Welcome to Food Psych, a weekly podcast about intuitive eating, health at every size, and body liberation.

I'm your host, Christi Harrison, and I'm a registered dietitian and certified intuitive eating counselor.

Join me as I talk with interesting people from all walks of life about their relationships with food and their bodies.

Hey there. Welcome to episode 123 of Food Psych. I'm your host, Christi Harrison, and today I'm talking with Karrissa Enneking, the creator of the blog fatgirlflow.com and a body acceptance activist and plus size lifestyle expert.

We talked about the current state of plus size fashion, the impact of mental health struggles on eating behavior, healthism, and the various sneaky forms of diet culture, the long and winding road to recovery, and so much more.

I can't wait to share our conversation with you in just a moment. It's a really good one.

But first I'll answer this week's listener question, which is from a listener named Courtney B., who writes, sometimes I feel the need to restrict from a financial standpoint.

When I look at certain diets that have you follow strict formulas as to how much protein and vegetables to have per meal, I can't help but think, if only I could commit to this, think of how much money I could save.

And therefore when I indulge in something that I wasn't planning on, like if I bring my lunch to work and then some friends in the office want to go out, I want to be social and enjoy a meal with them, but I feel quote unquote bad for going off plan, quote unquote, and not eating what I quote should have.

Or if I pack a salad but then come lunchtime, I'm just really not feeling it. So I go to get a sandwich, then I still feel bad for not eating what I quote unquote should.

I guess I'm wondering if there's any advice you could give to those who are trying to live intuitively, but still feel the need to restrict due to finances.

So thanks Courtney for that great question. And before I answer just my standard disclaimer that these answers are for informational and educational purposes only, and aren't a substitute for individual medical or mental health advice.

So yeah, my heart really goes out to you Courtney and anyone else who's struggling with this issue with finances feeling like they're standing in the way of eating intuitively.

So I just want to say like I have lots of compassion for this and I think that for anyone who's struggling with this issue, looking at the role that the diet mentality is playing in your desire to save money on food is a really important thing to do.

Because obviously we all have different financial situations. There's different realities that people live with and I don't want to suggest that anyone who's living in poverty or really struggling has more capacity than they think they do, but I think in many cases and it sounds like maybe in Courtney's case here, there actually is some more financial room than you might think.

And the diet mentality is really playing a huge role here because I see that in your question, you know, I see you say like if only I could follow the strict formulas to how much protein and vegetables to have, I would save so much money, but it's like, is that really the reason or is the diet mentality part of you really looking for a reason to restrict and using finances as an excuse?

Right, how much of that is true versus how much is real financial reality that you do need to watch what you spend and I have a feeling that it is as it is for most people a little of both, right?

And so really looking at your budget and seeing where you actually have more flexibility that you could give yourself, especially when you're working to make peace with food, it can really be helpful to treat food as a fun expense like part of your entertainment budget, not just as a necessity, right?

Or as a medical expense event, right, like part of your health budget because it really is both of those things when you think about it, it's part of pleasure and satisfaction, right?

That's a huge aspect of intuitive eating and when you're first learning to make peace with food, I think it's really important to give food, it's due as a potential source of pleasure and joy.

And so, you know, if that means you don't go to the movies one week or you have a budget for whatever type of pleasure and entertainment that you like having in your life, maybe there's some trade.

Maybe there's some trade-offs you can make where you make food a bigger part of that budget, right? Like entertainment going out to lunch with people, going out to dinner could be a stand-in for some of those other sources of pleasure and entertainment, right?

...