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 125 of Food Psych. I'm your host, Christi Harrison, and today I'm talking with Lisa Pearl, a wonderful health at every size, dietitian, and a mentor of mine who I just love.

Lisa began her work as an eating disorder specialist more than 30 years ago at Children's Hospital in Boston, and she now runs her own group practice called CNC 360, dedicated to helping people heal their issues with food.

She's passionate about helping support people in their journey to a healthy relationship with food, which is an important aspect of the relationship to oneself.

She deeply believes that everyone deserves and needs a sense of safety in order for healing to occur, and she's committed to prevention efforts and socio-political advocacy to help reduce the incidence of eating disorders.

We talked about breaking down internalized weight bias, fighting back against diet culture, the importance of a health at every size approach to healing your relationship with food, and so much more, including the origins of the one question that I ask in each episode.

I can't wait to share our conversation with you in just a moment.

But first I'll answer this week's listener question. It's from a listener with initial B who writes,

help, I was weighed at the doctor's office recently, and it sent me into a tailspin of self-criticism in the middle of trying out intuitive eating for the first time.

I got married six months ago, and after all of the stress and restriction before the wedding, I decided I didn't want to do that anymore.

However, I started my intuitive eating journey when I met one of my higher weights, somehow X pounds heavier than I was at my wedding.

I'm in my friends' wedding, and she has very restrictive eating patterns, and I'm feeling so fearful and anxious that I won't be able to be happy in my body.

I'm trying to stick to intuitive eating as much as possible, but my mornings are still full of fear and self-criticism.

Is this a phase that most people go through? Is there an end in sight? And how do I let go of the weight loss ideal?

So thanks B 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 meant as a substitute for individual, medical, or mental health advice.

So yeah, first I want to say that the weight loss ideal is a real beast to get rid of. So have compassion with yourself for this, you're not alone, and most people definitely go through this process.

So there is an end in sight, you need to just have faith and know that it will be hard for a while, but it will get better because that's what's going to help you get through this part, and it really does get better on the other side.

So there are certain life events that can definitely be super triggering, and weddings are a huge one.

The wedding industrial complex is so tied up in diet culture, and in the idea that women and femmes are, quote-unquote, supposed to look a certain way for weddings.

And so the pressure is real, and it's systemic, and it's part of patriarchy, right?

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