals, it's podcast time! This week on the "Life. Unrestricted." podcast, it’s my pleasure to talk to Jessica Setnick from Dallas, Texas. Jessica is an internationally known pediatric dietitian, an award-winning writer and she is training professionals to work in the field of eating issues. She is definitely the best sort of woman to talk to about the origins of our world's body image problem and our issues with eating and weight; Jessica is an icon in the eating disorder field. Her academic background is in human behavior and with her Master’s Degree in Exercise Physiology and Sports Nutrition, she has become an expert in dysfunctional and disordered eating who has a unique ability to see what others might miss. As a Certified Eating Disorder Dietitian and Dietitian Supervisor, she has treated thousands of patients in the hospital and out, and she knows how to identify the underlying issues influencing patients’ eating. Jessica is the author of "The Eating Disorder Clinical Pocket Guide" and "Eating Disorders Boot Camp", and she is a co-founder of IFEED, the International Federation of Eating Disorder Dietitians. In 2013, after 16 years of hospital and community work, Jessica closed her private practice to fulfill her mission of educating health professionals about our current understanding of eating disorders and thereby empowering them to confidently and competently help those who suffer. In all of her work, Jessica combines humor, science, and professional experience to help us all improve one of the key relationships in life—the one we have with food. Today, you’ll hear Jessica talk about: – How she related to food and her body as a child – What drove her to get a degree in Anthropology as well as one in Sports Nutrition – What she learned about people’s eating behaviors – Why there is always a reason for the way we relate to food – Why the oldest emotional wounds often have the deepest imprint on our soul – Why we are so often attracted to people who end up treating us like our fathers or mothers did – Why we can only recognize as love what we grew up to believe was love – What we hope to achieve by re-creating our childhood "drama" – Why our habits very often evolved as way to self-soothe, at a stage when the particular behavior was the only way we knew how to deal with difficult experiences – Why there is no need to be ashamed for recognizing those behaviors for what they are – What our own judgments can tell us about ourselves – Why our society is too quick to categorize people in their particular problems, and how to look at eating disorders from an individual’s perspective – Why it can be the most powerful thing to just be present with someone who’s currently struggling – What the advantages are for recovering from disordered eating as an adult, no matter how long their behaviors have been disordered – Why it is never too late to start un-dieting, recovering, and befriending food and our body again – How early in life we get conditioned to detach our eating from our internal cues – What she wants us all to know about our bodies – Why it’s important to remind ourselves who’s profiting off our insecurities – How weight-bias in the medical field can cause people to die – The medical ramifications of our society’s belief that "healthy" looks a certain way – What’s dangerous about our society’s unhealthy coupling of the concepts of food and exercise – Why our controlling tendencies can only give us a false sense of safety – How little is actually known about eating disorders – What an ideal eating disorder professional should bring to the table – What she means when she says "start being an anthropologist in everyday life" and why it is so helpful – The danger of repeated exposure to seemingly harmless advertisements – How to see the ridiculousness of the made-up/fake-advertisement world – Why awareness (and self-awareness!) is key on the journey of growing more resilient – What she thinks about the memes that tell us to "love our bodies"... ... And so much more! Check out Jessica’s website: www.understandingnutrition.com Find more info about the "Eating Disorder Bootcamp" and other resources here: http://www.understandingnutrition.com/store/default.php www.eatingdisordersbootcamp.com If you enjoy and love my podcast, please consider supporting it by becoming a "Patreon"! It would greatly help me to keep those episodes coming to you. Thanks! https://www.patreon.com/lifeunrestricted If you want this sort of badassery to come to your phone automatically, please DO subscribe on iTunes (Apple): https://itunes.apple.com/ch/podcast/life.-unrestricted.-podcast/id1130713233?mt=2 or on Stitcher (Android): http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=93987&refid ********* Don't forget!********* Make sure to join my tribe and meet some of the most supportive, loving and kind people of all shapes and sizes, including great coaches and leaders! We’re right over here at: http://www.lifeunrestricted.org/join/

LU 046: Jessamyn Stanley – What yoga is about, what it’s not about, and why it is for EVERY BODY. Jun 07, 2017

Hey there, lovely radicals... up for a mind-stretching podcast? In today's episode of the "Life. Unrestricted." podcast, I talk to Jessamyn Stanley from Durham, North Carolina. Jessamyn, as many of you know, is a yogi who breaks all the stereotypes. She has built a life as an internationally recognized yoga teacher and award-winning Instagram star by combining a deep understanding for yoga with a willingness to share her personal struggles in a way that touches everyone who comes to know her. Now she brings her body-positive, emotionally uplifting approach to yoga in a book that will help every reader discover the power of yoga and how to weave it seamlessly into his or her life. It’s called "Every Body Yoga", and just like herself, this book breaks all the stereotypes. You will hear Jessamyn share: – Where she thinks our self-consciousness about our bodies comes from – What it was that made her become dissatisfied with who she was and how her body looked – What brought her to yoga – What anxiety/depression have to do with our mind’s tendency to ruminate about the past and/or worry about the future – How she understands the spiritual aspect of the yoga practice – Why there’s so much to be said for having a healthy detachment to the materialistic focus that our culture promotes – Why she thinks that the obsession with surface-level things, like the "look" of bodies, are huge shortcomings of our society – What the dangers of social media and the display of fake "perfection" are – Why "getting likes" is never something we should be aiming for – Why no amount of outside approval can ever fill the void in our hearts – Why the disconnection that happens when everybody "lives" on the screen is so harmful for our soul’s wellbeing – Why most of what we see on social media is fake and—upon closer inspection—completely irrelevant – Why she says what she wants and doesn’t care too much about what other people think of her – Why we often look for "meaning" in life in the exact wrong places – Why people who feel insecure make better customers – How we can become more comfortable in our own company – Why facing and owning our "shit" is the only way to liberation – Where true inner contentment comes from – What most people plain misunderstand about yoga – What the problems are with "modern" (westernized) yoga – What she feels yoga is really about (hint: it’s not about how the body looks) – How she got connected to her emotions after years of stuffing them away – What emotions she has most difficulty with – How she deals with critics and haters – How she deals with getting so much attention and having to be more social than she feels is her nature... ... And so much more! Check out Jessamyn and all of her work (including her book "Every Body Yoga") at: www.jessamynstanley.com If you enjoy and love my podcast, please consider supporting it by becoming a "Patreon"! It would greatly help me to keep those episodes coming to you. Thank you! https://www.patreon.com/lifeunrestricted If you want this sort of badassery come to your phone automatically, please DO subscribe on iTunes (Apple): https://itunes.apple.com/ch/podcast/life.-unrestricted.-podcast/id1130713233?mt=2 or on Stitcher (Android): http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=93987&refid ********* Don't forget!********* Make sure to join my tribe and meet some of the most supportive, loving and kind people of all shapes and sizes, including great coaches and leaders! We’re right over here at: http://www.lifeunrestricted.org/join

LU 045: Carolyn Costin – What recovery means & why undiagnosed eating issues can be the worst. May 31, 2017

Download Episode! Hey there, lovely radicals... podcast ahead! In today's episode of the "Life. Unrestricted." podcast, I am talking to Carolyn Costin from Malibu, California. Carolyn is a world-renowned clinician, author and speaker acclaimed for her expertise, passion and accomplishments in the field of eating disorders. She is a certified Eating Disorder Specialist and a Licensed Marriage and Family Therapist. After having recovered from anorexia in her early 20s, Carolyn became a psychotherapist, and it was her successful treatment of those with eating disorders that led her to bring her philosophy to the public through her speaking and her books. In 1996, Carolyn created "Monte Nido", the first licensed, residential eating disorder treatment facility in a home setting that has since spurred into 14 facilities nationwide offering a continuum of care. Carolyn’s career is dedicated to lecturing, training, teaching and supervising clinicians, dietitians and physicians. Having left "Monde Nido" last year, she remains active in the eating disorder field and she is involved in several professional organizations including the International Association of Eating Disorder Professionals as a board trustee and the Academy of Eating Disorders as a fellow. Her advocacy work continues in many arenas including organizations such as Project Heal, Eating Disorder Hope and the Eating Disorder Coalition. At the start of this year, 2017, Carolyn has opened "The Carolyn Costin Institute", which offers Eating Disorder Coach Training, a mentor program, continuing education for clinicians as well as other specialized training. Carolyn talks about: – How long the carefree, joyful feeling of "being in a body" as a child lasted for her – How our habits of comparison and our ideas of "status" are detrimental to body image – What the "Fiji-study" is all about, and what TV/advertisement can do to women – What body-bullying does to kids – What triggered her eating disorder – Why she doesn’t support the idea that eating issues are "a genetic thing" – How people with anxiety can calm their anxious thoughts – Why it is so important to become aware of the fact that we are NOT our thoughts, but we can observe them, and let them pass without grabbing on to their message – Why spiritual bypassing is not solving anything, yet so many people try to do just that; avoid difficult emotions by trying to meditate them away instead of facing them in a calm state – What there is still to be fixed in our cultural way of relating to weight and bodies – Why eating disorder treatments that still have a weight-centric approach often backfire and make a full, lasting recovery impossible – Why it is so important for all of us to just detach from the number on the scale – Why it is critically important that everyone working with people with disordered eating resolve their own body- and weight issues first – How she trains therapists and coaches to become good eating disorder therapists – What it actually is that makes a good eating disorder therapist/coach/mentor/dietitian – How she defines „recovery“ – Why people with undiagnosed eating issues can often be the ones that are the sickest – The danger of today’s obsession with "clean" eating, detoxes, the idea of having to earn or burn food, and all the food advice out there – Why she thinks people still go on diets even if it is a well-established facts that diets don’t work – The horrible consequences of fat-shaming people – How the weight-loss industry (together with the advertisement "geniuses") manage to suck so many people in, again and again – The risk factors of developing an eating disorder – Why eating disorders still often don’t get addressed at schools, even though the numbers are rampant – Why she made it her mission to train recovered people to become eating disorder coaches – Why a feeling of secure attachment is critical to overcome any issues we might have developed to protect ourselves or to cope with difficult feelings... ... And so much more! If you are interested in Carolyn Costin’s work, check out her website: http://www.carolyn-costin.com Here’s the link to Carolyn’s books: https://www.amazon.com/Carolyn-Costin/e/B001HCYYJ8 Podcasting is expensive. So if you enjoy and love my podcast, please consider supporting it by becoming a "Patreon"! It would greatly help me to keep those episodes coming to you. Thanks! https://www.patreon.com/lifeunrestricted Like the podcast? Great! Do subscribe on iTunes (Apple): https://itunes.apple.com/ch/podcast/life.-unrestricted.-podcast/id1130713233?mt=2 or on Stitcher (Android): http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=93987&refid ********* Don't forget!********* Make sure to join my tribe and meet some of the most supportive, loving and kind people of all shapes and sizes, including great coaches and leaders! We’re right over here at: http://www.lifeunrestricted.org/join

LU 044: Elena Rossini – The woman who helps changing the world with her movie "The Illusionists". May 24, 2017

Hey there, lovely radicals: Podcast ahead! This week on the "Life. Unrestricted." podcast, I get to talk to Elena Rossini from Como, Italy and Paris, France. Elena is a filmmaker, photographer, social entrepreneur and public speaker. Her latest film is called "The Illusionists", a feature-length documentary about the marketing of unattainable beauty ideals around the world. Filming locations included the United States, the UK, the Netherlands, France, Italy, Lebanon, India and Japan. The film has been featured in countless news outlets, and I hope it will be talked about for a long time. Elena has been taking "The Illusionists" on tour, showing it at the biggest companies in Silicon Valley (Apple, Facebook, Google, Twitter...) and at dozens of renowned universities in the United States and Europe. Apart from being a filmmaker, Elena is also the founder and editor-in-chief of "No Country for Young Women", a website whose aim is to provide positive role models for young girls. The site features over 100 interviews of women representing five continents, seven decades, and over two dozen professions – from NASA engineers, illustrators, architects, to filmmakers and entrepreneurs. In 2014 Rossini co-founded "Gender Gap Grader", a platform empowering companies and organizations with innovative tools to measure the gender gap. Today, you’ll hear Elena talk about: – Why she thinks that right now is the best time to be an activist – Why she is concerned about kids and body image in the age of social media and ruthless advertising – Why she lived in so many places and what country she feels most rooted in – What upsets her most about how women are being portrayed and presented in the media and in advertisement – Why we often buy into (and literally buy) the message of products we don’t really need – How much time we end up wasting just "to look in order" – What we really put on our bodies and skins every day – that basically only hurts us – just to look and smell like we think we should – What she found young girls to be most affected by in terms of their body image – The danger behind online-personalities that present their disordered behavior in a way that makes people who watch their workout-/diet-/make-up videos think that they have to achieve the same look – What sparked the idea in her to make a movie about how we are, as women, being presented with illusions, and how we then start to perform an illusion to the outside world – What she found out about the growing epidemic of body dissatisfaction in women and men – Why it took her eight years to complete "The Illusionists" – How she gets treated as a relatively young, female filmmaker – How she responded to the people who wanted to make her believe that she wasn’t "able enough" to make this movie herself – Why she selected the countries that she did – What shocking discoveries she made – Why she strongly believes in activism and how she saw that it really DOES change things – What kind of reaction she got from advertising companies when she screened the film – Why the current way eating disorders are represented in documentaries can contribute to the continuation of the problem, and why it keeps many women/men from actually seeking help – What she intents to do in the future to help women change those self-defeating behaviors – What her project "The Realists" will be about – Why we should spend more time OFFline than online... ... And so much more! Check out Elena’s work: www.elenarossini.com www.theillusionists.org The books she mentioned in our conversation: „Fat is a Feminist Issue“ by Susie Orbach, you can find it here: https://www.amazon.com/Fat-Feminist-Issue-ORBACH-SUSIE/dp/1784753092/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1490895011&sr=1-1&keywords=fat+is+a+feminist+issue Here are books about the dangerous power of advertising, by Jean Kilbourne, Mary Pipher, and others: https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss_1?url=search-alias%3Dstripbooks&field-keywords=jean+kilbourne „Amusing ourselves to death“ by Neil Postman, you can find it here: https://www.amazon.de/Amusing-Ourselves-Death-Discourse-Business/dp/014303653X Please consider supporting the podcast with a donation on "Patreon"; so that I can keep producing it. Thank you! Here's the link: https://www.patreon.com/lifeunrestricted Like the podcast? Great! Do subscribe on iTunes (Apple): https://itunes.apple.com/ch/podcast/life.-unrestricted.-podcast/id1130713233?mt=2 or on Stitcher (Android): http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=93987&refid ********* Don't forget!********* Make sure to join my tribe and meet some of the most supportive, loving and kind people of all shapes and sizes, including great coaches and leaders! We’re right over here at: http://www.lifeunrestricted.org/join/

LU 043: Dr. Stacey Rosenfeld – Today’s body-obsessed culture promotes disordered eating. May 17, 2017

Download Episode! This week on the the "Life. Unrestricted." podcast, we all have a chance to meet Dr. Stacey Rosenfeld from Coral Gables, Florida. Stacey is a clinical psychologist specializing in eating disorders and body image concerns. She also works with substance misuse, anxiety and mood disorders, infertility, and relationship difficulties. A certified group psychotherapist and certified eating disorder specialist, Dr. Rosenfeld has worked at various treatment centers and universities and now directs the "Gatewell Therapy Center" in Miami, Florida. Dr. Stacey Rosenfeld is the author of "Does Every Woman Have an Eating Disorder? Challenging Our Nation’s Fixation with Food and Weight", based on her award-winning blog of the same name. She is committing to helping people develop healthier relationships with food and their bodies. She is a member of the National Eating Disorder Association, the International Association for Eating Disorder Professionals, and the Academy for Eating Disorders, she lectures around the country, and she has appeared on numerous media outlets, including the Today Show and ABC News. In this talk, Stacey shares with us: – When her first judgment about her body entered her mind – What she found out in all of her years of clinical work with regards to women and eating issues – What the terrible consequences can be of the myopic depiction of eating disorders in the media – Why people so often deny having a troublesome relationship to food, weight and exercise – What she has to say to those people who are "waiting" for the symptoms to go away as they age – What defines disordered eating, eating disorders and a compulsive relationship to exercise – The different ways in which she sees the display of disordered eating – How she uses motivational interviewing with her patients – Why it is that eating issues often go unaddressed in therapy, and the cost of that – What it is that connects eating issues with alcohol and/or substance misuse – What is wrong with the increasingly thoughtless prescription of (speed-like) drug for ADHD – Why bodies break down when they are pushed to the limit, be it with exercise/drugs/etc. – What a person with an addiction is trying to get away from – How everything can be used to self-medicate, but sadly, some of those behaviors even get applause (work/exercise/perfectionism/restriction), no matter how hellish the person might feel inside – Why we don’t really want to be accepted for a facade-like life, but our real selves, warts and all – What happens when women start asking themselves what they could be doing with all the mental and physical energy wasted on "managing their appearance" (diets/exercise/surgeries, etc.) – What she means when she says "women are zoomed in way too much" – Why the concept of exercise and the concept of food should be divorced to avoid unhealthy coping mechanisms and obsessive behaviors – Why the fitness classes she teaches are different than the usual ones – How we can let go of exercising compulsively and reframe "success" – How to become a more critical consumer of media instead of getting sucked in by its toxic messages about bodies – Why language (towards ourselves and other people) is so important – Which of her findings should really shake us all awake to how much this general "fear of fat" is holding us back – How to recognize if a professional who specializes in eating disorders still has their own issues and biases... ... And so much more! Check out Dr. Stacey Rosenfeld’s website: www.gatewelltherapycenter.com Here’s the link to her book "Does Every Woman Have An Eating Disorder?": https://www.amazon.com/Eating-Disorder-Challenging-Nations-Fixation/dp/0989851834 Please consider supporting the podcast by becoming a "Patreon"; so that I can keep producing it. Thank you! Here's the link: https://www.patreon.com/lifeunrestricted Like the podcast? Great! Do subscribe on iTunes (Apple): https://itunes.apple.com/ch/podcast/life.-unrestricted.-podcast/id1130713233?mt=2 or on Stitcher (Android): http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=93987&refid ********* Don't forget!********* Make sure to join my tribe and meet some of the most supportive, loving and kind people of all shapes and sizes, including great coaches and leaders! We’re right over here at: http://www.lifeunrestricted.org/join/

LU 042: Josée Sovinsky – The cost of denial in relation to disordered eating/compulsive exercise. May 10, 2017

Download Episode! Lovely radicals, let me make your ears happy: Podcast ahead! In today's episode of the "Life Unrestricted." podcast, I get to talk to Josée Sovinsky from Toronto, Canada. Josée is a Registered Dietitian with French Canadian roots, who, after facing and dealing with her own struggles with disordered eating during her degree, developed a passion to help those affected by eating disorders and mental illness. She now specializes in eating disorders, intuitive eating, community nutrition and seniors' health. She holds an Honors Bachelor in Nutrition Sciences from the University of Ottawa, and she has educated herself on topics such as body-acceptance, Health at Every Size and feminism, all topics that guide her work as a non-diet, weight-inclusive, body positive and dietitian whose dreams are similar to mine: We both want to see a world free from mental health stigma, body shaming, dieting and disordered eating, where people of all sizes deserve nourishment, wellbeing and happiness. You’ll hear Josée talk about: – How she felt in her body as a little girl – Why she didn’t develop bad body image until later in life – How lucky she was to have her parents be her biggest cheerleaders – Why she felt different than other kids when she was a teenager – How studying nutrition can easily trigger disordered eating for people who feel insecure – Why she became convinced that changing her body was the way to acceptance and happiness – How exercise turned into a problem for her – Why it is so dangerous to marry the concepts of weight and exercise – Why nothing she did ever felt "good enough" – Why, for a very long time, she didn’t actually realize how disordered she had become with eating and exercise – How she never told anyone that she was struggling, so no one was suspicious – Why it is especially dangerous for nutrition students to have their struggles go undetected for way too long – What her deepest fears were when she considered opening up about her struggles – What her own denial looked like – What it was that made her realize that what she went through was a serious thing – Where she first came across body positivity and the non-diet-approach – What’s wrong with official guidelines regarding diabetes and weight – Why she thinks no one who adopted the Health at Every Size (HAES) model ever turned back – Why it is so important to recognize that neither fame, money, looks or any other source of potential outside approval will ever be enough to fill a void that exists in our soul (no matter what advertisement, movies or media might make us believe!) – Why it is so easy to fall into the trap of comparing our insides to other people’s "performance of happy" – What the steps to true healing can look like (and what the key ingredients are) – Why she decided to truly take a break from exercise, and why this could be key for all of us who struggle with divorcing the concepts of weight and exercise – Why accepting size-diversity is the key to healing our relationship to food and weight – How she introduces the concept of Health At Every Size to women who haven’t heard of it before – Why facing our fears is key (even if remaining in a disordered place might feel "easier") – How to become aware of the different ways our inner Gremlin pushes us into behaviors that don’t serve us and our recovery – Why opening up about our struggles contributes to healing on a much larger scale... ... And so much more! Check out Josée and her work here: www.joseesovinskynutrition.com Like the podcast? Great! Do subscribe on iTunes (Apple): https://itunes.apple.com/ch/podcast/life.-unrestricted.-podcast/id1130713233?mt=2 or on Stitcher (Android): http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=93987&refid Please consider supporting the podcast with a donation on "Patreon"; so that I can keep producing it. Thank you! Here's the link: https://www.patreon.com/lifeunrestricted ********* Don't forget!********* Make sure to join my tribe and meet some of the most supportive, loving and kind people of all shapes and sizes, including great coaches and leaders! We’re right over here at: http://www.lifeunrestricted.org/join/

LU 041: Zoe McNulty – Body confidence is an inside job completely unrelated to your body size. May 03, 2017

Download Episode! Hey there, lovely radicals: Podcast time! This week on the "Life. Unrestricted." podcast, I get to talk to Zoe McNulty from London, UK. Zoe had always dreamed of being a backing dancer on Top Of The Pops, but due to her being larger than a dancer "SHOULD" be, she avoided the commercial dance scene and the negative body image that she would – as she says – undoubtedly have developed. However, with the pressures of a thin-obsessed society, she still struggled with her body through much of her adult life, until she realized how much time she had wasted worrying about what others might think of her. These days, Zoe refers to herself as a champion of curves, and is honored to be an official Body Image Movement Global Ambassador, just like myself. Zoe works as a Top Dance Fitness Presenter, Group Exercise Teacher and Body Positivity Activist and calls herself "Headmistress of School of Strut". She specializes in helping women feel good about their figures, regardless of shape or size, through fund and feisty dance concepts. Today, you’ll hear Zoe talk about: – How she grew up to feel self-conscious about her body and her weight – What kind of body image role-model her mother was – How her dream of becoming a dancer got destroyed by arbitrary beauty-ideals – Why it is crucial to recognize that many women actually get the most "compliments" when they are actually sick, compulsive and highly disordered eaters – How she experienced her own changes in body size – What is wrong with the gym-culture and the fitness-ideas of today – How the current "go hard or go home"-paradigm is harmful for girls and women – How women and girls are led to disconnect from their own sensuality and femininity – Why those super-toned body ideals mean "becoming sick" for most women and girls – How health has absolutely nothing to do with those ideals – At what point she hit rock bottom and decided "no more of this dieting crap" – Why it is so important to realize that – no matter what size or shape we are – we will never be for everybody – When she realized that it was not her size or weight that made her attractive – What helped her in growing her internal confidence about who she was, including her size – What the idea is behind "Strutology" and "School of Strut" – Why "strutting" is more about a state of mind than anything else – How we can become self-confident and feel sexy without contributing to the objectification of women – What kind of feedback she gets from women who have been to her classes – What she means when she says "harness the power of the wobble" – What her advice is for ALL women... ... And so much more! Check out Zoe’s work here: www.zoemcnulty.com www.schoolofstrut.com You can watch her "Raunch" video here: www.zoemcnulty.com/raunchgiveaway Like the podcast? Great! Do subscribe on iTunes (Apple): https://itunes.apple.com/ch/podcast/life.-unrestricted.-podcast/id1130713233?mt=2 or on Stitcher (Android): http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=93987&refid Please consider supporting the podcast with a donation by becoming a "Patreon"; so that I can keep producing it. Thank you! Here's the link: https://www.patreon.com/lifeunrestricted ********* Don't forget!********* Make sure to join my tribe and meet some of the most supportive, loving and kind people of all shapes and sizes, including great coaches and leaders! We’re right over here at: http://www.lifeunrestricted.org/join/

LU 040: Kelsey Miller – The author of "Big Girl" talks about overcoming dieting and getting a life. Apr 26, 2017

Download Episode! Hey there, distinguished radicals - it's podcast time! In this week’s episode of the "Life. Unrestricted." podcast, you’ll hear me talk to Kelsey Miller from Brooklyn, New York. Kelsey graduated from Boston University with a Bachelor's degree in Film & Television. She began her career in the film production industry before transitioning to full-time writing. Soon after joining the staff of the online magazine Refinery29, she created The Anti-Diet Project, one of the website's most popular franchises. She is currently a Senior Features Writer and of course she is the author of the wonderful memoir "Big Girl". Kelsey shares her story with us, and you’ll hear: – How old she was when she became convinced that there was something "wrong" with her body – How her mother related to her body and weight – How early she started restricting food and trying to become skinnier – How easy kids pick up even indirect comments about food and weight and internalize them – How her dream of becoming an actor was being put under the condition that she loses weight, and how that kicked off years of her trying to starve herself into some arbitrary ideal – Why, for so many people, the first diet-success (the high of getting compliments and being applauded for the effort) becomes the carrot they end up chasing for decades – Why people innocently end up sacrificing their self-esteem, their values, the full experience of life and their peace of mind – How she ended up with a black or white, on/off mindset regarding food and exercise – Why re-learning to relate to movement without obsessing/counting/tracking is equally important as developing a normal relationship to food – Why it often takes hearing or reading about someone else’s struggles to wake us up out of our own trance – Why dieting and over-exercising are often ways of distracting ourselves from self-exploration – When and how she finally realized what her being stuck in dieting actually cost her – What happened when she decided to let go of this body-loathing way of escaping her own life – How, at first, she was at a complete loss of how to proceed, since all she knew was dieting – How she realized that "Intuitive Eating” would be her life-saver – Why "true permission to eat" turned out to be the key to healing – How re-learning to trust our body’s signal is an ongoing process – What the issues were that came up after she stopped escaping from them by her dieting behaviors – Why denial plays a huge part in someone's obsession with weight, food and exercise – How her hard work on her deeper issues really paid out for her – How her relationship developed through her process with giving up her weight-obsession – Why accepting love when you don’t love YOURSELF first is extremely difficult and uncomfortable – Why becoming vulnerable and honest towards a partner is so crucial in a relationship – Why it is so important to start challenging our own internal thoughts and beliefs – Why representation of "real" bodies matters so much and what she does to make this more of a reality – When to address someone else’s bias and when to let the ball drop – How family and friends reacted when her book came out – What she has to say to you if you are on the fence of writing about your journey... ...And so much more! Check out Kelsey's website: www.kelseymiller.com Here's the link to Refinery29: www.refinery29.com Here’s the link to her memoir "Big Girl”: https://www.amazon.com/Big-Girl-Gave-Dieting-Life/dp/1455532630/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1492549935&sr=1-1&keywords=big+girl Please consider supporting the podcast with a donation on "Patreon"; so that I can keep producing it. Thank you! Here's the link: https://www.patreon.com/lifeunrestricted Like the podcast? Great! Do subscribe on iTunes (Apple): https://itunes.apple.com/ch/podcast/life.-unrestricted.-podcast/id1130713233?mt=2 or on Stitcher (Android): http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=93987&refid ********* Don't forget!********* Make sure to join my tribe and meet some of the most supportive, loving and kind people of all shapes and sizes, including great coaches and leaders! We’re right over here at: http://www.lifeunrestricted.org/join/

LU 039: Robyn L. Goldberg – Intuition and real knowledge are fundamental for confident eating. Apr 19, 2017

In today’s episode, we all have a chance to meet Robyn L. Goldberg from Los Angeles. Robyn is a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist and Eating Disorder Specialist. Over the last nineteen years, Robyn has developed her own private practice in Beverly Hills, where she specializes in disordered eating, eating disorders, HAES (Health at Every Size), medical conditions, preventative nutrition and pregnancy nutrition. Robyn serves as a Nutrition Consultant for the Celiac Disease Foundation and she currently is the eating disorder specialist at "The Control Center" and has several body image/eating disorder groups at "Sober Livings" in Los Angeles. Robyn also teaches the nutrition classes for the Motion Picture Wellness Program. She is a contributing author that has been quoted in countless publications, and she has made appearances on national TV shows as a nationally known speaker in the eating disorder community promoting positive body image, weight stigma and size diversity. In this talk, Robyn shares with us: – Why she felt awkward and self-conscious as a kid – How she felt around her mother – What’s wrong with the sizing of clothes – Why BMI is simply a statistical average and definitely not made for individual determination of health – Why the medical model fails so many patients when BMI is used as an indicator for health – What kind of questions doctors should be asking instead – How she addressed this issue with doctors – How money plays into the fact that patients are not getting properly examined – Why doctors are often so heavily biased against weight-acceptance – How people with higher weight can be anorexic and not get help – How much treatment and therapy would be ideal for a stable recovery – Why recovery can only happen at your own pace – The problem with weight-bias in the medical profession – Where she sees slow shifts in the medical field away from focusing too much on weight – What she addresses in her presentations – Why overexercising can be a form of an eating disorder in and of itself – How recovery from dieting and from a full-blown eating disorder can be like riding waves – How do deal with, for example, exercise-relapses, where an individual gets tempted to engage in compulsive exercise routines (so-called "challenges") again – How to deal with relapses related to eating – Why carbs are necessary for our bodies and why we need to de-villainize them once and for all – How stress is the worst we can do for our health; and that includes stressing over food and exercise – Why we should all watch the short Youtube-video called "Poodle Science" (find link below) – Why we should all honor our uniqueness and our individual bodies...

... And so much more!

Check out Robyn’s work on her website: www.askaboutfood.com

Here’s the link to the awesome "Poodle Science", made by the Association for Size Diversity and Health (ASDAH): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H89QQfXtc-k

Please consider supporting the podcast with a donation on "Patreon"; so that I can keep producing it. Thank you! Here's the link: https://www.patreon.com/lifeunrestricted

********* Don't forget!*********

LU 038: Ragen Chastain – Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are NOT size-dependent. Apr 12, 2017

Hey there, lovely radicals... Podcast ahead! This week on the "Life. Unrestricted." podcast, I get to talk to Ragen Chastain from Los Angeles. Most of you know Ragen as the author of the fantastic blog "Dances With Fat", but she also wrote a book called "Fat: The Owner's Manual" and she is the editor of the multi-volume anthology "The Politics of Size - Perspectives from the Fat Acceptance Movement". Her blog "Dances With Fat" is followed by thousands of people from every continent around the world; men and women who are as fed up with weight-stigma as herself. Ragen describes herself as a professional speaker, writer, and real live fat person. She has spoken everywhere from friend's living rooms to Google Headquarters to Cal Tech and Dartmouth. She will not stop until we live in a world where the full diversity of body sizes is respected, and fat people are able to live in fat bodies without shame, stigma, bullying, and harassment. Today, you’ll hear Ragen talk about: – How she remembers herself as a kid – What protected her of excessive bullying in school – What triggered her to start restricting and overexercising – Where that landed her... – What bias lies underneath the fact that so many eating disorders go undetected and untreated – How she experienced the competing dancing world as a very talented dancer in a bigger body – What made her realize that she needed to become an activist if she were to become a fat dancer – What started her to want to personally look into the science around weight and diets – What she found out, when she applied all of the skills she had acquired when she studied research methods and statistical analysis (scientific literacy) – How doctors often prescribe to fat people what they would diagnose as an eating disorder in a thin person – A few very real examples of terrible advice she got from actual doctors (weight-bias in the medical field) – How she experienced the effect of being stuck in diet-land – How to read science and tell the difference between causation and correlation – The fallacy of the "good fatty/bad fatty"-dichotomy – Why none of your health decision make you more or less worthy or morally valuable – Why size diversity is completely normal, yet our society want us to believe otherwise (and buy into their weight-loss programs and products) – Why "healthy" and "thin" are not synonymous – What her mantra is to survive in this culture that bombards us with weight-loss messages – What she did to stop hating her body – How our childhoods play a role in recovery... ... And so much more! Check out Ragen’s famous blog: https://danceswithfat.wordpress.com/blog/ Here’s the link to her book: https://www.amazon.com/Fat-Owners-Manual-Ragen-Chastain/dp/0985667400 Please consider supporting the podcast with a donation by becoming a "Patreon"; so that I can keep producing it. Thank you! Here's the link: https://www.patreon.com/lifeunrestricted Like the podcast? Great! Do subscribe on iTunes (Apple): https://itunes.apple.com/ch/podcast/life.-unrestricted.-podcast/id1130713233?mt=2 or on Stitcher (Android): http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=93987&refid ********* Don't forget!********* Make sure to join my tribe and meet some of the most supportive, loving and kind people of all shapes and sizes, including great coaches and leaders! We’re right over here at: http://www.lifeunrestricted.org/join/

LU 037: Beth Rosen – Life is for living, and food is for eating; here’s how she does it. Apr 05, 2017

Lovely radicals, podcast joy ahead...! This week, on the "Life. Unrestricted." podcast, we all have a chance to meet Beth Rosen. Beth is a Registered Dietitian in private practice in Southbury (Connecticut, USA) and virtually everywhere else. She subscribes to a non-diet philosophy to wellness and is a Health At Every Size® practitioner. Beth has an undergraduate degree in Dietetics, and a Master’s degree from Columbia University in New York City in Nutrition Education. She has been a Registered Dietitian for over 20 years. Currently, she works with chronic dieters who are struggling with the vicious cycle of dieting to ditch all diets, learn to eat fearlessly through self-regulation and Intuitive Eating principles, and respect and care for their bodies. As someone who knows how it is to live with serious food intolerances, she loves sharing recipes and food ideas for joyful eating. Being a mother, she also writes about parenting, sustainable living, gardening and crafting. In this talk, Beth shares with us: – How she was taught to feel about her body – How her mother’s (and grandmother’s) relationship to food and weight got passed on to her – How dieting became the "normal thing to do" for her – How her brothers were affected by her mother’s obsession with thinness – How she learned that girls "bonded" through body-hatred and diet-talk – How diets mess with our body’s signals in a harmful way – What kind of people she met in her studies to become a Registered Dietitian – That – disturbingly! – even people with full-blown eating disorders were allowed to take these courses – Why what is being taught at nutrition school is always to be taken with a grain of salt – Why she made herself a disservice by following the advice she learned at nutrition school – Why all foods – fun-foods included! – are important – How the "stocking"-method words to get over the fear of certain foods – How she remembers the moment she herself snapped out of her diet-obsession – How her "way out" looked like when she decided to leave diet-culture behind – What traps she fell into when she started intuitive eating – What keeps us from actually letting dieting go, even if we know that it’s imprisoning us – How to create new, better inner self-talk – What it takes to make a new habit – like positive self-talk/not dieting – stick – Why it is so important to separate the negative voice from ourselves and personalize it – Why dealing with body image issues before motherhood is so crucially important – How she made sure that she passes on a positive or at least neutral body image... ... And so much more! Check out Beth’s website: www.goodnessgraciousliving.com Please consider supporting the podcast with a donation by becoming a "Patreon"; so that I can keep producing it. Thank you! Here's the link: https://www.patreon.com/lifeunrestricted Like the podcast? Great! Do subscribe on iTunes (Apple): https://itunes.apple.com/ch/podcast/life.-unrestricted.-podcast/id1130713233?mt=2 or on Stitcher (Android): http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=93987&refid ********* Don't forget!********* Make sure to join my tribe and meet some of the most supportive, loving and kind people of all shapes and sizes, including great coaches and leaders! We’re right over here at: http://www.lifeunrestricted.org/join/

LU 036: Judith Matz – How the diet-/binge cycle works and what it takes to break free from it. Mar 29, 2017

Lovely radicals, it's show time again! This week, it’s my honor to welcome Judith Matz to the podcast. Judith is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker with over 25 years of experience as a therapist who helps people make peace with food, their bodies, and themselves. As someone who knows the struggle of feeling out of control around food, she now specializes in the treatment of Binge Eating Disorder and compulsive eating. Judith is the director of the "Chicago Center for Overcoming Overeating", an organization dedicated to ending the preoccupation with food and weight through educational programs and workshops. She also loves public speaking and frequently presents at local and national conferences and meetings. Judith also is the co-author of two acclaimed books for adults called: "Beyond a Shadow of a Diet" and "The Diet Survivors Handbook" as well as a book on body image for kids called "Amanda’s Big Dream". Her work has appeared in countless media outlets, and today, here she is! Judith tells us: – How she remembers being in a body in her pre-teen years – How her family related to food and body – Why her body image plummeted in high school – How she learned that girls "bonded" through body-hatred and diet-talk – What she experienced in the years she was restricting in order to "fix her body" – What made her realize that it was restriction that messed with her once-normal relationship with food – How the false promise of diets keeps people trapped in the same cycle – What we are avoiding by making everything about our body’s size and its weight – How to approach the journey towards self-acceptance and body acceptance – Why this healing work is so worth it – How she helps the many, many health professionals, nutritionists and personal trainers who are struggling themselves and unwillingly pass on their biases – How the diet-binge cycle works and why it takes courage to break free from it and actually empower ourselves – How you can tell if someone is dieting (no matter what they might call it to make it sound like they are not) – Why there is often so much resistance when we tell them that diets are harmful – How to find out what to do instead of dieting – What she teaches parents about how to address body, food and weight – What the research on the bodies of identical twins says in relation to diets – Why you simply can not tell a person’s health by looking at their body – How to re-learn eating after a lifetime of dieting and restricting – How to switch to a kinder way of talking to ourselves... – Why self-compassion and patience are pivotal in healing our body image and how we relate to food and weight... ... And so much more! Check out Judith’s website: www.judithmatz.com Please consider supporting the podcast by becoming a "Patreon"; so that I can keep producing it. Thank you! Here's the link: https://www.patreon.com/lifeunrestricted Like the podcast? Great! Do subscribe on iTunes (Apple): https://itunes.apple.com/ch/podcast/life.-unrestricted.-podcast/id1130713233?mt=2 or on Stitcher (Android): http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=93987&refid ********* Don't forget!********* Make sure to join my tribe and meet some of the most supportive, loving and kind people of all shapes and sizes, including great coaches and leaders. We’re right over here at: http://www.lifeunrestricted.org/join/

LU 035: Dan Lewin – A man turns his body image and weight issues around and helps others heal. Mar 22, 2017

Hey there, lovely radicals! This week on the "Life. Unrestricted." podcast, you'll hear me a chat with a fellow official "Body Image Movement Global Ambassador": Dan Lewin from the Sunshine Coast in Australia! Dan is 35 years old and has recently graduated with a Bachelor of Nutrition & Dietetics (Honors) and he has started working for a group of specialized dietitians dedicated to working with clients who are battling eating disorders, disordered eating and weight and body concerns in general. In all of his work, he uses the principles of Health at Every Size (HAES) and the non-diet approach. He is very passionate about working with community and raising awareness around body image issues, for women as well as men. As a professional photographer, he uses imagery as a tool to bring attention to male and female body image concerns. Today, you’ll hear Dan talk about: – How he remembers his relationship to food and body as a young boy – Where he got the message that his body was too big – What the role of his family was in the development of his body image – What experience kicked off his first engagement in dieting and trying to "look normal" – How he became a slave to restricting and counting, even while traveling overseas – Why he took things to the extreme after meeting his wife, especially with exercise – How his behaviors influenced his relationship – How, when he got the most compliments, his mental and physical health suffered the worst – What made him let go of his perfectionistic tendencies – Who and what made him see that he didn’t want to spread the diet-word and make others as miserable as he was – What helped him to let go of his old belief that his worth was tied to his looks – What he replaced self-hate and self-criticism with – Why he describes the journey towards body acceptance as an ongoing, fluid process – How defining his personal values helped him move through the initial phase of letting go of dieting – Why uncomfortable feelings and difficult emotions are part of the way to liberation, not a sign that it’s not working – Why we need to face our fears and actually go collect the evidence (that nothing bad will happen if we gain some weight or lose tone) to see that it was only our mind holding us prisoner for so long – Why the study of dietetics and nutrition often only reinforces body-negativity and fails to address the epidemic of disordered eating and the increase of eating disorders – How he discovered "The Body Image Movement" that was created by Taryn Brumfitt, the creator of the documentary "Embrace" – Why he would love to see more men watching this movie – How he tries to encourage and inspire other men to talk about their struggles – Why he thinks body image can never be a static thing – Why he believes it is critical to teach the younger generation about media- and marketing literacy – How he intends to fight against the disgraceful "headless fatty" phenomenon in media imagery... ... And so much more! Check out Dan’s work here: www.innerselfrevealed.com.au www.fmb.com.au His favorite quote: "To be nobody but yourself in a world which is doing its best to make you everybody BUT yourself means to fight the hardest battle that any human being could fight." – E. E. Cummings Please consider supporting the podcast with a donation by becoming a "Patreon"; so that I can keep producing it. Thank you! Here's the link: https://www.patreon.com/lifeunrestricted Like the podcast? Great! Do subscribe on iTunes (Apple): https://itunes.apple.com/ch/podcast/life.-unrestricted.-podcast/id1130713233?mt=2 or on Stitcher (Android): http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=93987&refid ********* Don't forget!********* Make sure to join my tribe and meet some of the most supportive, loving and kind people of all shapes and sizes, including great coaches and leaders! We’re right over here at: http://www.lifeunrestricted.org/join/

LU 034: Anne Poirier – No more compulsive exercise: How to break the chains of "being the fit one". Mar 15, 2017

Download Episode! Hey, lovely radicals... it's podcast time! In today's episode of the "Life. Unrestricted." podcast, I’m talking to Anne Poirier. Anne is the new program director at Green Mountain At Fox Run in Ludlow, Vermont. Green Mountain is a non-diet mind and body wellness center that offers retreats for women who want to start the journey back from years of dieting, body shame, weight-obsession and food fears. They re-learn to enjoy food again, and re-learn to move in a way that brings joy, and has nothing to do with food, calories or punishment. Anne was a fitness trainer for 30 years, battling her own body-shame-demons, and she came to the realization that the fitness industry is - sadly! - making many people less healthy, instead of more. She saw, time and time again, that the same people she had been helping to lose weight through diet and exercise, were coming back to her, after they had gained the weight back, feeling frustrated, depressed and convinced that they had failed. At the same time - unbeknownst to her clients - this same cycle was happening to her as well. Even though she did everything to look like the usual fitness professional, even though she tried modeling a "good way of eating", and "exercising harder" than others, she finally came to see that this was no way of living, as it really leaves everyone trapped in a vicious, painful cycle, and that it is time to think about sustainability and enjoyment again. Listen to Anne tell us: – How her mother related to food – How early she internalized the idea that her body was something to be fixed – How quickly this idea led her to anorexia – Why she resisted to be treated – How her anorexia eventually morphed into exercise bulimia – How her eating disorder made influenced her decision to go into exercise science in college – How she managed to hide her eating disorder in her athleticism for years – How she - for years - tried to find her identity behind labels like "fit", "strong" or "skinny" – Why her two pregnancies were the only time she remembers feeling free around food – How the disorder popped right back up after she gave birth – How her profession kept feeding her eating disorder, and why she wasn’t even really aware of it – How exercise is a legit addiction like any other – What kind of issues and pain we are numbing out from by exercising compulsively – What the biggest hurdle is for many people when they are tackling their exercise obsession – How we can reframe how we think about our bodies towards a more realistic, grateful body image – How painful it is to realize that she lived like that until she was almost 50 years old, too afraid to let go – Why it was that only when her body started to break down that she started waking up – How a forced break from exercise turned out to be the first step towards real healing – How suddenly she discovered a life beyond fitness and training and weight-suppressing – How she dealt with her changing weight – Why "Drums Alive" turned out to be a real game-changer for her in terms of exercise – Why it’s never wise to compare our insides to other people’s outsides – Why some people have to hit rock bottom before they start to see that they don’t really want to live life presenting a facade that isn’t even them – How she now sees clearly how she was desperately trying to "be someone special" all her life and how she lost herself in that for a long time – How she describes her life from, say, five years ago, compared to her life now – What her focus is in her work as program director at Green Mountain At Fox Run... ... And so much more! Check out the wonderful Green Mountain website: www.greenmountainatfoxrun.com Please consider supporting the podcast with a donation by becoming a "Patreon"; so that I can keep producing it. Thank you! Here's the link: https://www.patreon.com/lifeunrestricted Like the podcast? Great! Do subscribe on iTunes (Apple): https://itunes.apple.com/ch/podcast/life.-unrestricted.-podcast/id1130713233?mt=2 or on Stitcher (Android): http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=93987&refid ********* Don't forget!********* Make sure to join my tribe and meet some of the most supportive, loving and kind people of all shapes and sizes, including great coaches and leaders! We’re right over here at: http://www.lifeunrestricted.org/join

LU 033: Hilary Kinavey – How to be truly nourished and trust your own body. Mar 08, 2017

Hello, sweet radicals! In today's episode of the "Life. Unrestricted." podcast, I get to talk to Hilary Kinavey from Portland, Oregon. Hilary is a licensed professional counselor who specializes in disordered eating, trauma, anxiety, depression and addictions. She works in partnership with clients to develop a deeper understanding of their personal challenges, inner wisdom and their personal story. As a counselor, she places an emphasis on developing insight, mindfulness, and empathy for oneself. In 2005, she and Dana Sturtevant started facilitating groups to help women let go of food and weight obsession, and – sharing the same ideas – they then merged their practices to create a revolutionary approach to re-establish the "Body Trust" that we all had when we were born. They founded "Be Nourished", a partnership that is based on the passion to help people lose the weight of body shame and to create the change they seek from a deeper place. They offer programs, workshops, retreats, and e-courses to help cultivate body trust, as well as counseling, yoga and naturopathic care to complement long-term body acceptance and the benefits of being physically and psychologically nourished. In addition to counseling, coaching, and facilitating, Hilary is a popular speaker on topics such as Health At Every Size, Intuitive Eating and Body Respect in health care communities, and she is a regular contributor to the Huffington post. You'll hear Hilary talk about: – How her mother’s dieting made her focus on her own body – How she came to believe that her body was not ok – What she learned about what it meant to be "a successful woman" – Why so many people still aren’t aware of how harmful diets can be – What most of us are trying to achieve when we start weight-obsessing – Why her parents' feminism helped her a lot, even though dieting wasn’t being questioned yet back then – How she learned about social justice issues from her parents – Why people’s struggles with food and weight are often not addressed in counseling – Why, sadly, women are lead from focusing on their own heart’s desires towards being stuck focusing solely on their desirability – What it was that made the pieces fall together for her on her journey to self-acceptance – What her first reaction was after she figured out what it is that keeps women from living their fullest expression and following their true desires – What 5 steps we can all take to get rid of body-loathing – How Intuitive Eating connected her with her own body – Why Intuitive Eating and enjoying food freely leads to a feeling of empowerment – How her whole life changed when she started trusting herself, her body and food – How she breaks through the diet-mentality barriers of her clients – What this body image work is really about, at the core – How she helps her clients get over their resistance to feel emotions – What her (and Dana Sturtevant’s) work at "Be Nourished" is all about – How body respect is the first and easiest step towards body trust – How to learn what diet-culture has robbed of us, and how that can help us grow – Why it’s not about "not ever having a bad body day" again – How "Be Nourished" helps health care providers get rid of weight-bias... ... And so much more! Check out Hilary Kinavey and Dana Sturtevant’s work with "Be Nourished" here: www.benourished.org Here's the link to their Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/benourishedpdx/?fref=ts Please consider supporting the podcast with a donation by becoming a "Patreon"; so that I can keep producing it. Thank you! Here's the link: https://www.patreon.com/lifeunrestricted Like the podcast? Great! Do subscribe on iTunes (Apple): https://itunes.apple.com/ch/podcast/life.-unrestricted.-podcast/id1130713233?mt=2 or on Stitcher (Android): http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=93987&refid ********* Don't forget!********* Make sure to join my tribe and meet some of the most supportive, loving and kind people of all shapes and sizes, including great coaches and leaders! We’re right over here at: http://www.lifeunrestricted.org/join/

LU 032: Diane Summers – There is hope for healing and achieving a life free from body issues. Mar 01, 2017

Lovely radicals! Welcome back. This week on the "Life. Unrestricted." podcast, it’s my pleasure to bring to you a fellow size-acceptance fighter: Diane Summers from Everett, Washington. Diane is a nationally registered and state certified dietitian with extensive experience treating eating disorders at all levels of care. Diane has been involved in the awareness, prevention and treatment of eating disorders for more than 10 years, and has treated hundreds and hundreds of people of all ages and across the entire spectrum of eating disorders and eating issues. She is recognized as a Certified Eating Disorder Registered Dietitian through the international Association of Eating Disorder Professionals for her expertise in treating eating disorders and training other professionals in the treatment of eating disorders. She is also a Certified Intuitive Eating Counselor. Diane has presented at local and national conferences, schools, universities, clinics, and church groups. Today, you’ll hear Diane talk about: – How her parents feed her as a child and why she is extremely grateful for that – What her emotional difficulties looked like as an "army kid" – The ways in which her body image suffered in her adolescence – Why she felt like "the odd one out" as a nutritionist – What it was that made her question the diet-y ideas she got taught in nutrition school – The reason why she got interested in working with eating disorders – Why eating disorder treatments so often fail – Why we are often unaware of our internal "size-ism" and how to bring that into awareness – What it would take to make treatment success stories improve tremendously – What she teaches her clients about weight-discrimination – How we can smartly respond to body-shaming/food-shaming comments – Why we should all abstain from making ANY comments on bodies, whether good or bad – Why not just "the very thin", but also a person in a bigger body might show signs of anorexia – How a session with her could look like – What it is that is way more telling if someone has disordered eating or an eating disorder than the actual weight – What makes the diet-mentality so hard to break free from – What people with disordered eating and eating disorders have in common – Why the role of parents is crucially important in the development of a child’s body image – How it is never really about food or weight, once the layers of the struggles are being worked through – Why what the media presents us in terms of post-menopausal women is a legitimate set-up for body-wars – Why weight-gain after menopause is the best life-protection for you... ... And so much more! Check out Diane’s website: www.hopenutritiontherapy.com Please consider supporting the podcast with a donation by becoming a "Patreon"; so that I can keep producing it. Thank you! Here's the link: www.patreon.com/lifeunrestricted Like the podcast? Great! Do subscribe on iTunes (Apple): https://itunes.apple.com/ch/podcast/life.-unrestricted.-podcast/id1130713233?mt=2 or on Stitcher (Android): http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=93987&refid ********* Don't forget!********* Make sure to join my tribe and meet some of the most supportive, loving and kind people of all shapes and sizes, including great coaches and leaders! We’re right over here at: http://www.lifeunrestricted.org/join/

LU 031: Julie Duffy Dillon – Have you hit diet rock bottom and need more peace with food and body? Feb 22, 2017

Download Episode! Lovely radicals, it's podcast time! In today's episode of the "Life. Unrestricted." podcast, I get to talk to Julie Duffy Dillon from Greensboro, North Carolina. Julie is a food behavior expert who helps people enjoy eating again. Award winning with her progressive approach, Julie was featured in TLC’s documentary "My Big Fat Fabulous Life". She also has an active blog, writes the weekly "Food Peace Newsletter", but she also hosts a podcast, called "Love Food", where she addresses people's struggles by way of a love letter from food. Julie has a Bachelor in Nutrition from Ohio University, and a Masters Degree in Mental Health Counseling from the University of North Carolina. As a Registered and Licensed Dietitian, she founded BirdHouse Nutrition Therapy, a group practice passionate about helping individuals and families recover from eating disorders. As a Certified Eating Disorders Specialist, she also supervises other dietitians who are on the path to become eating disorder specialists as well. Listen to Julie talk about: – What kind of messages she got about weight and body – Why she got into nutrition and counseling – What she learned about the treatment of people who are considered "overweight" – How she realized that, as a nutritionists, they didn’t give those people the right treatment – What's wrong with the education of future nutritionists – Why it is often those who are themselves disordered choose to study nutrition or personal training – What she found out when she dug into weight-science and research studies – What she found out about diets, restriction, weight-obsession and the harm of it all and the risk of developing an eating disorder – What the Minnesota Starvation Study was about and what happens when we diet/restrict/overexercise – Why binge-eating and overeating are rooted in restriction, be it physical and/or mental – How our mental health is closely related to how well-fed we are – How, after periods of restriction, binge-eating is completely normal and our body's way to save us – How she discovered Health at Every Size and started to question her approach and her beliefs – How feminism and the knowledge about social justice issues helped her in developing a deeper understanding of people's body issues – Why body image must be addressed on the way of diet- or eating disorder recovery, in order to make sure that people don't get stuck in disordered eating and a full recovery is possible – What she means by "hidden faces" of eating disorders, and why they are the vast majority of eating disorders – Why anorexics often don't look like the clichéd "skeletal-looking" person – How she found out how hurtful our society’s fear of fat really is – What we must be cautious about when choosing a dietitian or nutritionist – How she found out how exaggerated the connection between weight and health really is – Why it can be very helpful to feel healthy anger when we find out how we have been deceived – Why those evasive 3 percent of people for whom dieting "supposedly works" are those who are sacrificing everything just to keep that weight off, and why even those people come to sanity (and their natural weight) eventually – How weight-suppression keeps us from living our lives fully and freely – How we can learn to consume media’s messages with a more critical, schooled eye – Why developing a healthy anger towards the diet- and beauty industries will help us grow strong enough to channel it into advocacy... ... And so much more! Check out Julie’s websites: www.juliedillonrd.com and www.birdhousenutrition.com Please consider supporting the podcast with a donation by becoming a "Patreon"; so that I can keep producing it. Thank you! Here's the link: www.patreon.com/lifeunrestricted Like the podcast? Great! Do subscribe on iTunes (Apple): https://itunes.apple.com/ch/podcast/life.-unrestricted.-podcast/id1130713233?mt=2 or on Stitcher (Android): http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=93987&refid ********* Don't forget!********* Make sure to join my tribe and meet some of the most supportive, loving and kind people of all shapes and sizes, including great coaches and leaders! We’re right over here at: http://www.lifeunrestricted.org/join/

LU 030: Marsha Hudnall – Helping women find body-peace and a full life after an eating disorder. Feb 15, 2017

Download Episode! Lovely radicals! In today's episode of the "Life. Unrestricted." podcast, I get to talk to Marsha Hudnall from Ludlow, Vermont. Marsha is a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist, and she really has been a voice of reason and a thought leader for the last three decades in helping women move away from restrictive notions of food and health. Ever since 1986, Marsha has been a guiding force at Green Mountain at Fox Run, the Vermont women’s retreat that pioneered the non-diet approach to health and weight. She now serves as president and co-owner, and she is passionate about all of her work. She is an accomplished writer who has written hundreds of articles for popular magazines, and professional journals and has worked extensively to educate the public about nutrition and about the impact of dieting and the internal diet-mentality that drives our eating behaviors and obsession with weight. Marsha is also the president of the Center For Mindful Eating and a former board member of the Binge Eating Disorder Association. Listen in as Marsha talks about: – What it was the set the stage for her quest for thinness – How her mother’s body image and diet-obsession influenced her – Why her personality type is typical for a person with an eating disorder – What perfectionism has to do with eating disorders – Why she never talked about her bulimia to anyone – How her bulimia has affected her health long-term – How restriction exacerbates any food-issues and causes food-obsession – What the diet-industry has taken from our experience of "eating" – Why that diet-mentality-induced guilt for eating created so many problems – Why she became a dietitian – What the steps to her healing looked like – Why Green Mountain At Fox Run literally changed her life – How her husband’s mother became the pioneer in the non-diet approach – What the non-diet approach is REALLY about – How best to move away from body-hate – Why having a community and supporting each other can make all the difference – Why accepting size-diversity is the key to self-acceptance – How she introduces the concept of Health At Every Size to women who haven’t heard of it before – What she means when she talks about structure around eating (it’s not what you think) – Why eating fun-foods is very much part of a "normal" eating routine – Why sugar addiction is nothing but another misleading marketing tactic – How we can overcome those feelings of "addiction" with food – What kind of feelings and thoughts people are trying to cope with by obsessing over food and weight – How she deals with difficult feelings – What makes community the key ingredient to healing for people... ... And so much more! Check out Marsha here: www.greatmountainatfoxrun.com The Green Mountain At Fox Run Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/GreenMountainAtFoxRun/?fref=ts Please consider supporting the podcast with a donation by becoming a "Patreon"; so that I can keep producing it. Thank you! Here's the link: https://www.patreon.com/lifeunrestricted Like the podcast? Great! Do subscribe on iTunes (Apple): https://itunes.apple.com/ch/podcast/life.-unrestricted.-podcast/id1130713233?mt=2 or on Stitcher (Android): http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=93987&refid= ********* Don't forget!********* Make sure to join my tribe and meet some of the most supportive, loving and kind people of all shapes and sizes, including great coaches and leaders! We’re right over here at: http://www.lifeunrestricted.org/join/

LU 029: Isabel Foxen Duke – Learning from the mastermind behind "Stop Fighting Food". Feb 08, 2017

Download Episode! Lovely radicals! In today's episode of the "Life. Unrestricted." podcast, I talk to Isabel Foxen Duke from San Francisco. Isabel is a Certified Health Coach and Emotional Eating Expert. She is the founder of the renowned "Stop Fighting Food"-program that has helped countless women making peace with food and their body, so that they could finally stop obsessing about food, and get back to enjoying their lives. After years of trying to overcome her binge eating through "traditional" and alternative approaches Isabel managed to heal herself, as she discovered how binge eating and dieting are linked. She is incredibly successful in her work and has helped thousands of women overcome their food issues for good. Listen to Isabel as she tells us: – What her earliest memories are of "being in a body" – What made her feel unattractive and "too big" when she was only a child – What it was the set the stage for her quest for thinness – Why she never got help and denied she had a food and body issue for so long – Why no one recognized she had an eating disorder – Why that quest for a thinner body has everything to do with her ending up with a cocaine habit – What she learned in rehab – What she thinks makes most eating disorder treatments resulting in such poor recovery rates – What made her finally understand where her binging came from – What helped her on the way to body acceptance, and why that work is key – Why mental deprivation and restriction are just as binge-causing as physical deprivation – How many people unconsciously restrict and don’t realize it – Why diet-mentality is a stumbling block for our attempts to free ourselves of the "crazy feeling around food" – Where weight discrimination comes from – Where the term "body positivity" comes from – Why healing our relationship with food does not mean acquiring a certain body size – Why the "sugar addiction" and "food addiction" hype is so problematic – How to overcome our internal diet-mentality – What her program "Stop Fighting Food" is all about – The difference between fat phobia and internalized fat-phobia and why both keep everyone stuck – How weight-suppression keeps us from living our lives fully and freely – Why it is important to see the toxic mechanisms behind diet-culture and the diet industry and how this can help us stepping out of old beliefs – How to heal negative body image, let go of disordered eating, overcome food fears and end weight-obsession... ... And so much more! Check out Isabel's website and program: www.stopfightingfood.com Please consider supporting the podcast with a donation, so that I can keep producing it. Thank you! Here's the link: https://www.patreon.com/lifeunrestricted Yes, yes, yes! Do subscribe on iTunes (Apple): https://itunes.apple.com/ch/podcast/life.-unrestricted.-podcast/id1130713233?mt=2 or on Stitcher (Android): http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=93987&refid= ********* Don't forget!********* Make sure to join my tribe and meet some of the most supportive, loving and kind people of all shapes and sizes, including great coaches and leaders! We’re right over here at: http://www.lifeunrestricted.org/join/

LU 028: Fiona Sutherland – Goodbye, scale! Time for positivity with food, weight and body image. Feb 01, 2017

Download Episode! Lovely radicals! Let me bring some sunshine into your lives: In today's episode of the "Life. Unrestricted." podcast, I talk to Fiona Sutherland from Melbourne, Australia. Fiona is the Director of "Body Positive Australia" which offers therapy, yoga and retreats to the community and also of "The Mindful Dietitian" which offers mindfulness and client-centered practice, training opportunities and information, specifically to dietitians worldwide. Fiona is a specialist in Eating Disorders (mostly Binge Eating Disorder), eating behavior and body image. Fiona has recently been appointed to the Australia & New Zealand Academy of Eating Disorders Board, where she aims to strengthen the voice for ED recovery and Health at Every Size. She is a professional kid-wrangler (of two boys, aged 5 & 7) and she is currently half-way through her yoga teacher training. She is passionate about how we can help everyone – in every body! – live in peace within this very brainwashed diet-culture. You will hear Fiona share: – Why she thinks it’s never worth to sacrifice birthday cake to a thinness-dream – What makes scales the worst device to have around – What she loves to do to scales and what she promises to do if I smash my elliptical – Why compulsive exercise can cost us the experience of actually truly fulfilled needs – How she proves why you, me and everyone else is inherently worthy; without pursuing our ideas of perfection (i.e. the need to be busy, the need to pursue weight-loss, the need to be fit, etc.) – What she learned about bodies when she was a kid – Why she describes her experience as a child as "thin-xiety" – How her mother’s dieting behavior bewildered her – What traumatic memories she has of the time when she went to weight-loss group with her mother – How her sister got treated for being in a larger body – Why all of these experiences made her angry enough to DO something about the toxicity of diet-culture – How we get tricked by society’s messages about weight and weight-loss that "there is a magic bullet" and how this sets us up for falling into the trap that everything "can be fixed almost instantly" – Why food-restriction and any attempts at dieting are so harmful and have ZERO to do with health – Why our internalized diet-mentality and weight-obsession can burn a whole into our self-worth – Why any sort of diet-recovery, be it for lifelong dieters, disordered eaters or people with eating disorders, is a slow process with lots of tiny steps – Why our belief that we master recovery success either instantly or just not try it at all is coming from the voice of the eating disorder – What little steps could look like, in terms of eating or exercising – Why our judgment of our behaviors (emotional eating, for example) is what creates the real problem and how we can start to become more observing and less judgmental about ourselves – What the key element is to a smoother recovery process – How she would raise ME if I had been her child (and what her goals are for her own children) – What her top tips are to avoid passing our body image struggles on to our children – What "The Body Positive Australia"’s mission is and what kind of services they offer – How they help make dietitians and other health professionals aware of the long-term harm of dieting and of weight-discrimination – Why her business partner’s "Fat Yoga" classes are taking off like crazy – What they continuously do to change the harmful paradigm of weight-loss-idealization and diet-culture... ... And so much more! Here's the link to Fiona's website: www.themindfuldietitian.com.au Check out "The Body Positive Australia" website: www.bodypositiveaustralia.com.au Please consider supporting the podcast with a donation, so that I can keep producing it. Thank you! Here's the link: https://www.patreon.com/lifeunrestricted Please: Do subscribe on iTunes (Apple): https://itunes.apple.com/ch/podcast/life.-unrestricted.-podcast/id1130713233?mt=2 or on Stitcher (Android): http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=93987&refid= ********* Don't forget!********* Make sure to join my tribe and meet some of the most supportive, loving and kind people of all shapes and sizes, including great coaches and leaders! We’re right over here at: http://www.lifeunrestricted.org/join/

LU 027: Thom Rutledge – Confronting the "inner Gremlin voice" and learning how to disobey it. Jan 25, 2017

Download Episode! Lovely radicals! In today's episode of the "Life. Unrestricted." podcast, I talk to Thom Rutledge from Nashville. Thom is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, psychotherapist, author and speaker, who has experienced both sides of the therapeutic relationship; as a clinician and as a client. He blends his personal recovery from depression, addiction and excessive self-criticism with 30 years of professional experience to guide his clients, readers, and audiences from self-judgment and perfectionism toward genuine self-compassion. He’s the author of several books like "Embracing Fear", "Earning Your Own Respect" and "The Greater Possibilities“, and he has co-written "Life Without ED" (ED meaning Eating Disorder) with Jenni Schaefer. Thom’s trademark sense of humor, a down-to-earth practicality, and his own compassion are the common threads than run through his unique brand of psychology. Thom will tell us: – How contributing to a bestseller about eating disorders led to him specializing in eating disorder treatment – How he as a recovering alcoholic (who’s been sober for 30 years) can relate to people with eating disorders and disordered eating – Where he sees the familiarity between eating disorders and alcoholism – Why eating disorders are often more difficult to recover from than alcohol addiction – Why he asks his clients about their relationship to fear – Why there often are existential fears underneath eating issues – What his intra-personal therapy model consists of – Why trust is such a crucial part of eating disorder therapy – How we can separate our fear voice (inner Gremlin/inner bully) from our healthy voice (recovery voice) – Why it is normal to often have different feelings or even opinions about things in life – How clever our inner Gremlins are and how they trick us – How this inner Gremlin actually manages to scare us into paralysis – Why the inner Gremlin is a synonym for catastrophic thinking – Why we should never expect to be able to fully rid ourselves of those inner bullies – Why we can only learn to deal with them when we first start to listen to what it actually says – Why it helps to ask ourselves how much of what this inner Gremlin predicts has ever really happened – What we are really afraid of when we say "we are afraid of weight-gain" – How he specifically works with my example – Why rejecting and disobeying the inner Gremlin is the way to recovery – Why in healing from bad body image and disordered eating it often gets worse before it gets better – Why, when we have believed our inner Gremlin for decades, it often feels like shedding our old identity when we are on the way to becoming our true selves – Why the inner Gremlin doesn’t get to use the "I" pronoun – How to strengthen our inner, true recovery voice – How we can become the real decision-makers in our own life – How community and support play a pivotal role for our mental health – Why he thinks the universe purposely designed us to be "forgetting machines"... ... And so much more! Check out the Thom’s website to find out about his work and his books: http://www.thomrutledge.com/ Please consider supporting the podcast with a donation by becoming a "Patreon"; so that I can keep producing it. Thank you! Here's the link: https://www.patreon.com/lifeunrestricted Please: Do subscribe on iTunes (Apple): https://itunes.apple.com/ch/podcast/life.-unrestricted.-podcast/id1130713233?mt=2 or on Stitcher (Android): http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=93987&refid= ********* Don't forget!********* Make sure to join my tribe and meet some of the most supportive, loving and kind people of all shapes and sizes, including great coaches and leaders! We’re right over here at: http://www.lifeunrestricted.org/join/

LU 026: Melissa Toler – Bring sanity back to the way you eat, train and look at yourself. Jan 18, 2017

Download Episode! Lovely radicals... it's podcast time! In today's episode of the "Life. Unrestricted." podcast, I talk to Melissa Toler, from Maryland, close to Washington DC. She is a certified health and wellness coach, speaker and writer, with a background as a pharmacist who offers a non-diet, weight-neutral health approach, and her goal is to help women connect the dots between our culture’s ridiculous beauty standards and our personal struggle with self-acceptance. She helps women unlearn the toxic messages and behaviors from lifelong dieting so they can learn a new set of skills and live a life free from obsession and self-loathing. Having a 25-year history with dieting herself, she knows personally what it means to be stuck in the diet-binge-cycle. She came to sanity a few years ago, and she says it was one of the best decisions she has ever made. I believe her. Melissa also teaches workshops and courses to help people on the path to improving their body image. We will all get some of here awesomeness in this episode! Listen to Melissa talk about: – Where she got the message that her body was "not good enough" – What the moment was where she internalized the belief that she needed to change her body – Why she got stuck in this well-known hell of weight-suppression, dieting and overexercising for so long – What it was that made her wake up and learn to listen to her own body again – What helped her to question her own thinking and see behind the mechanism of diet-culture and how much money is being made by making women feel "less than" – Why it literally pays off to be hypercritical of media’s, TV’s and magazines’ messages – Why by buying beauty/women’s magazines and diet books/products, we vote "yes" to our oppression with our own money – Why we all need other people to help wake us up to what we have gotten so used to that we never stop to question it – Why it is always a good idea to be suspicious of the words "body positive" or "empowered woman", especially as it is being viciously co-opted by diet-culture these days – What TRUE empowerment means – What proved to be most helpful on her way out of constant dieting – How she helps women re-connect to their true selves – How we can learn and implement the skill of self-compassion even when it sounds weird at first – How we can start questioning our thoughts with curiosity instead of judgment – How to decode what’s behind it when the "urge" to go on a diet comes up – How we can stop the diet-thoughts from influencing our decisions – How she helps her clients see where they have been mislead into "false" thinking about themselves being "not good enough", and who profits off of that – How much precious time in a person’s life can literally be wasted by getting stuck in diet-land, being preoccupied by weight-loss, body-negativity and obsession – Why a person's size never tells us anything about their health and the dangers of equating "thin" to "healthy" – Why it is important to understand the sinister mechanism of diet-culture and how this can help us stepping out of old beliefs – Why stepping out of diet culture is a truly radical move... ... And so much more! Check out Melissa’s work: www.melissatoler.com Please consider supporting the podcast with a donation by becoming a "Patreon"; so that I can keep producing it. Thank you! Here's the link: https://www.patreon.com/lifeunrestricted Please: Do subscribe on iTunes (Apple): https://itunes.apple.com/ch/podcast/life.-unrestricted.-podcast/id1130713233?mt=2 or on Stitcher (Android): http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=93987&refid= ********* Don't forget!********* Make sure to join my tribe and meet some of the most supportive, loving and kind people of all shapes and sizes, including great coaches and leaders! We’re right over here at: http://www.lifeunrestricted.org/join/

LU 025: Harriet Brown – "The Body of Truth" reveals what’s wrong in today’s thin-obsessed world. Jan 11, 2017

Download Episode! Lovely radicals, how wonderful to have you back! In today's episode of the "Life. Unrestricted." podcast, I talk to Harriet Brown from Syracuse, New York. She is an award-winning author, a poet, magazine editor and professor at the S. I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University, and she writes, researches and teaches about eating disorders and body image. She has written for the New York Times Magazine, Psychology Today and many others. Her experience with having a daughter who suffered from anorexia inspired her to begin working as an advocate for better eating-disorders treatment. She is the author of several books, two of which I’d like to mention: The first is called "Brave Girl Eating" in which she writes about how they, as a family, fought against her daughter Kitty’s anorexia. And second, of course, the groundbreaking book called "The Body of Truth – How Science, History, and Culture Drive our Obsession with Weight and What We Can Do about it". The two of us forgot that this was a recorded conversation pretty quickly and I bet you can hear the passion in both our voices in this one. Listen in as Harriet tells us: – Why she felt unattractive and "too big" as a child already – What it was the set the stage for her quest for thinness – What it was that made her say "enough" and "I can’t do this anymore" – What happened in her first therapy session – Why she went back and worked with her therapist for 10 years after that, in spite of her initial resistance – What made see the logic behind a weight-neutral approach to health – Why she decided to write books on the subject of a weight-obsessed diet-world – What made her question some interpretations of studies – How she found out how hurtful our society’s fear of fat really is – How she found out how exaggerated the connection between weight and health really is – Why it can be very helpful to feel healthy anger when we find out how we have been deceived – Why it is that people are so resistant to this, and why they seem to want to stay stuck in their dieting efforts – Why those evasive three percent of people for whom dieting "supposedly works" are those who are sacrificing everything just to keep that weight off, and why even those people come to sanity (and their natural weight) eventually – How weight-suppression keeps us from living our lives fully and freely – How her daughter Kelly’s anorexia opened her eyes to the brutal truths of a diet-fixated culture – What her findings revealed about the tragedy of the BMI, the danger of weight-bias in the medical field, the effects of weight-stigma and the reason why everyone seems to have terrible body image these days – Why it is important to see the toxic mechanisms behind diet-culture and the diet industry and how this can help us stepping out of old beliefs – How to heal negative body image, let go of disordered eating, overcome food fears and end weight-obsession – Why it can be very exhausting and overwhelming to swim upstream in a diet- and thinness obsessed culture – How her life and her relationships and her marriage improved ever since she stopped dieting – What she teaches her students in her body image and weight-stigma lectures – What she wants every woman in the world to know... ... And so much more! Check out Harriet’s website and her books: www.harrietbrown.com Please consider supporting the podcast with a donation by becoming a "Patreon"; so that I can keep producing it. Thank you! Here's the link: https://www.patreon.com/lifeunrestricted Please: Do subscribe on iTunes (Apple): https://itunes.apple.com/ch/podcast/life.-unrestricted.-podcast/id1130713233?mt=2 or on Stitcher (Android): http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=93987&refid= ********* Don't forget!********* Make sure to join my tribe and meet some of the most supportive, loving and kind people of all shapes and sizes, including great coaches and leaders! We’re right over here at: http://www.lifeunrestricted.org/join/

LU 024: Rebecca Scritchfield – With "Body Kindness" to lasting health and peace of mind. Jan 02, 2017

Download Episode! Happy happy 2017, dear radicals!! Let's DO January differently, shall we? Let's come up with better ideas than those presented in the tired old weight-loss-resolutions. Let's step into a kinder way of relating to ourselves! This week on the "Life. Unrestricted." podcast, you are going to hear another great woman who is changing the game and inspiring the world with her wonderful work on body kindness and Health at Every Size (HAES). It is Rebecca Scritchfield from Washington DC. Rebecca is an expert on the connection between health and happiness and believes the foundation for a long, happy life lies in enjoyable habits. As a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist, a well-being coach as well as a health and fitness specialist, Rebecca helps people create a better life with workable, interesting self-care goals through her weight-neutral "Body Kindness" practice. Rebecca is the founder of Capitol Nutrition Group, co-founder of Dietitians for Body Confidence, and her very first book has just come out, it’s called "Body Kindness", and I am honored to be holding an advance copy of it in my hands... it is a wonderful, colorful and powerful read; highly recommendable. Rebecca has also been a spokesperson and consultant to some big food brand, and through over 100 media outlets, she has reached millions of people. And today, it will be you she reaches, dear listener. Listen to Rebecca as she tells us: – What her happy childhood memories of "being in a body" look like – What kind of comments and role-modeling made her become self-conscious about her body – How her mother related to food, body and weight – How her good intentions to take care of her body got twisted as her body image got worse – What it was that pushed her over the edge and into some of her darkest times – How her bad body image manifested in her ways of eating and exercising – Why no one recognized her struggle with her body, food and weight – How many women live in pretend-mode and hide their pain behind a mask of "I’m totally fine!" – How we can overcome shame and start sharing what we are struggling with – How we can make the best of our worst experiences – How raising our voice against discrimination and injustice makes all the difference – How it takes all of us to take down diet-culture – Why our internal diet-mentality is so persistent – Why everyone is entitled to their own pace when it comes to healing our false beliefs – What the most important sentence is that you can tell yourself when things get rough and diet-thoughts are taking over our mental space – How not to fall from one coping-mechanism into the next – What she means by "body kindness" – What the PACT-strategy is and how we can apply it – Why we need to learn to sit with uncomfortable feelings instead of believing our Gremlin-voice – Why being learning to be kind to yourself and your body (any sort of personal growth)) is likely to fire up your inner Gremlin and why that’s normal and even to be expected – How not to get triggered by every diet-culture message you come across – How her book "Body Kindness" came to be, and who she was really writing it for – What she wants us to remember at this delicate time when so many people "go on diets"... ... And so much more! Check out Rebecca’s website and have a look at her brand-new book: www.bodykindnessbook.com Please consider supporting the podcast with a donation by becoming a "Patreon"; so that I can keep producing it. Thank you! Here's the link: https://www.patreon.com/lifeunrestricted

Please: Do subscribe on iTunes (Apple): https://itunes.apple.com/ch/podcast/life.-unrestricted.-podcast/id1130713233?mt=2 or on Stitcher (Android): http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=93987&refid=

********* Don't forget!*********

LU 023: Me, solo – How to become a critical consumer, make better resolutions & 1000 thank-yous. Dec 22, 2016

"And the day came when the risk to remain tight in a bud was more painful than the risk it took to blossom."—Anaïs Nin. Lovely radicals! My knees are a little wobbly, as I bring to you my end-of-the-year solo-episode of the "Life. Unrestricted." podcast. That's because what I put together, isn't just the usual fluffy-jingly Christmas talk. See, all around me, people are in a buying frenzy, we are all being bombarded by "special offers" and "limited editions" and "gift ideas". And I can't help thinking of this excellent quote—credited to 15 different people, so I wonder if I should make it mine...? Just kidding!—that says: "We are persuaded to buy things we don't need, with money we don't have, to impress people we don't care about." And as if THAT wasn't enough to give me a million ideas for this podcast, we are ALSO being bombarded by the same old, sucked dry, tried-and-failed weight-loss New Year's resolutions. I can't even with this nonsense anymore! It makes me want to poke my eyeballs with a pencil and make monkey noises. This has got to change. So I'm going to talk about it. Yes, I feel vulnerable to let the world know where I stand on some of the matters I will be talking about, but that's a perfect indicator: This is exactly what I have to do. Get ready, dear ones. This episode is packed full of what I know about present-day marketing and how this ties into our world's collective, terrible state of body image. In my opinion, this knowledge is crucial to become more critical as a consumer and better equipped to see behind façades. This episode also contains a truckload of NEW New Year's resolutions to keep you strong on this path towards liberating your wonderful self, and not to fall for the tired old bunch of weight-lossy ones. And lastly, this episode is full of love. Full of gratitude for you showing up, full of respect for your continuous growth, full of awe for our collective support, our community, our sister- and brotherhood, for lack of a less wooo-wooo word. All of what I say today, is based on my interest to see us blossom. One promise: After listening to this, you will be perfectly equipped to step into the New Year with an awake mind, a well-oiled internal bullshit-detector, and a protective shield against the onslaught of body negative messages around you. One warning: Listening to this may cause you to question some beliefs you might have subconsciously been holding on to, and that might feel uncomfortable. One secret: That's a sign of growth! Growth happens out of your comfort zone. See why my knees are shaky? This one is important. If I had one Christmas gift wish, I would love for all the (wo)men in the world to have a chance to listen to this. For they deserve to live life true to themselves. Thank you a million times for being on this journey with me.... You are incredible people, radicals. I love you. Meret. Please consider supporting the podcast with a donation by becoming a "Patreon"; so that I can keep producing it. Thank you! Here's the link: https://www.patreon.com/lifeunrestricted Please: Do subscribe on iTunes (Apple): https://itunes.apple.com/ch/podcast/life.-unrestricted.-podcast/id1130713233?mt=2 or on Stitcher (Android): http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=93987&refid= ********* Don't forget!********* Make sure to join my tribe and meet some of the most supportive, loving and kind people of all shapes and sizes, including great coaches and leaders! We’re right over here at: http://www.lifeunrestricted.org/join/

LU 022: Lauren Anton – Reconnect with your body’s innate wisdom and let go of societal rules. Dec 13, 2016

Download Episode! Hey, lovely radicals. Podcast time! In this episode of the "Life. Unrestricted." podcast, you’re going to hear Lauren Anton from Culver City, California. Lauren is a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist and Certified Personal Trainer specializing in eating disorders and sports nutrition. She is the owner of "Arrive: Nutrition, Movement, Life". She has years of experience working at Eating Disorders Treatment facilities, in most levels of care, from Residential Treatment to Intensive Outpatient Treatment. She helps people who struggle with weight, food and exercise. Her goal is to assist her clients in moving away from a punitive experience with food and movement to one of self-compassion and self-care. Her non-diet, Health At Every Size approach allows people to break free from the chains of rules they have set for themselves that don’t serve them anymore, and she helps to guide them to an understanding of how their relationship to food, exercise and emotions are influencing each-other and their bodies. Lauren has spoken at numerous national conferences and events on eating disorders and sports nutrition. Today, Lauren will tell us: – What her earliest memory is of relating to bodies – How her mother’s restriction of snacks led to her binging on them secretly – Why she forced herself to become an athlete "against" her true inner will – What she sees when she looks at pictures of herself as a teenager, back when she was convinced she was fat – Why many women with anorexia don’t "look anorexic" and won’t get the help they need as long as doctors rely on something bogus like the BMI – What her advice is for all the parents out there who are dealing with doctors commenting on their child’s weight – What kind of experiences and comments made her develop a bad body image – Why her obsession with body and body image was centered around athleticism – How she learned to ignore her body’s signals just to be accepted as an athlete – Why focusing on the shapes and sizes of bodies isn’t helpful in sports, and what we should be focusing on instead – Why it is important to know and expect that giving up coping mechanisms like dieting or overexercising is going to bring up anxiety – Why people who exercise compulsively or engage in other disordered eating behaviors won’t heal if they "wait until they feel ready" – Why she thinks many people have to rock bottom until they allow themselves to change their lifestyle and finally heal – What her own rock bottom was – What kind of questions we can ask ourselves when we are tempted to fall back into old habits of weight-obsessing... ... And so much more! Check out Lauren’s (brand new!) website and find out about her coaching business at: www.arrivenutrition.com ********* Don't forget!********* Make sure to join my tribe and meet some of the most supportive, loving and kind people of all shapes and sizes, including great coaches and leaders! We’re right over here at: http://www.lifeunrestricted.org/join/ Please consider supporting the podcast with a donation by becoming a "Patreon"; so that I can keep producing it. Thank you! Here's the link: https://www.patreon.com/lifeunrestricted Please: Do subscribe on iTunes (Apple): https://itunes.apple.com/ch/podcast/life.-unrestricted.-podcast/id1130713233?mt=2 or on Stitcher (Android): http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=93987&refid=stpr

LU 018: Evelyn Tribole – How not to fall for the "street version" of Intuitive Eating. Dec 09, 2016

Download Episode! Hello, lovely tribe! In today's episode of the "Life. Unrestricted." podcast, I talk to Evelyn Tribole. Yes, THE Evelyn Tribole, the co-author of the groundbreaking bestseller "Intuitive Eating", and author of several other books. Evelyn Tribole is an award-winning registered dietitian with a nutrition counseling practice in Newport Beach, California, specializing in Eating Disorders, Intuitive Eating and celiac disease. Evelyn has a passion for helping people discover a healthy relationship with food, mind and body; whether that be through one-on-one counseling, writing, workshops or media appearances. And, as we know, she is the very pioneer who co-created the process that we now call "Intuitive Eating“" In the 90s, she was the nutrition expert for "Good Morning America", she was the national spokesperson for the "American Dietetic Association" for years and she has been rated as one of the "Best Nutritionists in the Country" by many US magazines. As you can imagine, she has had countless media appearances, and she has achieved the highest honors one could possibly dream of as an expert dietitian. Listen in and hear Evelyn Tribole tell us: – How her relationship to her body was as she grew up – How her mother came expressed her regret about her lifelong dieting efforts – How dieting and eating issues are detrimental to our relationships – Why she realized that "prescribing diets" was the very thing that made people end up worse – How it is that people who keep dieting keep gaining weight – Why we share the belief that diets should not be legal – Why thinking that "dieting is a healthy thing" is dangerous thinking – How it is that we can really improve our health – What she knows to be the source of Binge Eating Disorder (BED) – Why she gets so fired up about toxic messages about "Sugar Addiction" and "Food Addiction" and the absurdity of the comparison of sugar to cocaine – Why she stresses the fact that many "street versions" of Intuitive Eating are plain misunderstood and wrong – What Intuitive Eating really is and what the 10 principles are – Why they stopped mentioning weight and numbers altogether by the third edition of the book "Intuitive Eating" – How she helps her clients to let go of the diet-mentality – Why it is crucial to let go of the internalized "Thin-Dream" in order to gain real freedom – What principles are the hardest for clients to tackle – How Intuitive Eating brings with it self-compassion and self-care – How she applies Intuitive Eating when it comes to eating disorders – Why so many athletes have eating disorders that go unnoticed – How she recognizes problematic behavior around food and exercise – How she helps patients and clients find a healthy relationship to exercise – Why a person's size never tells us anything about their health and the dangers of equating "thin" to "healthy" – What kind of world she is dreaming of... ... And so much more! Check out Evelyn Tribole at: www.evelyntribole.com or www.intuitiveeating.com And here’s the link to the book "Intuitive Eating": https://www.amazon.com/Intuitive-Eating-Revolutionary-Program-Works/dp/0312321236 ********* Don't forget!********* Make sure to join my tribe and meet some of the most supportive, loving and kind people of all shapes and sizes, including great coaches and leaders! We’re right over here at: http://www.lifeunrestricted.org/join/ Podcasting is expensive, more so than I thought. So if you enjoy and love my podcast, please consider supporting it by becoming a "Patreon"! It would greatly help me to keep those episodes coming to you. Thanks! https://www.patreon.com/lifeunrestricted Please: Do subscribe on iTunes (Apple): https://itunes.apple.com/ch/podcast/life.-unrestricted.-podcast/id1130713233?mt=2 or on Stitcher (Android): http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=93987&refid=stpr

LU 019: Aaron Flores – Are you sick of dieting and ready to break the vicious cycle? Dec 09, 2016

Download Episode! In today's episode of the "Life. Unrestricted." podcast, I talk to Aaron Flores from Calabasas, California. Aaron is a registered dietitian nutritionist who specializes in Intuitive Eating and Health At Every Size (HAES). As he describes on his website, he promotes a non-diet, weight neutral approach to changing behaviors that lead to improved health. He says "If you feel like you’ve tried every diet, your weight has yo-yo’ed for years and you are ready to stop fighting your body and learn to love food again, then I am the dietitian for you." I’ve had Aaron in my ears for a while now, because he is the man that hosts one of my favorite podcasts, namely Dietitians Unplugged, with the fabulous Glenys Oyston, whom I introduced you to in episode 12 of the "Life. Unrestricted." podcast. So it is high time you meet the other half of that wonderful podcast. And you will! Listen to Aaron talk about: – How he came up with his Star Wars analogy for Intuitive Eating and Health At Every Size versus diet-culture – How he experienced his body as a boy – How he and his family related to food – Why he’ll never forget his first trip to the dietitian with his mother – What the dietitian told him to do and why that set him up for the diet-binge-cycle – How he judged his body as an adolescent – How he ended up dieting for years and why he stopped – How diets fail all people, and why people still think "they failed" at the diet – What made him decide to become a registered dietitian – What he thought of Intuitive Eating and Health At Every Size when we first heard it – Why he clung to the idea of weight-loss for as long as he did – How his transition into Intuitive Eating went for him – How he is working on accepting his own body – Why his transition into Intuitive Eating made him eventually leave his job and open his own practice – What he has learned from his whole transformation – What made see the logic behind a weight-neutral approach to health – Why learning about Intuitive Eating and Health At Every Size is a lot like the movie "The Matrix" – How he handles his own judgmental side towards people, diets and bodies – Why he calls himself a feminist man and how he recognizes his privilege as a white male – How he wants to raise his boys – Why he is so grateful for his wife... ... And so much more! Check out Aaron’s work, as well as the link to his podcast with Glenys Oyston here: www.bvmrd.com ********* Don't forget!********* Make sure to join my tribe and meet some of the most supportive, loving and kind people of all shapes and sizes, including great coaches and leaders! We’re right over here at: http://www.lifeunrestricted.org/join/ Podcasting is expensive, more so than I thought. So if you enjoy and love my podcast, please consider supporting it by becoming a "Patreon"! It would greatly help me to keep those episodes coming to you. Thanks! https://www.patreon.com/lifeunrestricted Please: Do subscribe on iTunes (Apple): https://itunes.apple.com/ch/podcast/life.-unrestricted.-podcast/id1130713233?mt=2 or on Stitcher (Android): http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=93987&refid=stpr

LU 021: Christy Harrison – Codependency, trauma, and healing our eating issues. Dec 06, 2016

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Hey, sweet radicals, here we go again: Podcast!

This week, on the "Life. Unrestricted." podcast, it’s my pleasure to bring to you a fellow podcaster and size-acceptance fighter... It is the wonderful Christy Harrison from New York. Christy is an intuitive eating coach and anti-diet registered dietitian who helps people make peace with food. She offers online intuitive eating courses and individual nutrition therapy for people who want to heal their difficult relationship to food. Her work is based on Health At Every size and is coming from a body positive perspective, which is wonderful. Being a journalist as well, she has written for numerous magazines and websites, including Refinery29, Gourmet, The Food Network and others. She is also hosting a podcast that has had a great influence on me and my courage to recover from restriction, binging and overexercising. Christy and I chatted on a Sunday, evening for me, morning for her, so both of us in chill mode. Listen to Christy as she tells us: – How her relationship to food and body was when she grew up – What kind of experiences planted a seed in her mind that her body wasn’t good-looking enough – How her mother related to food, body and weight – Why her more serious eating difficulties didn’t start early in life, but only when she was in college – What experience it was that made her decide to change her body, go on diets and restrict her food – Why her mother didn’t recognize her eating behaviors and her struggle with bulimia – How she justified her behaviors around food and why it took her a long time to step out of denial – How not having the right therapist and physician negatively influenced her behavior – Why her codependency, of all things, turned out to be a saving grace in regards to taking the necessary steps toward recovery – How she subsequently healed her relationship to food and how self-compassion was critical – How early attachment issues often manifest in eating disorders and codependency – How therapy helped her heal her relationship to food, eating, and her sense of self-worth – How she helps her clients who want to give up lifelong dieting, disordered eating or eating disorders – How she helps people find to a weight-neutral approach to health – Why taking charge of our social media feed is so important and can be so healing – Why she thinks Health At Every Size (HAES) is the only way to truly heal our relationship with food and our weight – Why self-compassion and patience are pivotal in healing our body image and how we relate to food and weight... ... And so much more! Check out Christy’s website: www.christyharrison.com Here’s the link to her podcast called "Food Psych": https://itunes.apple.com/ch/podcast/food-psych-podcast-about-intuitive/id700512884?mt=2 ********* Don't forget!********* Make sure to join my tribe and meet some of the most supportive, loving and kind people of all shapes and sizes, including great coaches and leaders! We’re right over here at: http://www.lifeunrestricted.org/join/ Please consider supporting the podcast with a donation by becoming a "Patreon"; so that I can keep producing it. Thank you! Here's the link: https://www.patreon.com/lifeunrestricted Please: Do subscribe on iTunes (Apple): https://itunes.apple.com/ch/podcast/life.-unrestricted.-podcast/id1130713233?mt=2 or on Stitcher (Android): http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=93987&refid=stpr

LU 020: Dr. Anita Johnston – "In the Light of the Moon" we transform our relationship with food. Nov 29, 2016

Download Episode! Lovely radical! Welcome to another beautiful ear-journey. In today's episode of the "Life. Unrestricted." podcast, I’m talking to Dr. Anita Johnston from Colorado/Hawaii. She is a clinical psychologist, certified eating disorder specialist and storyteller who has been working with women struggling with eating and weight for over 30 years. She is the Clinical Director of the ’Ai Pono Eating Disorder Programs in Honolulu and the recently opened ’Ai Pono Maui residential facility on the Island of Maui, Hawaii. She is Senior Advisor & Clinical Consultant to Focus Treatment Centers in Chattanooga, Memphis, and Knoxville, Tennessee as well as Consultant to EATFED in Sydney and Melbourne, Australia. She is the author of "Eating in the Light of the Moon", which has been published in six languages. As an international speaker, Dr. Anita Johnston talks about the effects of the preoccupation with dieting and weight that keep millions of women around the world obsessed and all too often unsuccessfully attempting to control their struggles. Her most recent project is an interactive online e-course and women’s support circle called the "Light of the Moon Café". Listen to Anita tell us: – Why she is still baffled that she herself didn’t develop an eating disorder when she was young – Why she thinks having a sensitive, intuitive nature is making women prone to having eating issues and a negative body image – How she became interested in women’s issues – How she became aware of the prevalent obsession with weight-loss, diet and body that women are caught up in – Why she is so passionate about her work treating eating disorders – Why she chose metaphors for her bestseller "Eating in the Light of the Moon" – What made her come up with the beautiful metaphors for her book – Why women’s eating issues have everything to do with patriarchy – How women can learn to appreciate and cherish their emotional intensity and intuitive skills – Why assertive communication is one of the most important skills to learn – How we can reframe what we have come to believe about women, bodies and food for decades – Why diet-culture hurts women’s souls so much, and how we can grow a certain amount of resiliency against it – Why having a supporting community of women is the antidote against the oppressive tendencies of diet-culture and patriarchy – How she deals with it when diet-culture (magazines, media, commercials) start affecting her inner contentment and how she re-appreciates her body – Why it is so important to learn to recognize and identify our internalized diet-mentality voice – How we can strengthen our inner voice of compassion to grow strong enough disobey the oppressive and punishing rules of the internalized diet-mentality and the external diet-culture messages –Why women’s bodies and women’s sexuality have continuously been objectified, judged and shamed – What the purpose of her online platform called "Light of the Moon Café" is and what it offers – Why her treatment center and programs on Hawaii are called ’Ai Pono... ... And so much more! If you are interested in Dr. Anita Johnston’s work, check out her website: http://www.dranitajohnston.com Also, check out the "Light of the Moon Café": http://www.lightofthemooncafe.com/ Here’s the link to the ’Ai Pono healing center (Hawaii): http://www.aipono.com/ ********* Don't forget!********* Make sure to join my tribe and meet some of the most supportive, loving and kind people of all shapes and sizes, including great coaches and leaders! We’re right over here at: http://www.lifeunrestricted.org/join Podcasting is expensive, more so than I thought. So if you enjoy and love my podcast, please consider supporting it by becoming a "Patreon"! It would greatly help me to keep those episodes coming to you. Thanks! https://www.patreon.com/lifeunrestricted Please: Do subscribe on iTunes (Apple): https://itunes.apple.com/ch/podcast/life.-unrestricted.-podcast/id1130713233?mt=2 or on Stitcher (Android): http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=93987&refid=stpr

LU 017: Sonya Renee Taylor – The brilliant mind behind "The Body Is Not An Apology". Oct 31, 2016

Download Episode! Hi, sweet radicals! This week, the "Life. Unrestricted." podcast brings to you the wonderful Sonya Renee Taylor from California. Sonya Renee is the Founder and – as she calls it – Radical Executive Officer of "The Body Is Not An Apology", an international movement and organization committed to radical self-love and body empowerment as the foundational tool for social justice and global transformation. Sonya holds a BA in Sociology and a Masters degree in Organizational Management. Her work as an award-winning Performance Poet, Activist and transformational leader continues to have global reach. Sonya is a former National and International poetry slam champion, author, educator and activist who has mesmerized audiences across the world. Believing in the power of art as a vehicle for social change, Sonya has been widely recognized for her work as a change agent and has won heaps of awards and honors, and Bustle Magazine has named her one of the 12 "Women who paved the way for body positivity“. Sonya’s work has been seen and heard on practically EVERY news outlet in America. Sonya is a fierce advocate and activist for intersectional global justice. Listen in as Sonya Renee tells us: – What sort of messages she heard about women’s bodies when she grew up – What the most important messages are that made her believe in her abilities and power – How she experienced privilege and oppression – Why she believes body-shame and tendencies of self-hate are learned and can be unlearned – What body-empowerment entails and why it really is about all areas of social justice, be it ableism, racism, classism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, weight-discrimination or any other form – Why weight-stigma is adding a toxic layer that affects those most that are already being discriminated against – How her great movement called "The Body Is Not An Apology" came about – Why she feels so grateful for all the contributors for showing her their perspective – Why "The Body Is Not An Apology" is for everybody – How her idea of self-love is different than the fuzzy ideas we often hear; why she calls it "radical self-love" – How her 30-day self-love challenge called RUHCUS helped her overcome her biggest shame – Why it is that some form of body shame is likely to seep back in and how we can deal with it to maintain body-peace – Why it is critical to learn about the mechanism of the diet- and beauty-industry to see just how much power we are giving away by buying into the lies we are being told every day – What would happen when women over night stopped believing those lies and stopped buying all those products – What radical self-love realistically looks like and why it has a massive impact on the world around us – Why we can never create a peaceful world unless we make peace within ourselves – What she does on those days that she finds it hard to love herself – Why it is important to see that we would only set ourselves up for failure if we want to do this journey towards body love perfectly – Why she encourages all of us to do "what WE want" and not "what we think others want us to do" – What she would change immediately were she to rule the world... ... And so much more! Check out Sonya Renee Taylor here: www.sonya-renee.com and her platform "The Body Is Not An Apology" here: www.thebodyisnotanapology.com ********* Don't forget!********* Podcasting is expensive, more so than I thought. So if you enjoy and love my podcast, please consider supporting it by becoming a "Patreon"! It would greatly help me to keep those episodes coming to you. Thanks! https://www.patreon.com/lifeunrestricted Make sure to join my tribe and meet some of the most supportive, loving and kind people of all shapes and sizes, including great coaches and leaders! We’re right over here at: http://www.lifeunrestricted.org/join/ Please: Do subscribe on iTunes (Apple): https://itunes.apple.com/ch/podcast/life.-unrestricted.-podcast/id1130713233?mt=2 or on Stitcher (Android): http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=93987&refid=stpr

LU 016: Dr. Maria Paredes – Reframing and healing your relationship with your body. Oct 24, 2016

Download Episode! Hello, dear body acceptance radicals! In today's episode of the "Life. Unrestricted." podcast, I’m talking to Dr. Maria Paredes from Greensboro, North Carolina. She is a Licensed Professional Counselor and Certified Eating Disorders Specialist who describes herself as a five-star listener, heart healer, courage instiller, lover of ALL bodies, self-compassion coach, voice amplifier, companion to those in pain and a believer in hope. She holds a Bachelor degree in psychology, a Masters degree in school counseling, as well a a doctoral degree in counseling and counselor education. She helps people who are stuck in the diet-binge-cycle as well as those who want to feel more comfortable in their own skin, make peace with food and with their bodies. She offers individual and group counseling, clinical supervision, workshops, and talks at schools, workplaces and different communities. Listen to Maria tell us: – How she grew up without constant diet-talk, weight-obsessing or body-shaming – What made her get into her field of work – How she helps her clients with different therapy methods like Dialectic Behavioral Therapy (DBT), Acceptance and Commitment Therapy (ACT) and Relational-Cultural Therapy (RCT) – Why she doesn’t demonize any behaviors around food and how she finds out what the behavior represents – How she lets people re-relate to behaviors like binge-eating – Why she is against "forcing" people to let go of their coping mechanism and what she does instead – How she helps parents not to pass on the difficult relationship they have to food and body to their children – What she says about her "butt" when she looks in the mirror (hint: it’s gooooood!) – How we can utilized Social Media to our benefit when it comes to un-learn toxic ideas about weight, body, food and shape – Why she fully supports the Health At Every Size (HAES) principles and Intuitive Eating – How she introduces these concepts to her clients – How she helps overcome their internalized shame and fat-phobic beliefs – What helped her become aware of the weight- and fat-stigma in our world – How she helps her clients educate themselves about diet-culture and the capitalistic machinery behind it, and how this helps us stepping out of old beliefs – Why she thinks the path to real body and food liberation are MUCH harder to do than going along with the mainstream dogma and constant dieting – How she started to appreciate her own body – Why we will always be stuck in a weight-obsessed mentality (and spend precious amounts of energy and time trying to "fix" our bodies) unless we address internalized fat-phobia – Why it is so important to surround ourselves with people and images of people of all shapes and sizes to end our inner fat-phobic beliefs – What makes the HAES movement so incredibly beautiful, warm and welcoming... ... And so much more! If you are interested in working with Dr. Maria Paredes or finding out more about what she does, check out her website: http://www.threebirdscounseling.com Also, check out her Facebook site called "Body Politics with Dr. Paredes": https://m.facebook.com/BodyPoliticsWithDrParedes/?__mref=message_bubble ********* Don't forget!********* Make sure to join my tribe and meet some of the most supportive, loving and kind people of all shapes and sizes, including great coaches and leaders! We’re right over here at: http://www.lifeunrestricted.org/join Podcasting is expensive, more so than I thought. So if you enjoy and love my podcast, please consider supporting it by becoming a "Patreon"! It would greatly help me to keep those episodes coming to you. Thanks! https://www.patreon.com/lifeunrestricted Please: Do subscribe on iTunes (Apple): https://itunes.apple.com/ch/podcast/life.-unrestricted.-podcast/id1130713233?mt=2 or on Stitcher (Android): http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=93987&refid=stpr http://www.lifeunrestricted.org/join

LU *Bonus Episode 1*: Guided meditation – Quiet the monkey mind in a body positive way (25 min.). Oct 20, 2016

Download Episode! Hello there, lovely radicals... Time to unwind! Here's my first bonus episode of "Life. Unrestricted." for you: A guided meditation of 25 minutes. Take this time for yourself and allow yourself to find some peace in the midst of the craziness of daily life. Your body and mind will thank you for it. Enjoy this guided meditation to tame our monkey mind, and to drop into a state of awake presence and full awareness of THIS moment—all we ever have. If you experience your mind wandering off into thoughts and worries, expectations or judgments, just remember that this is normal and it happens to everybody. Just notice that "thinking" is happening, acknowledge the thoughts, and let them go. Over and over again. As if they were clouds passing by. Don't attach any meaning to them, don't hold on to them, just return to the present moment, and focus on the sensation of your breath as it enters your nose and fills your chest, your lungs and your belly. It's all about noticing and returning back to the present moment, without judging yourself. That is what mindfulness and meditation basically is. Now Let us slow down for 25 minutes, as we experience ... the NOW. The aliveness of your body, the state of non-doing... and the wonderfulness of just "being". This is my first guided meditation, so I hope I manage to bring some stillness into your life as we travel through the body together. More is to come; as soon as I can make the time, I will play with it and try different lengths and different styles. With love, M. ****** Don't forget! ****** Make sure to join my tribe and meet some of the most supportive, loving and kind people of all shapes and sizes, including great coaches and leaders! We’re right over here at: http://www.lifeunrestricted.org/join Podcasting is expensive, more so than I thought. So if you enjoy and love my podcast, please consider supporting it by becoming a "Patreon"! It would greatly help me to keep those episodes coming to you. Thank you so much! Here's the link: https://www.patreon.com/lifeunrestricted Please: Do subscribe on iTunes (Apple): https://itunes.apple.com/ch/podcast/life.-unrestricted.-podcast/id1130713233?mt=2 or on Stitcher (Android): http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=93987&refid=stpr

LU 015: Zoe Nicholson – Teaching us how to do "moderation" in moderation. Oct 17, 2016

Download Episode! Lovely having you here, my fellow traveller! It's Podcast time, which means: It's a great moment to just open our ears and listen to a wonderful woman who has so much to say about what "moderation" really means. In today's episode of the "Life. Unrestricted." Podcast, I have the pleasure to talk to Zoe Nicholson from Melbourne, Australia. Zoe is an accredited practicing dietitian and the owner and director of the highly successful Melbourne based private practice called "figureate"- spelled out like figure and ate, as in "I ate cheesecake". Zoe conducts nutrition seminars and workshops for workplaces and corporations and she has, together with multi-award winning fitness professional Jodie Arnot, established the now well known "Moderation Movement" in Australia. Here's Zoe! She will tell us: – How she grew up without constant diet-talk, weight-obsessing or body-shaming – Why it is so important what kind of role-models we are for our children – When she found out that, basically, the rest of the world had gone slightly mad around so called health, weight and fitness – How most people ended up feeling so much shame and guilt around food and their own bodies – How the constant barrage of images of so-called "goal-bodies" and the millions of weight-loss messages we see every week has twisted our idea of health – How to be real: We are not MEANT to – nor can we be successful at (without losing our minds!) – reaching an unattainable beauty ideal – How much precious time in a person’s life can literally be wasted on this toxic idea – What she means when she speaks of the "Non-Diet"-approach to nutrition and health – Why she still can’t believe that in todays day and age, we need to stand up for something that ought to be normal: a sustainable, balanced approach to health that doesn’t shrink our life – What "The Moderation Movement" is and what its goals are – What "moderation" means to her – How she helps people get comfortable with the idea of "moderation" – How we can manage our health without ever dieting or fixating on our weight, and why, ironically the sheer act of "not fixating on weight" might be the first step to real health – Why a person's size never tells us anything about their health and the dangers of equating "thin" to "healthy"... ... And so much more! If you are interested in working with Zoe or finding out more about what she does, check out her website: www.figureate.com.au Check out "The Moderation Movement" on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/moderationmovement/?fref=ts ********* Don't forget!********* Please consider supporting the podcast with a donation by becoming a "Patreon"; so that I can keep producing it. Thank you! Here's the link: https://www.patreon.com/lifeunrestricted Also, make sure to join my tribe and meet some of the most supportive, loving and kind people of all shapes and sizes, including great coaches and leaders! We’re right over here at: http://www.lifeunrestricted.org/join/ Please: Do subscribe on iTunes (Apple): https://itunes.apple.com/ch/podcast/life.-unrestricted.-podcast/id1130713233?mt=2 or on Stitcher (Android): http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=93987&refid=stpr

LU 014: Tracy Brown – Stepping towards a joyful relationship with food and body size Oct 11, 2016

In this episode of the "Life. Unrestricted." podcast, you’re going to hear Tracy Brown from Naples, Florida. She is a nutrition therapist, registered licensed dietitian and somatic attuned eating coach who has offered counseling in private practice since 2006. She specializes in treatment of eating disorders and eating problems for both adults and children and she also routinely teaches intuitive eating workshops and disordered eating related talks in the North Central Florida area, including Santa Fe College and Flager College, St. Augustine, Florida. Today, and only on the "Life. Unrestricted." podcast, she’s will tell us all of this: – How being highly sensitive as a kid led her to numb her feelings with an obsession to be the perfect kid – How her obsession quickly turned into meal-skipping, dieting, and taking advice from fitness-magazines at face value – Why it took years of purging, binging, restricting and suffering before she realized that happiness wasn’t to be found by chasing after the skinny ideal – When it was that she decided to learn to accept her body and look into attuned (intuitive) eating – What it took for her to heal her relationship to food, body and exercise – Why therapy and body image work helped her not to worry about food and her body anymore – How she provides practical guidance and interventions for people suffering from eating disorders, food fears and underlying emotions – How society has a false image of how eating disorders look like and how the reality of eating disorders look like – How we can learn to eat based on permission – Why, when she works nutritionally with her clients, she only does so to make sure that they eat enough and have all they need – Why the concept of "good" and "bad" foods is obsolete to maintain a body’s natural weight – Why she believes that dieting, binging, purging and all eating disorders are symbolic communicators delivering a message from our soul – What she does when she does "symbolic decoding" – Why, when we are tempted to say "I feel fat", it never – ever – is about the size of our body, and what we can ask ourselves instead – What her three most favorite words are – Why she thinks that everyone who is willing to heal the relationship to their body/food and weight is a badass...

... And so much more!

Check out Tracy Brown’s website and find out about her coaching business at: www.tracybrownrd.com

********* Don't forget!*********

Please consider supporting the podcast with a donation by becoming a "Patreon"; so that I can keep producing it. Thank you! Here's the link: https://www.patreon.com/lifeunrestricted

LU 013: Chris Cole – A man makes peace with his body, mind, spirit and food. Oct 03, 2016

Download Episode! In this episode of the "Life. Unrestricted." podcast, I get to talk to Chris Cole from Boulder, Colorado. Chris is a life coach and works with clients in recovery from any number of addictions, mood or behavioral issues. He has been through quite a journey himself. In fact, it was such a rollercoaster ride that he wrote a book about it: It's called "The Body Of Chris – a Memoir of Obsession, Addiction and Madness". Chris is a highly compassionate, positive force that helps people find their truth and their unique healing by offering an experienced perspective, a radical wellness orientation and an encouraging relationship that is crucial to sustainable growth. Listen in and hear Chris’ amazing story: – What factors contributed to him feeling ashamed of his body in childhood – Why early restriction only exacerbated his difficult relationship to food – How being bullied and fat-shamed as a boy made him obsessed with losing weight – How he learned to binge eat and the real danger of the concept of "cheat meals" – How a personal trainer introduced him to diet-pills – Why he didn’t realize the harm of them and quickly got hooked – Why these "speedy" diet-pills turned out to be a gateway drug for him – How his obsession with becoming thinner escalated into a whole range of problems – When and how it became obvious for him and those around him that he was really sick – What kind of harmful behaviors and habits contributed to his manic episode in college – How manic episodes of psychosis typically present themselves and what it felt like for him – How his deep body shame manifested in this peak moment of crisis – Why his book is called "The Body of Chris" – Why he is very passionate when talking about "The tragedy of the BMI" – How he now sees that his alcohol/drug addictions are connected to his history of body shame and disordered eating as well as to his bipolar disorder – Why he felt he had to numb out his sensitive nature – What made him have liposuction at 17 and why that didn’t help him feel better about himself – Why his body shame was the last and biggest hurdle on his road to full recovery – Why he thinks recovery from any sort of destructive behavior is only the first step to dealing with the deeper problem that we tried to numb out from – How vulnerability with his then-future-wife helped him take the necessary steps – Why intuitive eating was so hard for him to learn – How he deals with the messages that our weight-obsessed culture, TV and movies throw at us – How meditation taught him to deal with his thoughts – Why his current profile picture on Facebook represents what recovery looks like to him – What having a body means to him these days and how he appreciates it, flaws and all... ... And so much more! Check out Chris Cole and his coaching over at: www.colecoaching.com Here’s the link to Chris’ wonderful book "The Body Of Chris": https://www.amazon.com/Body-Chris-Obsession-Addiction-Madness/dp/1941758142/ ********* Don't forget!********* Make sure to join my tribe and meet some of the most supportive, loving and kind people of all shapes and sizes, including great coaches and leaders! We’re right over here at: http://www.lifeunrestricted.org/join/ Please consider supporting the podcast with a donation by becoming a "Patreon"; so that I can keep producing it. Thank you! Here's the link: https://www.patreon.com/lifeunrestricted Please: Do subscribe on iTunes (Apple): https://itunes.apple.com/ch/podcast/life.-unrestricted.-podcast/id1130713233?mt=2 or on Stitcher (Android): http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=93987&refid=stpr

LU 012: Glenys Oyston – Dare to not diet – losing the obsession with food Sep 27, 2016

Download Episode! Hello, lovely radicals! Time for another podcast ride; hold on tight! In this episode of the "Life Unrestricted" podcast, we are getting to know Glenys Oyston. Glenys is a Registered Dietitian who does NOT believe in dieting; she has seen behind the diet-culture BS and has become a Health At Every Size dietitian. Like many of her fellow RD’s that follow the Health At Every Size (HAES, for short) principles, she knows that it’s much more helpful to improve our relationship to our bodies and food than focusing on weight-loss. She has been a diet-victim for decades, just like many of us, and she has experienced just how much attention and congratulations we get when weight is lost. Therefore she knows exactly why so many people dread to gain weight. But instead of keeping on living in the pre-hell of either lusting after food or restricting it, she got taught a better way. She got educated about HAES, Health At Every Size, and as she says, it has transformed her life and the way she thinks about weight, diet and body image. Needless to say, she never dieted again and she is doing fabulous. She has helped countless humans ditch diet-mentality and find true self-acceptance and a healthy body image. She also writes the amazing blog called "Dare To Not Diet" and she is a fellow podcast lady. Together with Aaron Flores, she hosts the highly recommendable podcast "Dietitians Unplugged". Glenys tells us how she came to be a Health At Every Size (HAES) dietitian, and how the process of stepping out of the dogmatic diet-culture chains has helped her—finally, in her forties—to develop a relaxed and uncomplicated, peaceful relationship with food and her body. She shares her story with us and you’ll hear: – Why she never learned to eat balanced meals as a kid – How her mother’s diet-mentality kept her from eating with her daughter – How she ended up comforting herself with cookies and cake – Why she ended up repeating what her mother did: go on strict, restrictive diets – How dieting kept her mental and physical bandwidth trapped and made her obsess about food – How an incredibly lucky coincidence saved her from another 20+ years of yoyo-dieting – How studying the Health At Every Size (HAES) principles helped her free herself from eternal dieting – How she gave up on the "thin person-game" and learned to accept her body in its natural, happy shape – Why she thinks it’s no coincidence that diet-culture started skyrocketing after women got the right to – What is lost on the world when the majority of the female population is dieting/focusing so much energy on weight-loss – How diets are just as addictive as any other coping mechanism – Why it’s never really about the weight or our body, even when we think it is – What we have to work on before we can successfully ditch diets and embody ourselves – How she and her HAES-colleagues help their clients to un-diet and re-allow their previously restricted foods into their diet – Why the whole process of un-dieting requires a lot of trust, courage and strength – What her deepest wish is – What she would like to be remembered for... ...And so much more! Check out her awesome blog at: www.daretonotdiet.wordpress.com Glenys on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/public/Glenys-Oyston https://www.facebook.com/DareToNotDiet ********* Don't forget!********* Make sure to join my tribe and meet some of the most supportive, loving and kind people of all shapes and sizes, including great coaches and leaders! We’re right over here at: http://www.lifeunrestricted.org/join/ Please consider supporting the podcast with a donation by becoming a "Patreon"; so that I can keep producing it. Thank you! Here's the link: https://www.patreon.com/lifeunrestricted Please: Do subscribe on iTunes (Apple): https://itunes.apple.com/ch/podcast/life.-unrestricted.-podcast/id1130713233?mt=2 or on Stitcher (Android): http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=93987&refid=stpr

LU 003: Nicola Rinaldi – No period. Now what? Health issues from overexercise and too little food. Sep 24, 2016

Download Episode! Friends! Welcome to the third episode of the Life. Unrestricted. Podcast! In this episode, I talk to Nicola Rinaldi from Boston (USA) about her journey from losing her period – due to too much exercise and not enough food – to recovery, and in her case a beautiful family with three boys. The talks about how her love of exercise became unhealthy and how things really turned nasty when she also started dieting in order to lose "those ten pounds". She came to regret that: She stopped menstruating and subsequently almost slipped into a full blown eating disorder. Fortunately, she was able to allow herself to get better: Her dreams of having a family of her own meant that she had to take care of herself. She exercised less, ate more and finally got her period back and started a family. She is passionate about helping women to see why their cycle is so important for their mood, their sleep, their bones and their overall health whether or not they want children of their own. She helped hundreds of women recover their periods and has only recently published her book "No period. Now What?", a comprehensive guide to recovery for women who have lost their period. Nicola shares her insights on: – What "Hypothalamic Amenorrhoea" (HA) is, what causes it and what the ramifications of it are – How, when she lost her period more than 10 years ago, she had to do her own research to find out what was really happening – How the Minnesota Starvation Experiment Study helped her regain her senses and start to recover – How women are often misinformed when it comes to weight and pregnancy – How it happens that we often think that we are doing the "healthy thing" when, in reality, we are damaging our health – What "healthy exercise" is – How we are often totally misguided when it comes to exercise and food – How to recover a healthy menstrual cycle and keep up a non-diet lifestyle after birth – How we can change our mindset from "fear of weight gain" to "becoming healthy and happy" again – How we can snap out of our negative self-talk – How we can start to change the conversation about the current, unnatural beauty ideal that we see – How partners and husbands are often suffering when their girlfriends or wives get stuck in such a state of weight-obsession and exercise compulsion – How they react to a woman regaining her full health and radiance, and how much they appreciate their natural bodies and relaxedness – How she raises her three boys to become non-judgmental towards size and shape... ... And so much more!

Check out Nicola Rinaldi and her new book "No period. Now what?" over at: www.noperiodnowwhat.com Or you can also visit her old blog right here: www.noperiodbaby.com

********* Don't forget!*********

Make sure to join my tribe and meet some of the most supportive, loving and kind people of all shapes and sizes, including great coaches and leaders!

We’re right over here at: http://www.lifeunrestricted.org/join/

Big love, Meret.

Please consider supporting the podcast with a donation by becoming a "Patreon"; so that I can keep producing it. Thank you! Here's the link: https://www.patreon.com/lifeunrestricted

Please: Do subscribe on iTunes (Apple): https://itunes.apple.com/ch/podcast/life.-unrestricted.-podcast/id1130713233?mt=2 or on Stitcher (Android): http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=93987&refid=stpr

LU 011: Virgie Tovar – "Lose hate not weight"; a critical examination of diet culture Sep 16, 2016

Download Episode! Hey, lovely radicals... Ear-treat ahead! In this episode of the "Life Unrestricted" podcast, Virgie Tovar and I chat about how she became the unapologetic badass she is today. As you might guess, she wasn’t always as confident as she is nowadays, and she had to learn a lot about life, herself, sexuality, feminism and diet-culture to finally be able to liberate herself from the oppressive, fat-phobic cultural paradigm that keeps women desperately trying to fit in, often in the form of dieting and obsessing over their weight. She experienced first hand, what it means to be fat-shamed, stigmatized and devalued and she is now fiercely on a mission to educate people about the ugly truths behind the merciless profit-seeking mechanisms of the diet-industry, media-literacy, the effects of weight-stigma on mental and physical health and the ways of changing the current narrative. Virgie shares her story with us and you’ll hear: – How early it got into her head that women should "lose weight" – What measures she was willing to take in order to change her body – How fat-phobia and weight-stigma can cause women to engage in risky sexual behavior – How fat-stigma intersects with other cultural injustices like racism, homophobia, sexism, classism or ableism – How she ended up with an extraordinary lifestyle and sexual adventures when she was only a teenager – What it was that made her feel desired and more comfortable in her body – How feminism helped her to reclaim her own power – What the exact moment was that she finally broke up with diet-culture for good – Why feminism is seen as something "OH, NO, THANKS!" for many people, especially women – What her journey towards self-acceptance looked (and looks) like – What causes her to experience bad body days – Why fat-phobia causes ongoing trauma for people – How bigger-bodied people can protect themselves and take care of their own mental health first – How we can help changing the current diet-culture-poisoned paradigm one woman at a time – How we can engage in political activism so that it can be a form of self-care – What her nationwide lectures are all about, and what her main messages are – What her online course "Babecamp" offers to women who are ready to ditch their diet-culture-brainwashed mentality – What her deepest wish is – What she would like to be remembered for... ...And so much more! Check out her website with all of her work (including her latest book project and details about "Babecamp") at: www.virgietovar.com and on Facebook: www.facebook.com/virgietovar Here’s the link to her groundbreaking anthology "Hot & Heavy: Fierce Fat Girls on Life, Love and Fashion": http://www.amazon.com/Hot-Heavy-Fierce-Girls-Fashion/dp/1580054382 ********* Don't forget!********* Make sure to join my tribe and meet some of the most supportive, loving and kind people of all shapes and sizes, including great coaches and leaders! We’re right over here at: www.lifeunrestricted.org/join/ Please consider supporting the podcast with a donation by becoming a "Patreon"; so that I can keep producing it. Thank you! Here's the link: https://www.patreon.com/lifeunrestricted Please: Do subscribe on iTunes (Apple): https://itunes.apple.com/ch/podcast/life.-unrestricted.-podcast/id1130713233?mt=2 or on Stitcher (Android): http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=93987&refid=stpr

LU 010: Summer Innanen – Smash the scale and start living your life unapologetically Aug 31, 2016

Download Episode! In this episode of the "Life Unrestricted" podcast, you are going to meet one of my favorite ladies in the world of body positivity and body image: It's Summer Innanen from Vancouver, whose podcast has literally changed my life. In my opinion, every woman can use a good dose of Summer in her life! She works as a Body Image Coach who has her own past with diets, restriction, body insecurity and exercise addiction, and she now helps women to stop living behind the number on their scales, to ditch the diet demons for good and to develop real inner confidence. Today, and only on the "Life Unrestricted" podcast, she's letting us know some things about herself that she hasn't shared anywhere else before. So listen in and learn: – How being body-shamed, bullied and being surrounded by diet-talk and an ever-dieting mother contributed to her slipping into a very obsessive mindset – What she was trying to achieve by "becoming thinner" and why so many of us fall into this trap – Why she never realized she had a problem until very late in the "game" – What terrible advice she was given by various doctors before she found someone who was educated enough to know about the harmful effects of overexercising and restriction on the female body – How she stopped lying to herself – How she managed to break her exercise addiction and gave her body time to heal – How long it took her to get the "thin-obsession" out of her head – Why discovering Intuitive Eating and Health At Every Size (HAES) played such an important role in her recovery – What she learned about the underlying issues that keep women in the diet- and weight-obsession trap – Why anger and resentment are blocks to becoming an authentically kind and compassionate person – What women are REALLY trying to fix when they are trying to fix their bodies – What body positivity means to her – Why body image is much more than how we think about our thighs and stomachs – How learning about the mechanisms of diet-culture and the huge fitness- and weight-loss-industries can help us snap awake – Why developing an inner rebel helps on our journey towards accepting our bodies – How to find a tribe of likeminded rebels is key to the healing process – How she works with her clients and how she challenges them to step out of their comfort zones – Where she expects the most resistance in her coaching work – Why emotional eating is part of the process when healing body image, diet-obsession and exercise addiction – How having a healthy body image doesn't mean it's all sunshine and rainbows – Where her inner Gremlin shows up for her these days – Why she would never go back to that small life she previously had as a career dieter – How all of us can discover that freedom and solid self-worth beyond the scales and our jeans size... ... And so much more! Check out Summer's website and find out about her coaching business at: www.summerinnanen.com www.rockyourbodynow.com Details for the 2017 retreat are here: www.reclaimretreat.com ********* Don't forget!********* Make sure to join my tribe and meet some of the most supportive, loving and kind people of all shapes and sizes, including great coaches and leaders! We’re right over here at: http://www.lifeunrestricted.org/join/ Please consider supporting the podcast with a donation by becoming a "Patreon"; so that I can keep producing it. Thank you! Here's the link: https://www.patreon.com/lifeunrestricted Please: Do subscribe on iTunes (Apple): https://itunes.apple.com/ch/podcast/life.-unrestricted.-podcast/id1130713233?mt=2 or on Stitcher (Android): http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=93987&refid=stpr

LU 009: Linda Bacon – What Health At Every Size (HAES) really means and the effects of weight-stigma Aug 21, 2016

Download Episode! In this episode of the "Life Unrestricted" podcast, I get to talk to Dr. Linda Bacon from Berkeley, California, USA. It’s a lucky day for all of us, because we get to listen to her highly insightful knowledge and opinion about our relationship to food, bodies and health. Dr. Linda Bacon is a health professor and researcher on the inside track of weight-regulation science, she holds graduate degrees in physiology, psychology and exercise metabolism with a specialty in nutrition. She has conducted federally funded studies on diet and health and is well-published in top scientific journals, and has written two books, first, her highly acclaimed bestseller "Health At Every Size – The Surprising Truth About Your Weight" and recently "Body Respect – What Conventional Health Books Get Wrong, Leave Out Or Just Fail To Understand About Weight". She is currently a health professor at City College of San Francisco and an Associate Nutritionist at the University of California Davis. She is sharing her story with us and will tell us: – Why she invested decades diving into science – How it is possible, that the clear understanding about health (and how little weight really plays into it) has for decades been kept from the public – Why the truth about diets not working and weight not being an important determinator of health is being held back – Who is really behind the decision to make "obesity" classify as a disease – Why there is such tremendous resistance to the idea of size-acceptance – Who and what is behind the "obesity"-crisis, fat-fear and weight-stigma – Why our capitalist society needs us to believe there is something "wrong" with us – Why putting the sole focus on weight-loss will not improve health markers, and what does – Why so many women and men aren’t even recognizing the damaging effects of the myths they believe in – Why diet and exercise are only small contributors to a person’s actual health – How social status, agency, genes, mental and psychological stress and unfair treatment are so much more important in determining someone’s health – How, during her Phd, she was confronted with the fact that the actual (!) truth wasn’t appreciated by decision-makers – Why so many doctors are innocently prescribing weight-loss despite the fact that this most often doesn’t address the issue at hand – What the pillars of Health At Every Size (HAES) really are and what the most common myths about it are – Why Health At Every Size (HAES) is for people of all sizes, and why it gets so much push-back – Why we need a lot of critical thinking to see behind the lies that keep so many people trapped, unhealthy, and frustrated – Why weight- and fat-discrimination are highly detrimental to a person’s health and will never lead to long-lasting, healthy weight-management – Why it is wise to look at so-called "scientific proof" with a critical eye – Why people who accept and appreciate their bodies will take better care of it – Why much of the problems we blame on fat have, in fact, nothing to do with fat – Why both thin people as well as people in larger bodies risk medical misdiagnosis due to the BMI index – Why she is optimistic that the medical profession will, ever so slowly, change their views – What her mission in life is... ... And so much more! Check out Dr. Linda Bacon, her work around Health At Every Size (HAES) and her coaching over at: www.lindabacon.org All the relevant infos and the Health At Every Size (HAES) community are here: www.haescommunity.com www.healthateverysizeblog.org www.sizediversityandhealth.org Here’s the links to her books: – "Health At Every Size – The Surprising Truth About Your Weight" https://www.amazon.com/Health-At-Every-Size-Surprising/dp/1935618253 – "Body Respect – What Conventional Health Books Get Wrong, Leave Out Or Just Fail To Understand About Weight" https://www.amazon.com/Body-Respect-Conventional-Health-Understand/dp/1940363195/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1471714036&sr=1-1&keywords=body+respect+linda+bacon ********* Don't forget!********* Make sure to join my tribe and meet some of the most supportive, loving and kind people of all shapes and sizes, including great coaches and leaders! We’re right over here at: http://www.lifeunrestricted.org/join/ Please consider supporting the podcast with a donation by becoming a "Patreon"; so that I can keep producing it. Thank you! Here's the link: https://www.patreon.com/lifeunrestricted Please: Do subscribe on iTunes (Apple): https://itunes.apple.com/ch/podcast/life.-unrestricted.-podcast/id1130713233?mt=2 or on Stitcher (Android): http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=93987&refid=stpr

LU 008: Vania Phitidis – Feeling peaceful around food and your body (+ some instant therapy) Aug 15, 2016

Download Episode! My friend, how nice to see you are tuning back in! In this episode of the "Life. Unrestricted." podcast, I get to talk to Vania Phitidis from Sussex, Great Britain. Vania is an Intuitive Eating Counsellor, an MB-EAT teacher, MB-EAT being the acronym for Mindfulness-Based Eating Awareness Training) as well as a Self Esteem Mentor. She has a master in Education for Sustainability from London South Bank and a Bachelor degree in Psychology and Art history from VITS. In order to resolve her own body image issues and eating disorders she found that she had to let go of 5 things. 1 – unrealistic expectations of herself, 2 dieting, 3 restricting particular foods, 4 trying to get and stay skinny and 5 attempting to be perfect. Sounds easy, but was a lifelong process that she will tell us about. What she is focused on nowadays is being her most powerful self and helping others to enhance the quality of their own life and make better use of it than eternally dieting. For me, it’s vulnerability time today... In this episode, Vania Phitidis doesn’t just show us how we can let go of our food and weight fears and approach health from a sane and loving perspective. But she uses me as an example... and questions my inner gremlin voice. Find out how that turns out! So, listen in and hear Vania tell us her story: – How early it got into her head that women should „lose weight“ – How quick children are to copy what they see their mothers do – What made her develop bulimia and how bad that got for her – Why giving up bulimia didn’t change anything on a mental level – Why she subsequently got stuck in dieting and being constantly worried about her weight – Why it is that diets (or "lifestyle changes" where weight-loss is the goal!) DO NOT work – Why we often do the worst thing for our body when we train too often and too hard. – What it takes to overcome the eternally distracting quest for thinness – How she overcame her internalized fear of weight gain – How we can choose what we expose ourselves to – How she learned that everyone, including herself, is inherently worthy – Why women who stay obsessed by weight-loss and dieting are severely limiting their potential – How she learned to calm her mind and catch the thoughts that kept her stuck – How we can learn to question our beliefs and our thinking – Why it is important to question what we believe is „true“, simply because we "always believed it" – Why mindfulness is key on the path to self-acceptance and body-acceptance – How mindfulness can help us become aware of our feelings and our spontaneous reactions – Why she doesn’t advise anyone to shout back at the inner critic, and what to do instead – Why she believes that Intuitive Eating is the only way to leave the days of "feeling crazy around food" behind – Why the switch from dieting to Intuitive Eating takes a leap of faith and can be very challenging – Why real progress in the direction of healing is not possible unless we work on our body image and our deep-rooted fat-phobia – How she deals with people who engage in diet-talk, body-shaming and eternal weight-loss-talk bonding. – What her mission in life is... ...And so much more! Check out Vania Phitidis and her coaching over at: www.peacefuleating.co.uk Also find her group on Facebook "It’s not about the weight" The book that opened her eyes on the oppressive nature of diet-culture: Naomi Wolf: "The Beauty Myth" ********* Don't forget!********* Make sure to join my tribe and meet some of the most supportive, loving and kind people of all shapes and sizes, including great coaches and leaders! We’re right over here at: http://www.lifeunrestricted.org/join/ Please consider supporting the podcast with a donation by becoming a "Patreon"; so that I can keep producing it. Thank you! Here's the link: https://www.patreon.com/lifeunrestricted Please: Do subscribe on iTunes (Apple): https://itunes.apple.com/ch/podcast/life.-unrestricted.-podcast/id1130713233?mt=2 or on Stitcher (Android): http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=93987&refid=stpr

LU 007: Kathleen A. Bishop – There's a life beyond internalized fat-phobia. Aug 08, 2016

Download Episode! My friend, lovely seeing you here again! In today's episode of the Life Unrestricted podcast, I talk to Kathleen A. Bishop from San José, California. She is a Licensed Clinical Social Worker, Certified Intuitive Eating Counselor and Relapse Prevention Specialist. In private practice, she specializes in Eating and Substance Use Disorders and she works at a non-profit providing Intensive Outpatient Treatment to clients with Substance Use Disorder and cooccurring mental health conditions like anxiety, depression or Eating Disorders. Kathleen, who is also a body positive size diversity activist who promotes Health At Every Size (HAES) principles to end stigma and mistreatment that is associated with weight, has overcome her own body image obsessions and she shares her great insights with us! In this episode of the Life Unrestricted podcast, she talks about ... all of it. You'll even hear about the craziest diet you have ever heard. Wait for it. Horse urine is involved.... But more importantly, you'll learn: – How she finally found freedom from yoyo-dieting, body insecurity and disordered eating – Why a person's size never tells us anything about their health and the dangers of equating "thin" to "healthy" – How she started to appreciate her own body – Why we will always be stuck in a weight-obsessed mentality (and spend precious amounts of energy and time trying to "fix" our bodies) unless we address internalized fat-phobia – Why it is so important to surround ourselves with people and images of people of all shapes and sizes to end our inner fat-phobic beliefs – How we can learn to trust ourselves and our bodies again – How to heal negative body image, let go of disordered eating, overcome food fears and end weight-obsession - Why it is important to see the toxic mechanisms behind diet-culture and the diet industry and how this can help us stepping out of old beliefs – How harmful weight-stigma really is and that it is a lose-lose situation for everybody – How thin people can use the word "fat" appropriately when talking about bigger bodied humans... ... And so much more! Check out Kathleen's body positive page on Facebook, where she promotes self-acceptance through Intuitive Eating and with the Health At Every Size principles. The page is called "Body Peace & Liberation". If you are interested in her work or working with her, you'll find all the infos here: www.bodypeaceliberation.com ********* Don't forget!********* Make sure to join my tribe and meet some of the most supportive, loving and kind people of all shapes and sizes, including great coaches and leaders! We’re right over here at: http://www.lifeunrestricted.org/join/ Please consider supporting the podcast with a donation by becoming a "Patreon"; so that I can keep producing it. Thank you! Here's the link: https://www.patreon.com/lifeunrestricted Please: Do subscribe on iTunes (Apple): https://itunes.apple.com/ch/podcast/life.-unrestricted.-podcast/id1130713233?mt=2 or on Stitcher (Android): http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=93987&refid=stpr

LU 006: Kaila Prins – How to stand up against society's restrictive standards and live life fully. Jul 30, 2016

Are you ready to meet the first drag queen who is actually trapped in a woman’s body? In today's episode of the Life Unrestricted Podcast, I am chatting with Kaila Prins, the woman with the most awesome drag make up I've ever seen. She is a body positive burlesque and pole dancer and by that she is a performing woman... performing "woman"! Kaila is also a body positive wellness and recovery coach, feminist writer and speaker and a fellow podcastine... She talks about her 13-year battle with eating disorders, calorie counting, yo-yo dieting and compulsive exercise and has the most amazing guests. Kaila is one of the precious few voices who bring the taboo topics of eating disorders, exercise addiction, and body image obsession into the open and is an inspiration for thousands – myself included. This show will leave you feeling ready to change the world, one step towards self-acceptance at a time. You will hear us talk about:

– How "healthy" and "skinny" have nothing to do with each other – How we are potentially harming ourselves by doing what society calls "healthy" – How most eating disorders go undiagnosed in a culture that promotes harmful behaviors – How to tell if you are exercise dependent and how to break free of exercise addiction – How too much exercise can be severely damaging to our bodies, our fertility and our emotional health – How our obsession to be skinny can keep us trapped in recovered-enough and how this can hold us trapped and certainly keeps us from enjoying life as fully as we could – How we can actually LET ourselves enjoy life, step out of our obsession to control our bodies and the need to be thinner – How to get over our internalized fat-phobia and diet-culture mindset – Why burlesque dancing is a great way to help you reconnect to and feel good in your body as it is returning to its happy weight – How discovery is an important to leave the disordered mindset behind and step into your real self – How discovering who you really are is worth so much more than living your life trying to match an unrealistic, distorted ideal – How important it is to see behind media's messages, to understand the psychology of marketing, to educate ourselves how we are being marketed to and why advertisement is intended to make us feel "less than" and "not good enough", so that we, as customers, keep coming back – How we can change the conversation, one brave woman at a time...

... And so much more!

Kaila is currently working on a program to work with clients who want to leave their exercise addiction and disordered eating behaviors behind and start living a fulfilling, satisfying life according to their own rules. You'll find out more about her, her blog, her dancing gigs and (soon) her program on her website: www.performingwoman.com You can follow her on all the different social media platforms (@performingwoman) and her awesome podcast is here: www.findingourhunger.com

********* Don't forget!*********

LU 005: Sarah Vance – When having the "goal body" means misery and obsession. Jul 25, 2016

Download Episode! Lovely ones... Yay! Welcome to episode 5 of the "Life Unrestricted Podcast"... ... You are going to love what you hear. In this episode of the "Life Unrestricted Podcast", you are going to meet Sarah Vance from Cincinnati, a truly fabulous chick who knows exactly what it means when we let the mission to "get our goal body" take over our lives. Sarah experienced first hand how – back when "her body was a project" – life can feel increasingly horrible, and that the more obsessed we become with weight and appearance, the more our health is at the risk of declining. As a former bikini model and exercise addict who was severely obsessed with food, weight, fitness and her appearance, she knows the battle of so many people in today's society. She has managed to step out of restriction misery and has healed her compulsive relationship to exercise. It has become her mission to help others reclaim their freedom with their bodies and their relationship to food. She is a body image coach who specializes in banishing body hate and in getting a handle on emotional eating. This week, on the "Life Unrestricted Podcast", she shares with us: – How she slipped into the increasingly obsessive mindset where "good" was never "good enough" – How we often don't realize how sneakily a body- and weight-obsessed mentality can turn our life into a trap – Why she ignored her declining health (loss of period, injuries, hair falling out...) for so long – What the turning point for her was when she said "enough" – What the first crucial steps are when we want to heal our negative body image and self-loathing – How helpful it was to her to learn about the mechanisms of diet-culture and the way media portrays women – Why the majority of eating disorders aren't being detected and how our culture promotes disordered behavior as "healthy" – How body positivity helped her on her path towards body acceptance – What the most important steps are when we want to break free from obsessive behaviors – Why we need to detach "food" from "exercise" in our minds – How she got through the most difficult periods of recovery – Why she now celebrates every menstrual cycle she gets – How we can tackle the issue of "body image in the bedroom" – How she worked through her issues to now be able to enjoy a truly fulfilling sex life that was non-existent before – How she intends to help change the harmful existing paradigm that keeps so many people trapped in the idea that they have to "look good"... ... And so much more! Check out Sarah's awesome website and find out about her coaching business at: www.sarahvance.com Here's the link to the 2017 retreat in San Diego with Summer Innanen: www.reclaimretreat.com ********* Don't forget!********* Make sure to join my tribe and meet some of the most supportive, loving and kind people of all shapes and sizes, including great coaches and leaders! We’re right over here at: www.lifeunrestricted.org/join/ Please consider supporting the podcast with a donation by becoming a "Patreon"; so that I can keep producing it. Thank you! Here's the link: https://www.patreon.com/lifeunrestricted Please: Do subscribe on iTunes (Apple): https://itunes.apple.com/ch/podcast/life.-unrestricted.-podcast/id1130713233?mt=2 or on Stitcher (Android): http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=93987&refid=stpr

LU 004: Keri-Anne Livingstone – Daring to suck can make all the difference in life... Jul 02, 2016

Download Episode! Boom! Welcome to episode number 4 of the Life. Unrestricted. Podcast! In this episode, Keri-Anne Livingstone and I are getting real about... getting real. As a Certified Empowerment Coach, impassioned speaker and "Edu-Tainer", Keri-Anne helps others towards radical self-acceptance, overcoming fear and how to be the truest version of themselves. She shares with us how, up until just a few years ago, she was an overwhelmed mother and disconnected woman living an unfulfilled corporate lifestyle, and only after many unexpected challenges in her life, she transformed her mindset by exploring the one concept that she is now teaching us... "Daring To Suck". Listen in and learn: – What she means when she says "dare to suck" – What the most important steps are in this process – How you can learn to tune in and get courageous enough to speak up – How we can implement her concept "Daring To Suck" into our lives – How a simple mindset-shift can propel us out of victim-mentality – Why it's not helping to make life all about "just be positive" – How we can learn to recognize the great gifts in our most difficult struggles – How we can make our own hot mess someone else’s miracle – How three simple words can set you on the right track to more self-confidence – What it takes to overcome self-doubt and to step into a feeling of self-worth – Why there’s no need to be afraid of fear when we know what it wants to tell us... ... And so much more! Find out more about Keri-Anne and her Daring To Suck program here: www.keriannelivingstone.com and: www.daringtosuck.ca You can follow her on all the different social media platforms, and you are invited to join her Facebook group called „Empathetic Badasses unite“! ********* Don't forget!********* Make sure to join my tribe and meet some of the most supportive, loving and kind people of all shapes and sizes, including great coaches and leaders! We’re right over here at: http://www.lifeunrestricted.org/join/ Lotsa love, Meret Please consider supporting the podcast with a donation by becoming a "Patreon"; so that I can keep producing it. Thank you! Here's the link: https://www.patreon.com/lifeunrestricted Please: Do subscribe on iTunes (Apple): https://itunes.apple.com/ch/podcast/life.-unrestricted.-podcast/id1130713233?mt=2 or on Stitcher (Android): http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=93987&refid=stpr

LU 001: Me, solo – How Brené Brown helped me kickstart this show. Jul 01, 2016

Download Episode! That’s it! Here it is: The Life. Unrestricted. Podcast! The show that might just make you feel better about yourself, your body and your worth beyond your jeans size. So before you start the next diet to „finally lose that weight“, stop right there and listen in. Let me ask you: When is enough enough? Aren’t you tired of hating your body, tired of counting calories, tired of making your scale decide whether you get to feel good today or (more likely) not? Aren’t you tired of feeling guilty for eating what you like, tired of exercising obsessively to get rid of that guilt? Aren't yo tired of the negative self-talk-chatter in your head? Aren’t we all? So. Welcome home. Welcome to the Life. Unrestricted. Podcast. Let me take you on a different journey. As I recover from excess dieting, disordered eating, from exercise addiction, and – generally – an awful body image, I want to share what I learn, share my struggles and, most of all, I want to bring you the very best experts and the most inspiring guests who share their insights on Health At Every Size (HAES), read: How to approach real health and get to that place where we can live a life free of food fears, body shame and obsessive dieting. We will learn how to break that vicious diet-binge cycle, how to make piece with our body and how to stop diet-mentality rule us. In this very first episode, I will share with you: – Why I am so passionate to educate people about the harm the diet-industry does to us – How, for all my life, I was believing in very harmful messages of a weight-obsessed world – Why I let my life become smaller than a prison cell – Why podcasts basically saved my life – Why I am crazy enough to create a podcast in a language that is not my own – How studying with Brené Brown made me believe in myself enough to DO THIS – Why I believe we can combat our shame if we share our stories – What I think it is that we need to get rid of if we want to succeed in living truly healthy and at peace with our body, no matter what its current size is – Why I am a big proponent about Health At Every Size (HAES) – Why Health At Every Size (HAES) is about anything BUT „promoting obesity“ – What I believe it takes to truly appreciate and celebrate the body-diversity out there – Why I believe we all need some loving support on this difficult journey toward a life that is not ruled by dieting, food fears and exercise compulsions – Why and when I find myself still falling back into my own diet-mentality-possessed brain and how I need just as much support as anyone... ... And so much more! Let’s start this journey toward body positivity, acceptance of diversity and a more balanced approach to health; goodbye to body negativity, fat-phobia, disordered eating and a compulsive relationship to exercise. Confidence is an inside job and it’s high time we bust the myth that weight should dictate our worth. Let’s start this journey to loving our bodies from a Health At Every Size perspective and let’s nourish our body, mind and soul without going crazy. (And if you like the show, please make sure you subscribe to it on iTunes, as soon as it's up! Thank you so much!) ********* Don't forget!********* Make sure to join my tribe and meet some of the most supportive, loving and kind people of all shapes and sizes, including great coaches and leaders! We’re right over here at: http://www.lifeunrestricted.org/join Please consider supporting the podcast with a donation by becoming a "Patreon"; so that I can keep producing it. Thank you! Here's the link: https://www.patreon.com/lifeunrestricted Please: Do subscribe on iTunes (Apple): https://itunes.apple.com/ch/podcast/life.-unrestricted.-podcast/id1130713233?mt=2 or on Stitcher (Android): http://www.stitcher.com/s?fid=93987&refid=stpr

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