Body Kindness

Ijeoma Oluo wants us to talk about race. In her new book, So You Want to Talk About Race (Seal Press) she breaks down the barriers and explains, in simple terms and with lively examples, key concepts of privilege, intersectionality, microagressions, cultural appropriation, and more. In our podcast chat, Ijeoma helps us embrace the connections between body positivity, the anti-diet movement, and race and class issues that aren’t often discussed in these important spaces. Regarding intersectionality, she says “It’s the nature of privilege to prioritize the people at the top, whose needs are almost met. Intersectionality says that you pause and say ‘my needs are not the only needs’. Including the needs of less privileged people helps more people, not just a select few at the top.” She says “we live in a country that upholds the ideal that we aren’t allowed to talk about race and not talking is THE problem.” Ijeoma wants us to do what we can to look at everyday opportunities to create change in our culture. An e

Lidia Yuknavitch is a MISFIT and she wants you to know it’s OK to be one too. In fact, it’s necessary. In her latest book, The Misfit’s Manifesto Lidia and her guest authors share their stories for what it’s like being on the outer edges where you don’t fit in. We layer the “outsider complex” with Body Kindness, discussing the “false fictions” people believe about our bodies and our health. How acceptance of the problems in our culture labeling certain bodies as “bad” or “wrong” (not that WE ARE WRONG) is valuable to move forward and feel our worthiness. Contrary to our beliefs, misfits are desperately needed in society. Our stories are a form of knowledge and we’ve been through trauma, adversity, and chaos that has strengthened us and we can help strengthen our culture too. About Lidia: Lidia Yuknavitch is the national bestselling author of the novels The Book of Joan, The Small Backs of Children, Dora: A Headcase, and the memoir The Chronology of Water. Her new book is The Misfit’s Manifesto. Her acclaimed

Rebecca and Bernie welcome 2018 by kicking diets to the curb. They share their personal goals for creating a better life in 2018. And they officially launch the Body Kindness "Spiral Up" Club -- a year-long membership program focused on a diet DETOX and building up a positive, caregiving mindset with compassion, not shame. Then later in the show, they discuss the basics of "HAES" (health at every size) and answer listener questions about how to advocate for size diversity in their life. --- Health At Every Size explainers and resources - Research study from Journal of Obesity: The Weight-Inclusive versus Weight-Normative Approach to Health: Evaluating the Evidence for Prioritizing Well-Being over Weight Loss - http://bit.ly/2q8qgyE - "There is excellent research to support a weight-neutral, nutrition and physical-activity-based, Health at Every Size approach as a very promising chronic disease prevention strategy." - an article by Registered Dietitian Emily Fonnesbeck: A weight-neutral approach to health - ht

Rebecca and Bernie recount some of their favorite and most popular episodes of 2017. With 62 episodes in two seasons, Body Kindness has big plans for 2018. Tune in to reflect back, catch up on shows you may have missed, and help Rebecca celebrate her first “book baby” turning one. Learn how you can evolve in your Body Kindness practice, with an exclusive limited time offer to work with Rebecca on “spiraling up” and ditching diets once and for all - www.bodykindnessbook.com/spiralup for more. --- You can subscribe to Body Kindness on iTunes and Stitcher. Enjoy the show? Please rate it on iTunes! - http://getpodcast.reviews/id/1073275062 Are you ready for Body Kindness? Get started today with my free e-course and on-demand digital training. Learn more - http://bit.ly/2k23nbT The New York Times Book Review calls Body Kindness 'simple and true'. Publisher's Weekly says it's 'a rousing guide to better health.' http://bit.ly/2k228t9 Watch my videos about why we need Body Kindness on YouTube. https://youtu.be/W7rAT

In her first solo episode, Rebecca reflects on the past few years of "birthday manifestations" and shares her intention for 2018. She also spills the beans on upcoming workshops, retreats, and body kindness programming. Stay in the loop by becoming a Body Kindness Insider. You'll get a free e-course, check-ins from me and in invitation to join our free group on Facebook! To support the podcast production in 2018, visit GoFundMe.com/bodykindness --- You can subscribe to Body Kindness on iTunes and Stitcher. Enjoy the show? Please rate it on iTunes! - http://getpodcast.reviews/id/1073275062 Are you ready for Body Kindness? Get started today with my free e-course and on-demand digital training. Learn more - http://bit.ly/2k23nbT The New York Times Book Review calls Body Kindness 'simple and true'. Publisher's Weekly says it's 'a rousing guide to better health.' http://bit.ly/2k228t9 Watch my videos about why we need Body Kindness on YouTube. https://youtu.be/W7rATQpv5y8?list=PLQPvfnaYpPCUT9MOwHByVwN1f-bL2rn1V -

I finally got a chance to record with Bernie in person. I shared some frustration with the education sessions at FNCE (aka dietitian prom). The dietetics profession is riddled with weight stigma and I realized we have such a long way to go to disentangle health and well-being from diet culture. Bernie gets really upset when I share the “disaster preparedness” content in the Whole 30 program. He has family in Puerto Rico. Plus we get a surprise visit from a guest that really warms my heart and Bernie shares some personal news about a new business venture he’s starting with his wife. --- You can subscribe to Body Kindness on iTunes and Stitcher. Enjoy the show? Please rate it on iTunes! - http://getpodcast.reviews/id/1073275062 Are you ready for Body Kindness? Get started today with my free e-course and on-demand digital training. Learn more - http://bit.ly/2k23nbT The New York Times Book Review calls Body Kindness 'simple and true'. Publisher's Weekly says it's 'a rousing guide to better health.' http://bit.ly

If you received a cancer diagnosis, would you say "thank you?" I don’t think I could. This week’s "body betrayal" guest Amy Herbert is grateful to cancer for helping her discover a whole new appreciation for her body -- scars and all. Amy was forever changed by her cancer experience for the better. In this post-traumatic growth story, you’ll learn how she forged this new relationship with her body and why we need to reject unsustainable ideals for beauty, illness, and emotional healing. --- About Amy: Amy Herbert is an accredited practicing dietitian who is passionate about helping people reconnect with the joy of eating and movement. She currently works outside the industry but runs a private practice in her spare time, and blogs about food, the non diet approach, and finding gratitude in everyday moments on her blog Thoroughly Nourished Life. Amy lives in sunny Brisbane, Australia with her husband and their dog Penny. When she’s not working or blogging Amy loves reading, running, walking with Penny and Chri

When a woman has trouble conceiving, she is likely to blame herself, feel alone, inadequate and ashamed that her body is broken. Liz Shaw has been trying to conceive for years and her fertility treatments are not working (yet). In her “body betrayal” letter she shares why she struggles with fertility and how the power of community is helping her through all the low points. Her Bumps to Baby online community is a place that gives her purpose while she grapples with her infertility, her body image, and her deep desire to give birth. Liz is writing about how failed IVF cycles feel like a pregnancy loss -- and why that’s OK as well as her experiences of body shame when people assume her weight gain is related to pregnancy. Links mentioned: How My IVF Cycle Felt Like a Pregnancy Loss Growing Pains- PrePregnancy Fat Shaming About Liz: Elizabeth Shaw, MS, RDN, CLT is a nutrition expert, adjunct professor of nutrition and owner of a nutrition communications consulting business. She is a nationally recognized speaker

Politics, Hollywood, and your neighborhood. Sexual abuse is happening everywhere and people are speaking up. And finally we’re believing them. If you’re shaking your head at Charlie Rose, Roy Moore, Harvey Weinstein, Kevin Spacey (and others) you’re probably wondering what you can do about it. There’s a new book out by author and activist Jaclyn Friedman, Unscrewed: Women, Sex, Power and How to Stop Letting the System Screw Us All. She's my guest on the show today. About Jaclyn: Jaclyn Friendman’s work has redefined the concept of “healthy sexuality” and popularized the “yes means yes” standard of sexual consent that is quickly becoming law on many U.S. campuses. She is a popular speaker and opinion writer and the creator of three books: Yes Means Yes: Visions of Female Sexual Power and a World Without Rape, What You Really Really Want: The Smart Girl’s Shame-Free Guide to Sex & Safety, and her latest book Unscrewed: Women, Sex, Power and How to Stop Letting the System Screw Us All. Friedman hosts Unscrew

Imagine one day finding out the tingling you’ve been feeling isn’t normal numbness, it’s actually caused by “beautiful bright spots” in your brain. Now imagine you’re not yet a teenager. That’s exactly how it happened for Anna Sweeney, now a disabled woman and disability rights advocate. In her “body betrayal” letter, Anna shares how she transformed these boxes of difficulty she wanted to ignore and hide away into a powerful tool for change in her life and our culture. Connect with her on Instagram @DietitianAnna. --- About Anna: Anna Sweeney, MS, RD, LDN, CEDRD-S is a Certified Eating Disorder Registered Dietitian and Supervisor, Certified Intuitive Eating Specialist and an avid HAES, non-diet dietitian. She is the owner of Whole Life Nutrition Counseling and serves as the national director of nutrition services for Monte Nido. Anna is an expert in providing care for individuals struggling with eating disorders, disordered eating and body image distress. She works by combining her knowledge of nutritional sc

Have you ever felt like your body has betrayed you? Bad things happen to good people all the time. Yet when we go through something painful, we often lack the self-compassion and optimism it takes to find our way out of our suffering. What makes some people more resilient than others? Their mindset -- believing they will get through the adversity and in some cases, believing the difficulty changes them for good. Resilience is a process we can all learn. The power of stories experiences. That’s why I created this Body Betrayal series. I’m bringing you the stories of people who have gone through difficulties with their bodies and found their way to a better well-being through self-compassion and acceptance. Each show will contain a letter from the guest to their body and then through our conversation we will unpack the guest’s unique experiences and insights. First up is a colleague and friend of mine. Christy Harrison is a HAES dietitian and intuitive eating counselor who has also recovered from an eating diso

Rebecca Hall was only 25 years old when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. It’s been a long and challenging road for her, and Rebecca wants other women, especially young women with metastatic breast cancer, to know “you are not alone.” Tune in to hear us talk about Rebecca’s journey. Watch Bare, the film she co-wrote with director Kerith Lemon at www.BareShortFilm.com, and share it with anyone who needs to hear this powerful story. Find out more about Bare: Watch the film | Twitter | Facebook | Instagram Help fund metastatic breast cancer treatment research. The Bare team have created this fundraising page because metastatic breast cancer desperately needs more funding for new and better treatments. Please consider donating to METAvivor, which dedicates 100% of your donations toward metastatic breast cancer treatment research. Click here to donate. Rebecca’s Story: "I was 25, single and in graduate school, I didn't have kids — I was just getting ready to live my life. I was filled with fear, and I couldn

What if we all were fat activists? It’s an interesting thought for people who are finally at the place of rejecting diets and a singular (thin) standard for beauty and health. Activism is not always getting angry and standing on the street with a sign screaming. Sometimes it IS that, but there are lots of forms of “activism” if you take a broader definition. You can throw a pool party and rock your swimwear. You can tell the nurse, “I don’t step on the scale.” You can tell yourself “I am on your side” and anyone who treats you badly based on weight can get the push back. Fat activism is just as much about practicing self-care and self-compassion as it is about getting angry. Tune in to hear my conversation with long-time Fat Activist and author of Fat!So? Marilyn Wann joins me to discuss why it’s wrong when people say “you should lose weight for health reasons”. She shares ideas for fat activism that go beyond getting angry and protesting in the streets to include meaningful choices anyone can make to reject

When Rosie Molinary was looking in the mirror at her frizzy, unruly hair in the dead of summer and freaking out over what product would 'tame the mane,' she had an epiphany: 'I have bought into the beauty myth of what society says I should look like.' She told herself, 'I'm going to work with boys in an alternative school. Not one of them will care about the texture of my hair, but they will care about how I will make them feel. Who am I trying to get approval from?' And she set down her straightener and walked out the door as her natural, beautiful self... already good enough. Rosie is the champion of 'radical self-acceptance' -- the belief that you are worthy enough just for being born and the idea that you don't have to do ANYTHING to prove your worth. Radical self-acceptance is the choice to not have an adversarial relationship with yourself. Instead, you choose to accept your own humanity in the same way you accept the humanity of others. Tune in as we discuss how to practice radical self-acceptance usin

Neuroscientist Sandra Aamodt's TED Talk "Why dieting usually doesn't work" has been viewed over 4 million times. She really didn't want to do a TED Talk, but she was so driven to put a science-based, anti-diet book out into the world that she marched her introverted self onto the TED stage, stood on the big red dot, said what we needed to hear, and eventually landed her book 'Why Diets Make Us Fat: The Unintended Consequences of Our Obsession with Weight Loss'. Tune in and listen to Sandra and I discuss why dieting and the brain are NOT friends and why dieting will never support a human's healthy brain function. Sandra explains how and why body weight is regulated by the brain (thank goodness!) and that may mean (gasp) that fat people will be fat no matter what they do! And people who diet are likely to end up regaining the weight they lost (and then some). We get into genetic factors that impact our weight and have a laugh at the idea of canceling our'memberships' to the BS-measurement, otherwise known as t

Tiara syndrome. Tunneling. Time Confetti. If you don't already know about these terms, you will after hearing me talk with award winning journalist and bestselling author of Overwhelmed: Work, Love & Play when No One has the Time, Brigid Schulte. When we don't have the time or make the most of our time, we get overwhelmed. Anxious. Stressed Out. Burned Out. And then the self-criticism just rolls over us like a MACK truck. We are stuck in a downward spiral and suddenly being good to ourselves is just another overwhelming task. Most people will admit that "having enough time" is a significant barrier to their Body Kindness self-care practices. What if I told you that it's not YOU, it's a cultural sickness. My guest Brigid Schulte kicks off our conversation about the systemic issues that keep our culture feeling this time scarcity (hint: America's work culture has some "work" to do). Then we have a conversation about mindset interventions you can try on yourself and ways you can more realistically schedule y

I've been helping my friend, former chronic dieter, and former "winner" of The Biggest Loser Bernie Salazar practice Body Kindness for nearly two years. (It's a process, folks!) Bernie has been stepping on the scale again and asking his doctor about his weight. He's looking for some advice from me. We spend a big chunk of this episode getting to the core of his concerns. He wants to have more energy for his daughter and he doesn't put the time into his self-care he wants to or he thinks he "should". We disentangle the "inner critic voice" from the "caregiver voice" so Bernie can stay focused on his well-being and not his body shape. Tune in to hear how I help him reframe his experiences into actionable, compassionate choices in line with his values. Then toward the end, you'll hear us both "go off" on a couple people who have been shaming folks on social media. I called it bullying and abuse. Should I have gotten that mad? Yep. And you just might get mad at it too. Get in touch with us: Rebecca@BodyKindnessBo

One day Melanie Klein said 'I am no longer going to the gym,' and it was one of the best decisions she could have made for her health. Melanie used to believe that something was wrong with her body and no amount of running or gym visits made that better. Then she tried yoga and learned how to love herself, inside and out. Now she wants to help you to see the beautiful potential of yoga to CONNECT you to your body, build self-compassion, and body kindness. Listen to us discuss our personal experiences with exercise and how yoga helped us reframe the purpose and value of movement in our lives, essentially 'deprogramming ourselves' by opting out of diet culture's negative messages -- from calorie counting to body comparisons, and self-judgments. Even if you've never tried a single asana (that's a pose), I think you'll be breathing and 'downward-dogging' your way toward a better body image in no time after listening to our conversation. Join me for a month of FREE e-mail based coaching toward connection to your b

We're practicing yoga daily the month of September to explore how yoga can help you connect to your body through breath and build the self-compassion you need to live with Body Kindness. (Important reminder: Connection is one of the three Body Kindness pillars… Connection to your body and connection to other people, places, and things that make up your world.) Anna Guest Jelley has connected yoga to many people who would have otherwise found yoga to be "not for them" because a crucial need was not met -- the instructors were not teaching for all sizes. Anna is a she-ro of mine because she saw a problem and addressed it. BOOM! Curvy Yoga was born! Tune in to hear us discuss the powers of movement that has nothing to do with weight loss. We chat about the value of creating spaces where weight loss talk is off the table -- even if people really are hoping to change their bodies. Finally, we discuss why connection is essential to help us get to know ourselves and our patterns that can help reduce judgments and sh

I catch up with my friend and former “winner” of The Biggest Loser, Bernie Salazar, after a bit of a summer break on our chats. (For new listeners, Bernie and I are chatting about how we’re doing at our own Body Kindness practice for mutual support and accountability, usually once a month.) In this episode, you’ll hear us talk about the “juggle struggle” of parenting and the cultural differences I noticed after a trip to Copenhagen, the capital of Denmark, a.k.a. The home of the “happiest people in the world.” You’ll also find out what’s been bugging Bernie about his health and well-being and how I’m making a Body Kindness choice that feels like failure, but I’m not letting it get me down! Plus, Bernie dishes on his mixed emotions about the cancellation of The Biggest Loser and while I feel anything BUT sad about the chopping block, I empathize with him. Finally, I announce a September “spiral up” challenge celebrating National Yoga Month. I’m using it to reconnect to the mind and body image benefits I have