With wedding season well underway, Laura speaks to Harri Rose about how to stay true to yourself and not get swept up in wedding fever. Harri is a certified health coach who helps people get unf*cked up from diet culture around food and their bodies so that they can live their best life and create their own version of wellness. She has done talks for organisations such as Sony Music and will be at many of the UK’s biggest festivals this summer with the Anti Riot Diet Club.
In this episode Laura and Harri discuss:
✨Finding a dressmaker or shop which supports and inspires you to find the right dress/outfit without body-shaming you
✨Choosing your wedding support team wisely
✨Investing in a photographer who makes you feel great
✨How to protect yourself from the diet culture/wedding industry crossover
SHOW NOTES
{Harri on Instagram | Website}
{The Ugly Truth About Wedding Diets}
{Wedding Workout for Stress Relief}
{8 Ways To Be A Body Positive Bride}
{My Wedding Was Perfect - Lindy West}
For the second episode of the Summer Shorts series Laura speaks to Becky, founder of Anti-Diet Riot Club, about Becky's 5 top tips for cultivating body confidence and self-compassion this summer.
In this episode Laura and Becky discuss:
✨ How mindfulness helps you to be more present and conscious of your emotions
✨ How social media can encourage us to unconsciously view ourselves as commodities
✨ The power of curating our social media feeds
✨ Ditching social media first thing in the day could be part of self-care
✨ Tips for buying & wearing clothes that make you feel great and comfortable in your own skin
Show Notes
{Anti-Diet Riot Club on Instagram | Twitter}
{Grace F Victory on Instagram}
{Tess Holliday on Instagram}
{Michelle Elman on Instagram}
{Jessamyn on Instagram}
{Callie Thorpe on Instagram}
In the first episode of our summer shorts series, Associate Registered Nutritionist Pixie Turner and I dissect a worrying Cosmo article from the July 2018 issue that feels more like a flashback to the clean eating articles of 2014. The article called 'Choose it or Lose it' promotes unnecessarily restrictive food swaps, demonising perfectly good foods and reads like a 'how to guide to orthorexia'.
In this episode we:
✨Discuss why it's unhelpful to focus on the minutiae of detail about nutrition
✨How food rules can lead to and overly restrictive diet and potentially even orthorexia
✨Blow the lid off some nutrition myths
✨How articles like this contribute to food fear
Show Notes
{Pixie Turner Nutrition}
{Pixie on Instagram | Twitter | Facebook}
{Refined Sugar Free is Not a Thing}
{Coconut Oil is Over}
{Can you Boost Your Immune System}
{Resources for Orthorexia}
{Podcast Episode on Orthorexia}
{Social Media and the Rise of Orthorexia}
{The Wellness Rebel}
In this week's episode I'm talking to Monica Karpinski, founder of The Femedic, a platform for discussing taboo topics in women's health. We talk about the parallels between diet culture and the narratives around ‘successful sex’ and how both are systems of control and oppression. How the mainstream portrayal of sex as being predominantly about men’s pleasure takes away from the control and ownership of female bodies - much like dieting does. How narratives around sex teach women to take up less space and not ask for the things we want or need, a lot like, you guessed it... diet culture. Monica and I also talk a bit about our own formative experiences and some of the weird ideas we had about sex as teenagers, and also some really embarrassing shit that happened to me when I was in high school. It’s actually mortifying.
Show Notes
Mega excited to talk to the charming Meredith Noble of Made on a Generous Plan. There's something so calming and joyful about Meredith's presence, even when talking about some really heavy things like healing the relationship you have with your body and with self. Not exactly causal topics, but she makes it easy to talk about. If you're new to Meredith then I think you're going to love her, and if you already know her, you'll know how much of a treat it is to have her on the show.
We talk about:
✨Building community as a healing space
✨Reclaiming the word fat
✨Body image healing and body acceptance
✨Embodiment as a path to healing
✨Rebuilding relationship with self
✨Internalised fat phobia
✨Grieving the thin ideal
Show Notes
{Meredith on Instagram | Twitter | Facebook}
{Meredith's Website}
{Intuitive Eating Workshop}
{Training for Healthcare Professionals}
{Grieving the thin ideal}
{Jes Baker - Landwhale}
{Sonya Renee Taylor - The Body is Not an Apology}
{Lindy West Wedding | Book | On This American Life}
In part two of my conversation with academic and activist Dr. Oli Williams, we discuss the work he does via his art collective, Act With Love. The mission of AWL is to translate Oli's research from complex ideas on weight stigma and inequality into artwork that conveys a simple message. In this 'sode we cover:
✨How health is not defined by weight
✨ The problem with using BMI as a measure of health
✨ How weight stigma worsens health outcomes
✨ The moralisation of bodies
✨ Weight bias in the medical community
✨ The lived experience of ‘obesity’
✨ Social movements and resistance
Show Notes
{Oli on Twitter | Instagram}
{Act With Love}
{Resist and Retweet}
{Steph Liddle Shop | Instagram}
When we think about what needs to be done to improve population health, we think about things like getting people moving more, and eating plenty of fruit and veg. But what if well intentioned health promoting campaigns (like Change 4 Life, 5-a-day, + the sugar tax) actually didn't improve health, but made the disparities in health WORSE? That's the focus of the conversation between myself and researcher/activist Dr. Oli Williams. This is a really rich conversation and I can't wait for you to hear.
We talk about:
✨ the social determinants of health
✨the inequality paradox
✨ the social gradient of health
✨how the best health interventions address underlying inequalities rather than focusing on individual behaviours
✨ how improving standard of living will result in people engaging in healthier lifestyles
Show Notes
{Oli on Twitter | Instagram}
{Act With Love}
{When Life's a Drag by Hilary Graham}
{Spirit Level - Pickett and Wilkinson}
{Public Policy Frameworks For Improving Population Health}
{Exercise as a poisoned elixir: inactivity, inequality and intervention}
{Unequal Health - The Scandal of Our Times}
IFD is health coach, creator of the Stop Fighting Food programme and all round BA. Today she shares her story of being a chronic dieter and how she recovered from 'compulsive overeating'. Isabel has tried every diet in the book, and all the diets pretending not to be diets. She even turned Intuitive Eating into a diet (which she doesn't recommend). In this episode, Isabel shares some of the insights that made her stop feeling crazy around food, and some things that might help you! In this episode we discuss:
✨ Why control + willpower aren't what helps you break out of the diet-binge cycle
✨ Why you can't fall off the wagon if there is no wagon
✨ Why learning about set point weight theory, Health at Every Size and Fatphobia are important in recovering from disordered eating
✨ The 'love yourself thin' diet you need to watch out for
✨ How not to turn intuitive eating into a diet
✨ How hunger, fullness, and 'overeating' are pathologised by diet culture
{IFD Website}
{IFD on Instagram | Twitter}
{IFD's Stop Fighting Food Course}
{My Food Fight Course}
{Virgie Tovar's Guide to Fat Girl Living}
I'm SO PUMPED to share this episode with you, I think you're going to love it! Today I'm talking to Evelyn Tribole, registered dietitian and co-author of Intuitive Eating. Yup, Evelyn is the OG creator of the Intuitive Eating concept, and evidence based approach to building a healthier relationship to food. Evelyn has such a depth of knowledge and incredible insight into the IE process, she is so awesome and I can't wait for you to listen! In this episode we talk about:
✨ The history of Intuitive Eating
✨ What Intuitive Eating is (and isn't!)
✨ The research (evidence base) behind IE
✨ How IE is being co-opted by diet culture and what we can do about it
✨ How reframing 'screw ups' as learning experiences can help facilitate the IE process
✨ How to reject the food police and practicing food neutrality
✨ Common fears about IE
✨ How essential gentle nutrition is as an anchor for the process and why it shouldn't be introduced too early
✨ How diet culture undermines your trust in your body, but every time you honour your hunger or appetite you help rebuild that trust
{Evelyn on Twitter}
{Evelyn's Website}
{Intuitive Eating Facebook Support Group}
{Intuitive Eating Website}
{Intuitive Eating Book}
{Intuitive Eating Workbook}
{David Whyte Poem}
Today we're talking to Catherine Lippe, a Registered Nutritionist who specialises in paediatric and maternal nutrition, about how to raise intuitive eaters. The things we say, how we act, and what we *think* kids should do can all influence how kids relate to food, and sometimes we do or say things with the best of intentions, that can totally backfire. Catherine shares her tips for things to look out for and we share a model for child feeding that helps take the pressure off parents, and helps the kid build a sense of autonomy and independence around food. The goal here is to help kids preserve their innate hunger and fullness cues and have a healthy relationship to food. We also discuss why restriction of certain foods might actually lead to eating MORE of those foods in the long run, and why it might not be the best idea to use creative coercion tactics to get kids to eat their veg! We just scratched the surface of things to talk about related to raising kids who have a happy, healthy relationship to food, so make sure you check out the show notes for more resources.
Switch up your lunch game with our great new sponsor, MealPal - get out of the lunchtime funk, discover new places, and save money. BOOM.
{Catherine's Website}
{Catherine on Instagram | Twitter | Facebook}
{Ellyn Satter's Division of Responsibility in Feeding}
{Ellyn Satter's Secrets of Feeding a Healthy Family}
{The Body Book}
{I Love the Shape of Me}
{The Child Feeding Guide}
If you experience digestive issues or period problems, then this is the episode for you. Today I'm joined by Robyn Nohling, a Nurse Practitioner & Registered Dietitian based in NYC who specialises in eating disorders and women's health. We talk about how restricting food to try and solve your digestive issues might be self-defeating, and could cause more stress and functional problems if you're not addressing the underlying causes. We discuss the gut-brain axis and the role stress plays on our digestive system and how just thinking a food is bad for you might cause a negative physiological response (the nocebo effect). Plus the best ways to support your digestive health if you're recovering from restrictive eating. Then we switch things up and talk about periods, hormones, and what the heck is causing your period to disappear, aka hypothalamic amenorrhea. Plus what to do to help you get your period back, and what the big deal is with it being gone in the first place!
So excited to share this interview with Anna Kessel which was recorded live at the London Podcast Festival (which is why we sound like we're underwater at some parts 🐡). Anna is a sports journalist and author who advocates for gender equality in sports, but don't stress, she's not preachy about it. Having spent her formative years dodging PE like the rest of us, Anna developed a relationship with sport a bit later in life. We talk about how that relationship has changed over the years, especially now she is a mother. We also discuss how movement can ground us in our bodies and help us develop a better body image instead of being outside and looking at it more critically. However, this is pretty antithetical to the message we get from the #fitspo and #noexcuses movements which use punitive messaging to shame people into working out, or prey on our insecurities about our physical appearance. We also talk about campaigns that get it right and really empower women, like This Girl Can. Plus why it's so important that little girls have options besides party shoes for wearing to school. We also have some great questions from the audience at the end. Enjoy!
Show Notes
{Anna on Twitter | Instagram}
{Eat Sweat Play}
{Maureen Lipman BT Advert}
{This Girl Can Old & New Ads}
{Anna on Girls' school shoes}
{Why is #Fitspo a beauty contest?}
{Women's Sport Trust}
{Hannah Witton on Youtube}
{What to say instead of "you're not fat"}
{Eff Your Fitspo}
{Happy Healthy 50}
Laura Stageman is the founder of cruelty free & sustainable fashion watch brand Votch. Today she's sharing her wild story of withdrawal from topical steroid addiction - a painful condition that occurs when an eczema sufferer weans off of their steroid creams. She tells us why feeling the pain of losing her own skin led her to vow never to wear the skin of another being ever again. We talk about how her debilitating condition left her in the bath for 20 hours a day and the excruciating pain of letting her skin heal. Her story has a happy ending though, and we get talking about ethical, sustainable, and (most importantly) cool vegan fashion. We talk about the struggles of building a brand that goes against the status quo and the creative and innovative solutions for faux leather that are even better than the real deal. Laura shares her favourite brands who are shaking off the idea that vegan shoes, clothes, and accessories are for crunchy hippies, and bringing us cool, fashion forward, compassionate designs.
Alright guys, buckle in, it's a long one. Today I’m joined by NHS specialist Dietitian and everyone’s favourite RD, Nic Whitehead as we debunk all the weird crap that bloggers say on their blogs and social media. We talk about the detox myth, activated charcoal, apple cider vinegar, and discuss the whole ‘refined sugar free’ thing. Plus fruit sugars, ‘clean’ plant based milks, and nutrition for acne. We also talk a bit more broadly about developing a healthy relationship with food that doesn’t unnecessarily eliminate or restricts foods and why food is for pleasure, enjoyment, and satisfaction, and that nutrition is never all or nothing.So much great stuff in this 'sode, think you're gonna enjoy it 👾
Show Sponsor:
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Show Notes:
{Nic on Instagram | Twitter | Facebook | YouTube}
{The Rooted Project Acne Post}
{Stop Pretending Your Chocolate Cake is Salad}
Guys, I'm so excited to be joined today by Zanna Van Dijk - Girl Gains Cofounder, blogger & PT and (surprise!) eco warrior. We talk about what drives her passion for sustainability and why she's a hippy at heart. She shares her hot tips for living a more conscious and environmentally friendly life and we talk about the importance of not putting too much pressure on yourself to nail everything all at once; just do you and do what you can/want to. We also talk about meditation & mindfulness and how Zanna got into it to help her business. We also talk about labels and not putting yourself in a box.
{Zanna on Instagram | Twitter | Facebook
https://www.instagram.com/zannavandijk/
https://twitter.com/zannavandijk
https://www.facebook.com/zannavandijk/
{Zanna's Blog | YouTube}
http://www.zannavandijk.co.uk/
https://www.youtube.com/user/zannananny795
{4 Things You Can Do To Save The Planet}
http://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/aa7541
{Plastic Oceans}
https://www.plasticoceans.org/film/
{A Plastic Planet}
http://aplasticplanet.com/
{Mindfulness + Meditation episode w/ Tessa Watt}
http://www.laurathomasphd.co.uk/podcast/dont-salt-game-ep06-tessa-watt-mindful/
{iChoc Vegan White Chocolate}
http://ichoc.de/en/
{Divine Dark Chocolate w/ Raspberry}
http://www.waitrose.com/shop/ProductView-10317--107791-Divine+Fairtrade+dark+chocolate+with+raspberries?tag=veganuary-21
{Symprove Probiotics}
http://www.symprove.com/
£120 for a 12 week supply (RRP £158). Call 01252 413600 and quote 'DSMG'
Alright team, it’s just you and me today. I got asked to share some more information on mindful eating. It plays an important role in intuitive eating and helps us tune into our hunger and fullness cues and it enhances our enjoyment of food (yay!). I’m also sharing a short mindful eating meditation so grab yourself a piece of chocolate and join in. Plus, I’m challenging you guys to one mindful meal a day for the next week to see what discoveries you make! I really hope this episode helps clarify what this really helpful and game changing concept actually means and how to approach it.
SHOW NOTES
{UCL Probiotics Study}
{Vote for me in the CN Magazine Awards}
https://www.nutrition2me.com/cn-awards/2017-cn-awards-voting-form
{My Intuitive Eating Course}
http://www.laurathomasphd.co.uk/intuitive/
{Diet Culture Episode w/ Pixie}
http://www.laurathomasphd.co.uk/podcast/dietculture/
HEY OH! I can’t wait to introduce you to this week’s guest, because she’s someone I’ve followed for years, she’s one of the people who originally got me interested in intuitive eating, health at every size and non diet approaches to health and nutrition. Kelsey Miller is senior features writer for Refinery 29 in New York where she writes the column the Anti Diet Project which is all about intuitive eating, body image, and sane fitness. She’s also the author of 'Big Girl:How I Gave up Dieting and Got a Life'. And today we talk a little about her intuitive eating journey and how it’s really hard so don’t buy into the BS on Instagram where bloggers are like, I used to eat clean but now I eat intuitively without any concept of what it actually means (or any carbs on their plate. We also talk about how to be an advocate for body positivity from a place of thin privilege, we talk about recognising other types of privilege in the body positivity space and how unless you’re talking about intersectionality, then you’re kinda part of the problem. And she also gives a lot of great advice about how to get more comfortable with your body and spoiler; it involves getting out of your comfort zone. Really love this conversation.
SHOW NOTES
{Kelsey on Instagram | Twitter}
https://www.instagram.com/mskelseymiller/
https://twitter.com/mskelseymiller
{The Anti Diet Project}
http://www.refinery29.com/the-anti-diet-project
{Big Girl}
http://amzn.to/2ulZKmu
{Kelsey on Body Image : VBO | Going Backless | Boudoir Photos}
http://www.refinery29.com/vbo-plus-size-positivity
http://www.refinery29.com/plus-size-fashion-taboo-backless-dress
http://www.refinery29.com/body-positive-boudoir-photography
{The Origins of Body Positivity on Food Psych Podcast}
https://www.christyharrison.com/foodpsych/4/the-roots-of-the-body-positive-movement-with-connie-sobczak
You’ll remember Chloé Brotheridge from episode 45; she’s an anxiety expert and author of The Anxiety Solution. In this bonus episode she leads us through a ten minute guided meditation into the control room of your mind to help you find stillness and confidence, and reduce stress and anxiety. Make sure you’re sat down somewhere comfortable and quiet for ten minutes. Chloé’s voice is so soothing and she doesn’t make you sit in silence for ages, so this is a great place to start if you’re like, not a meditation person.
SURPRISE - Jacqueline Hurst is back with her straight shooting real talk. This time we're talking about how your body has nothing to do with your worth and gives us her tips on how to be kind to yourself this Christmas. When surveyed 91% of women said they were unhappy with their body. Think about that for a second and imagine all the cool things we could do if we chose not to engage and instead show ourselves some love. Remember: YOU ARE FLY AF! Jacqueline also tells us about a special film that she's hosting that she thinks we all need to see, and I totally agree with her. All the deets & where to get tickets are on my site: laurathomaspd.co.uk
I’m really excited to introduce you to today’s guest, Hollie Grant – she’s a PT and a Pilates Instructor and founder of the model method, she trains crazy big celebs like Jourdan Dunn. Basically, she’s a big deal. But what I love about Hollie is that she’s not some crazy gym person; she’s gets real on some of the problems in her industry, like the obsession with aesthetics over form and function, and how no one talks about the benefits of exercise independent of losing weight or getting jacked up. I kind of give her a hard time about the whole ‘strong not skinny thing’ and I love that she shuts me down and points out that strong doesn’t necessarily mean physically strong, and how movement can also help make you emotionally and mentally stronger, which I’m all about. I just think it’s so cool to talk to someone in this industry who isn’t trying to make it all about looking a particular way or posting weird pictures that are supposed to be inspiring but make you feel like shit. I think you’re going to love Hollie!
Today I’m talking to Georgina Grogan of She Might be which is a new online body positive, plus size magazine that’s bringing together all the hot bopo bloggers. So, we start off pretty tame, talking about make up and fashion, but then we go all in. We talk about bullying and getting rid of toxic people around you and how the medical profession like to reduce fat people down to an arbitrary number that’s actually pretty meaningless. This is something that’s pretty close to my heart and I even get kind of emotional. So, this is really important stuff, and if you’re new to body positivity the idea of fat not being the worst thing ever might kind of freak you out so I really recommend you go back and listen to Megan from BodyPosiPanda from episode 4 because that give a lot of context for what we’re talking about here.
LifeBox have been the sponsors of the podcast since day 1 and so it seemed apt that we’re celebrating the 20th episode with LifeBox founder and all round mega babe Jenny Sleath. She’s spilling her secrets on how she’s grown her brand with kindness and where she finds the motivation to keep hustling so hard. Plus she shares the story of how LifeBox got started and we talk about lots of other fun things. Plus we have a special Bloom & Wild giveaway over on Instagram to celebrate the 20th ep! Lean in.
Áine Carlin is a blogger, cookbook author, and writer. In this episode we talk a lot about food stuff, (doy!) but even more about life stuff. Áine opens up about her experience packing up and leaving London, her friends, and her career and heading out into the unknown, how that resulted in some serious struggles (we're talking ~existential ish~), and how what she needed came to her at the exact right moment. She talks a lot about how much those growing pains suck, but actually, she wouldn't be where she is now without them. Lastly, Áine shares some truly moving words about her late father and gives us a little reality check on what's really important in life. Keep your tissues close by.
Laura and I cover SO MANY THINGS in this episode, but basically she got caught up in the whole wellness scene, took things to extremes, and had to learn the importance of balance the hard way when she realised she wouldn't be able to get pregnant if she kept going the way she was going. So we get into her story, and she talks about how she never felt good enough, even when she lost loads of weight and even when she obsessively ate clean. So she had to go through a process of coming to terms with her body's natural weight, and how that was really, really difficult for her to look down at the scale and see the numbers were going up and having to be OK with that and to stop having messed up thought around food. And she talks about her fertility struggles and what self-care looks like for her now she is a mama. So in this episode we talk a lot about babies and baby stuff, but I don't want you to think "I don't have a kid, this isn't relevant to me". Because it it. I don't have a kid either but I still found what Laura learned on her journey to be so poignant, that you're going to want to stick around to hear what she says. I especially love what she says about when you're in a funk, and asking yourself 'How do I want to feel?' and then doing something to make you feel that way, and to me, that's what self-care is all about.