How our childhood affects our relationship with food and our bodies is an important discussion. It's no secret that for many of us, childhood is where we first heard words that our bodies weren't good enough or that we couldn't trust ourselves around food. 

And it can be more paramount in families with other "dysfunctional" elements and brokenness.

This week I'm talking with my friend, Elizabeth Oates. Elizabeth is an author, speaker, and mother of 5 who is passionate about helping women ditch the guilt and embrace freedom. After growing up in a broken family herself, she found real freedom beyond her childhood pains and wants to now spread that same truth to others. She wrote the book, Mending Broken Branches: When God Reclaims Your Dysfunctional Family Tree, and she is also podcast host of the show, Asking for a Friend. 

In this interview, we discuss:

• What Elizabeth's definition of "dysfunction" is
• How Elizabeth's dysfunctional childhood affected her relationship...

Do you ever wonder if all the struggle is really "worth it?" 

So many clients and patients I work with will inevitably reach a point where they feel completely stuck. They feel confused and hopeless and maybe even worthless. Realistically, they may feel even WORSE than they did when they were actively engaging in their eating disorder. 

And so, they wonder: what am I doing? Is this worth it? Is freedom possible? Is full recovery actually possible?

Well, I'd like to encourage you, as I do my individual patients and clients, that yes yes YES! Full recovery is possible. True freedom from food and body obsessions is possible! And you are so SO close!

But...

It does take change.

Uncomfortable, REAL, soul-gripping, spirit-inspiring change. 

Not the "ra ra" kind of change that most self-help books and self-development gurus talk about... but the real, deep kind of change that results in a transformation from the inside out.

This may be a slow burn kind of change. 

Do you have anxiety or IBS AND an eating disorder? Have you fallen prey to the allure of curing your mental health or physical health struggles with food? You're not alone!

This week I'm talking with my friend, Emily Murray- registered dietitian nutritionist, eating disorders specialist, health at every size and intuitive eating clinician, all about this. 

In this interview, we discuss:

• How IBS led her into diet culture
• How she tried to find the perfect diet to control her anxiety
• How her eating disorder affected her relationship with God
• The harms of external validation for food restriction
• How to reframe conversations away from weight loss and appearance
• How her experience impacted her career
• What healthy habits she incorporates into her own life today
• and so much more!

To access my limited time FREE VIDEO TRAINING SERIES helping YOU make REAL PEACE with food>> click here.

It's Not About the Food Academy is NOW OPEN! Click here to learn more.

...

>> FREE VIDEO TRAINING! Check out my limited time free video training series where I'll teach you:

• What You Need to Know to Make Peace with Food
• The Counterintuitive Approach to Overcome Emotional Eating
• How to Discover What You REALLY Desire
• My Approach to Uncovering Your Unconscious Mental Blocks

>> Sign up here: www.stefanireinoldmd.com/academy

Special BONUS:

>> Sign up for Madison's free masterclass: 5 Secrets to Never Worrying About Food & Your Body Ever Again 

About the Guest:

How do we deal with life's most painful moments? What if all we want to do is just avoid our feelings? Why is it so hard to move past such hurtful experiences?

I get real and raw in this episode where I share about my experience through the loss of one of my twins. I also share:

• Why it's actually REALLY hard to "feel your feelings"
• Why it's okay to avoid
• The neuroscience behind an emotion
• What you can do to "deal" and move past hurts
• My HEART Method®- what it is and how to use it
• and so much more!

If there's one message that I have for you, it's this: THERE'S NOTHING WRONG WITH YOU!

If you've experienced loss or a bone-gripping emotional pain, THERE'S NOTHING WRONG WITH YOU OR YOUR BODY! 

Sometimes, bad $h*t just happens. You're still amazing and brave and powerful and wonderful. :) You are still loved AND love-able. 

To check out my free video training, go to:

www.stefanireinoldmd.com/academy

For my free mini-class helping you uncover what it's about for you:

Sign...

I know I talk a lot about intuitive eating, but there's also a lot of misinformation about what intuitive eating is and isn't. Let's get the facts from this week's expert guest, Evelyn Tribole, co-author of the book Intuitive Eating.

Evelyn Tribole, MS, RDN, CEDRD-S is a registered dietitian nutritionist and certified eating disorders dietitian, author of 9 books, with a private practice in Newport Beach, California. She enjoys speaking and training health professionals on how to help their clients cultivate a healthy relationship with food, mind, and body through the process of Intuitive Eating. 

Evelyn and I discuss:

• Definition of intuitive eating
• How to find "red flags" of intuitive eating
• Difference between intuitive eating and mindful eating
• Intuitive Eating vs. Health at Every Size® vs. Fat Activism
• The religion of diet culture AND anti-diet culture
• When or If you should try to change someone else's mind
• and so much more!

READY TO LEARN INTUITIVE EATING?

Check...

It's hard to feel good about your body in the middle of swimsuit and shorts season. The more we reveal our bodies, the more we vulnerable we can feel. And then all the negative thoughts come in... and then the diet thoughts come in... and before we know it, we're pages deep reading the latest diet book or health blog with hopes and dreams of changing our body ONE. LAST. TIME.

But what if you could feel good in your body RIGHT NOW?

Well, in this episode, I'm sharing with you my top 10 strategies to feel good in your body right now! These are the exact same strategies that I personally use to improve my own body image when I'm not feeling my best.

Top 10 Countdown:

10. Wear clothes that feel good and fit you RIGHT NOW. 

Buy new clothes if you need to. If it helps to cut the tags out of your clothes, do it! Hide or get rid of clothes that don't fit you right now.

9. Focus on someone else's needs.

Diet culture can make us very self-centered. Sometimes even recovery makes...

What does God actually think of food and body image obsessions? How can we apply GRACE to food and our bodies?

Diet culture has hijacked Christian culture and many church communities. This is no surprise. However, maybe we've gotten it wrong. Let's investigate how to apply grace to food and body image issues.

In today's episode, I talk with dietitian, author, wife, mother, and eating disorders professional, Aubrey Golbek.

We discuss:

• Her own history with disordered eating and issues with her body
• How being an athletic child helped her body image
• How her pregnancy and postpartum experience launched her healing
• What God think about what we eat
• What the Bible actually says about food and our bodies
• What "the desires of the flesh" actually means
• The difference between living "fear conscious" and "grace conscious"
• How the secular "attacking" culture of anti-diet social media affects Christian
• and so much more!

CONNECT WITH AUBREY:

Instagram: @gracefueled_rd

Website: ...

Can you develop an eating disorder and body dysmorphia even when you're in an already "thin ideal" body? YES! 

No matter your body size or shape, we are all vulnerable to the impact of culture on how we view ourselves. Eating disorders are mental illnesses, and we cannot determine someone's emotional suffering based on what someone looks like. 

In today's episode, I talk with dietitian, food blogger, and eating disorders professional, Sophie Bertrand.

We discuss:

• Why Sophie became an eating disorders dietitian
• How Sophie's relationship with food progressed through her career training
• How her definition of health now includes chocolate and cake
• Effect of perfectionism on development of ED's
• How body obsessions can drive food obsessions
• How body size does not determine mental suffering
• How Sophie stopped weighing herself
• How healing her own body image helped her have more compassion for others
• and so much more!

Sophie gives some really great actionable tips for helping...

How does someone get on a weight loss television show? What's it really like behind the scenes? How do doctors and the medical community affect our relationship with food and body? 

As anyone who has ever struggled with food and eating issues can attest, our issues usually begin young and begin with unique motivations, usually involving some form of acceptance or health.

In today's episode, I talk with former weight loss television show contestant and infertility warrior, Jacqui McCoy. 

We discuss:

• How Jacqui first began her obsession with food and body (Spoiler alert: It has to do with her doctor!)
• Why we think that we need to lose weight to be happy
• Effect of dieting on relationships
• How she got onto a weight loss television show and her experience on the show and with media
• How PCOS and infertility affected her relationship with food and her body
• What Jacqui and Dr. Reinold think of having women in larger bodies on television shows
• and so much more!

CONNECT...