Orthorexia: When Healthy Eating Becomes Unhealthy
Run to the Top Podcast | The Ultimate Guide to Running
RunnersConnect: Coaching Community, Running Experts, Inspiring Runners, No Fluff Blog
4.5 • 936 Ratings
🗓️ 1 November 2017
⏱️ 50 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
When you think of dietitians, you probably think of, well, diets.
It's right there in the name, and most dietitians are devoted to helping people follow regulated diets that will, in theory, make them healthier.
Heather Caplan isn't like most dietitians.
The certified running coach and host of the RD Real Talk podcast believes diets are nothing but counterproductive and that "diet culture" is full of hidden agendas and falsehoods detrimental to our wellbeing and mentality towards food.
Not just that, but dieting can go way too far, causing conditions like orthorexia in which an unhealthy fixation on eating healthy can lead to symptoms like hair loss, difficulty sleeping, chronic fatigue, anemia, and hypothyroidism.
You read that right. Too much healthy eating can be unhealthy.
That's why Heather exercises a non-diet approach at her private practice in Washington, DC, helping runners relearn the "intuitive" eating that diet culture can make so foreign to us.
In this episode, Heather discusses the pitfalls of diets, shares her firsthand account with orthorexia, and gives us some tips on how to adopt intuitive eating for optimal health and performance.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Today on the Run to the Top Podcast. |
| 0:05.0 | I really discourage people from using a scale at all. |
| 0:09.0 | If we are more mindful and aware of how our body feels, |
| 0:12.0 | we're able to notice changes in our weight. |
| 0:14.6 | So whether that means you're closer feeling a little tighter or things look a little different, |
| 0:18.3 | you know if we're being honest with ourselves like we can tell when our weight has changed. |
| 0:21.5 | We don't need a small piece of machinery to tell us that. |
| 0:25.4 | Welcome to the Run to the Top Podcast |
| 0:27.4 | from Runners Connect, where it's all about learning |
| 0:30.5 | from the best and most inspiring minds in the sport. |
| 0:35.0 | Together we can train a smarter, healthier, and faster running community. |
| 0:42.0 | Now here's your host, |
| 0:43.5 | Shinnade Hockey. |
| 0:45.0 | Hey guys, this is Shinnade, back with you again for this latest episode of Rent-At-The-top, brought |
| 0:51.1 | to you by Renners Connect. Thank you so much for taking the time to join me today. |
| 0:56.1 | I hope you're having a wonderful day so far and that this podcast makes it even better. |
| 1:01.6 | I'm so excited to introduce you to our guest today, but before I do that I just want to fill you in on last week's episode just in case you missed it. |
| 1:11.0 | I sat down with Run's World writer and former editor of Running Times, |
| 1:16.3 | Jonathan Beverly, to discuss his newest book Run Strong Stay Hungry, which details the secrets of more than 50 veteran runners who are |
| 1:26.9 | still racing fast and loving the sport decades after they got their start. |
| 1:32.2 | During the interview, Jonathan shared with us a peak into the lives of lifetime runners like Bill |
| 1:37.8 | Rogers, Dina Kaster, and Joan Benoit Samuelson to show us what it takes to avoid burnout and achieve |
... |
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