28. The Diet-Free Revolution with Alexis Conason, PsyD, CEDS-S

In this episode, we will be unpacking Alexis’s Diet Free Revolution. We talk about incorporating mindfulness (insert eyeball if you feel like it, we’ll talk directly to you soon) and compassion and why they are so important. We’ll talk about some major problems with diet culture, society’s obsession with wellness and thinness, and how you can break free from the ridiculous standards. Alexis Conason, PsyD, CEDS-S, is a clinical psychologist and certified eating disorder specialist in private practice in New York City. She is the owner of Conason Psychological Services, a Health At Every Size ®-informed group therapy practice specializing in the treatment of binge eating disorder, disordered eating, and body image. She is the founder of The Anti-Diet Plan, a weight-inclusive online mindful eating program and is the author of The Diet-Free Revolution: 10 Steps to Free Yourself from the Diet-Cycle with Mindful Eating and Radical Self-Acceptance (North Atlantic Books, 2021). She was previously a research associate at the New York Nutrition Obesity Research Center in affiliation with Columbia University. Her research has been published in peer-reviewed journals, she is a frequent speaker at conferences, and she has been featured widely as an expert on the topics of mindful eating, body image, and diet culture in the media.   0:01-2:38 Intro Introducing to you our guest speaker   2:39- 7:02 Why Diets Don’t Work? Talks about her book and how she wrote Why don’t diets work? Research that backs up the idea on why diets don’t work Our bodies go into crisis mode when we try to restrict ourselves  Diets are the way to get healthy, and sometimes it’s hard to shift gears   7:03-11:40 If Diets Don’t Work, How Do You Get Healthy? Start disentangle weight from health Internalized weight bias can add increased risk for metabolic syndrome  We can impact our health by making changes that are entirely independent of losing weight and dieting When we think of health, we often narrow it to diet, exercise, and losing weight which is entirely false because health goes beyond that Health includes physical, emotional and mental well-being  Some healthy steps that work that are not related to weight loss 11:41- 22:10 What Determines Our Health? Factors in determining our health Why do genetics and wealth impact our health? How could mindfulness help have a healthier lifestyle? Mindfulness can sometimes happen in the context of chaos, and that’s okay Meditation practice is linked to mindfulness  What is Hunger-Fullness physiologically, and how do we respond to it to better our relationship with food?   22:11- 36:41 Communicating and Listening to Our Bodies Through Food Why do we feel disconnected from our bodies? We can use mindfulness to tune in with our bodies more The use of hunger and fullness scale to connect more to your body Your body has cues for some reason The trends in nutrition change overtime  Tuning in to our body is more reliable  Enjoying your food and connecting to it in a more profound way Emotional eating isn’t necessarily a bad thing Food isn’t a one size fit solution for our emotional needs Recognizing our emotions instead of using food as a coping mechanism   36:42-42:50 Body Positivity and Body Acceptance  Judgment vs. Observation  Acceptance is a core piece of mindfulness  Accepting our body and recognizing how messed up the world around us is, and changing the systems of weight biased Body positivity is an outgrowth of the body acceptance movement Our body is an instrument, not an ornament  42:51-43:49 Outro Connect with Dr. Conason   Resources Mentioned: The Diet-Free Revolution: 10 Steps to Free Yourself from the Diet Cycle with Mindful Eating and Radical Self-AcceptanceBook by Alexis Conason, Psy.D. The Anti Diet Plan Website Dr. Alexis Conason’s Website Conason Psychological Services Website Dr. Alexis Conason on Instagram    Tweetable Quotes: “ I think the way that we connect emotionally is through stories. And stories about people.” -Dr. Alexis Conason “Our bodies were designed to stay alive and survive; part of that is keeping a stable body weight.” - Dr. Alexis Conason   “If you care about people’s health, let’s work at changing capitalism.” - Dr. Alexis Conason   LEAVE A REVIEW + help someone who may need this podcast by sharing this episode.   You can connect with me, Rachelle Heinemann on Instagram, through my website www.rachelleheinemann.com, or email me directly at [email protected].