My good friend (dare I say twin?) Lauren Cadillac, @feelgooddietitian, registered dietitian, certified intuitive eating counselor, certified personal trainer, and retired bikini competitor stopped by Deats with Deanna to chat with me about breaking free of diet culture. This is such an important topic and our discussion is something everyone should hear. We were all basically raised in this type of environment that taught us diet culture is the key to health and happiness and it is our job to break that system.
Common diet fads and calorie-tracking apps are all around us. Wherever you look whether it be on social media, magazines in the grocery store checkout line, tv commercials, and even in real life from family and friends, we are taught about diet culture. From a young age we are all coerced into thinking we need to look a specific way and if we don’t, we have to fix it. In reality, there is a clear difference between diet culture and health, but it is so common for that line to become blurred. So something you think you are doing for your health can quickly turn into a negative response like an eating disorder.
Society as a whole has made health about weight. We think we’re trying to be healthy by losing weight and that somehow BMI can make or break a person’s health. While dieting may start out in an innocent way of trying to improve your health, aka weight, it becomes a very slippery slope. Breaking away from the numbers on the scale, in clothing size, or in calories is a crucial step in stopping diet culture and living a truly happier life. You are more than any number.
In this episode you’ll hear:
- Lauren shares how her damaged relationship with food and her experience with bodybuilding led her to have an eating disorder (3:05)
- Although it is talked about, oftentimes eating disorders can go undiagnosed. Lauren explains how this impacted her eating disorder and path to recovery (7:31)
- What does taking care of yourself and your health look like for someone dealing with an eating disorder or extreme diet culture? (10:20)
- Advice from a dietitian, how to give yourself permission to eat if you fear gaining weight. Lauren shares the issue of body scapegoating, and why we focus on blaming our body for everything rather than look at the bigger picture (14:13)
- 3 actionable steps you can incorporate to overcome an eating disorder and diet culture (17:22)
- How Lauren’s relationship with her now-husband helped her overcome her eating disorder through being a role model and an accountability partner (20:14)
- Lauren shares some tips for dietitians, who either want to get into this approach of dietetics and tips for becoming a virtual dietitian (22:40)
Lauren’s story is so powerful and the discussion we had brought up such important points everyone should hear. Head to Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or your favorite platform to listen to Deats with Deanna.
Connect with Lauren:
Website: http://www.laurencadillac.com/
Connect with Deanna:
IG: @dietitiandeanna
Website: https://dietitiandeanna.com
This episode is sponsored by Food Freedom Breakthrough, my three month transformative online group coaching program. Join the waitlist here to be first to know about the next program launching in Jan 2022.
