May 1, 2021 • 32 mins
Content Warning: Eleni discusses her personal weight loss journey and it’s impact (or lack there of) on her PCOS.
Weight inclusive registered dietitian Eleni Agresti breaks down the stigma that eating disorders are reserved for the thin. We hear her personal story of dieting since she was 3, and how she gained the courage to wear clothes that FIT not COVER her bigger body. PLUS, a talk on what it’s like to be a bigger body in a gym (and what trainers should STOP doing).
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
I won't lend my body out out everything that I'm
made do. Won't spend my life trying to change. I'm
learning to love who I am. I get I'm strong,
I feel free, I know who every part of me.
It's beautiful and I will always out way. If you
(00:24):
feel it with your eyes in the air, she'll s
love to the mood. I am there. Say good one
day and time did you and die out? Welcome back
to Outweigh Today it's just me Lisa, and I'm joined
by an amazing guest, a Lennie, who's a registered dietitian.
Welcome a Lennie, Thank you so much for having me.
(00:44):
I'm super excited to be here. I'm so excited, and
I just keep meeting amazing health professionals on Instagram like you,
and you happen to be local to where I live,
which is on Long Island, so even better. Hopefully we'll
meet when things come down a little bit with COVID
over here. But I think that it's really easy when
you're on social media to get sucked down the rabbit
(01:05):
hole of one way nutritionists perform and think that's what
nutrition is. And it's really great to know that obviously,
or maybe not so obviously. The trend has become a
lot more anti diet. But once you kind of foray
into that world by way of Instagram, you keep finding
more and more people, so it's it's such an exciting
(01:26):
time for sure. It's definitely um. I've been on Instagram
like professionally for a few years now, but when I
first started, this anti diet movement was not there, and
I found as a dietitian in a larger sized body,
I was definitely like I had never seen another dietitian
on Instagram that wasn't a larger sized body. My original
(01:48):
name before All Bodies Nutrition was the Curvy Dietitian, and
that's how I started it, and I ended up changing
it because I felt like excluded bodies that were not curvy.
So I like, on my journey of you know, wanting
to promote diversity of body size, I found that I
wanted to use the name that was all encompassing because
(02:11):
we are all not meant to have the same type
of body and so in general, definitely, this anti diet
trends has been very prevalent for the past year, which
is really great to meet other dietitians not just locally,
but like across the country and even across the world
who have this message in this outlook, and how it's
really changing the face of what you would think nutrition
(02:32):
should be quote unquote. So it's super cool. Yeah, I
wish we met earlier. Like like you said, I I
started using Instagram professionally to speak about I don't know
if I was calling it an anti diet message, but
I mean it was starting to look a lot like
what you hear me say today. But I too was,
you know, in my sphere, the only person that was
(02:53):
saying it. But I was a smaller body. So it's
really great to kind of I think, being juxtaposition to
who you know. I think as as quote unquote hard
a time as I had showing up to a platform
where all dietitians we're not saying what I was saying,
it was probably still more well received than perhaps you
(03:17):
because of you know the implications of what curvy means
or what bigger bodies might mean in terms of health,
which we're going to break down. What I love is
that you've really been owning your own personal body for
a long time, and you said specifically that when you
came to Instagram, you didn't see other bodies that looked
(03:39):
like yours as registered dietitians showing up. But I'm curious,
what about in real life? Did you have any registered
dietitians who were model behavior that looked like you, that
you looked up to. I would say definitely, like just
going through dietetics like the DPD, which are the requirements
(04:00):
we had to take to be able to apply for
the dietetic internship, Like there were maybe one or two
other girls that were in larger sized bodies. It was
definitely different. I mean, I guess thankfully, like at that time,
like it wasn't something that bothered me. But throughout the
years of like having interns when I used to work
in clinical and I did receive interns that were in
(04:23):
different sized bodies, they expressed to me how like hey,
like how did you how did you feel? And I
was like, you know, I was never treated differently by professors,
but definitely when I was in my internship, certain preceptors
that I had had a bias towards me, and uh,
it definitely felt not so great. But as I've gotten older,
I realized, like it just comes down to their their
(04:45):
inability to see outside of themselves and like what nutrition
is supposed supposed to quote unquote look like. And you
know I have to say, like, um, I went to
l U Post which is on Long Island for my
internship and my masters and everything, and like I was
never made to feel any different. But you know, there
are times where I'm sure I saw a new patient
who didn't know what I looked like and they came
(05:07):
in to me. And this was before I was a
wait inclusive dietitian, and I'm sure they had some sort
of bias. But you know, that's why I do what
I do to try to spread the message of like,
everyone's body is different and even if we all ate
the same exact things and move the same way, we
would still look completely differently. Yeah, And I mean, I
think when you're talking about your preceptors, you have the
(05:28):
preceptors if you're unfamiliar. When we go through our training
to become a registered dietitian, we do an internship and
it's supervised by other registered dietitians. So the dietitians that
are above us, so to speak, that are training us,
are called our preceptors. And a lot of older generations
as well as current generations have weight stigma, so the
(05:50):
belief that a bigger body means that you are less
healthy and therefore your behaviors are less healthy. And there's
this idea that you know, you just make the healthy
choices and we'll all look the same. But hopefully we're
continuing to break this down in the podcast. But there's
something about your personal confidence I think that has kind
(06:11):
of carried you through probably difficult moments that would have
otherwise broken somebody else down in your same exact body.
So I think there's something about your personal confidence that
you know, really shines through or your self worth or
something that has maybe not always been tied to your
body tracts definitely like from my whole life, and I
(06:31):
mean that's something that maybe we'll progress talking about, like
my personal journey, which like I don't highlight on my
feed anymore because it's not relevant to other people, Like
what body weight my body has gone through or changes
my body has gone through has nothing to do with
what anyone else's body should or should not do, and
that's just you know, how my body works. But definitely
self worth where I realized like I am a worthy
(06:55):
person and I am a competent person regardless of what
size I am, or what weight I am, or whether
or not my stomach is flat or not. And as
far as my knowledge goes of nutrition and working with
clients depending on like what their situation is is totally
separate from that. That's awesome. So your work, if it
(07:15):
hasn't come through, is really centered around eating disorders in females,
specifically in larger bodies. And I love that you're targeting
that because we do hear from a lot of our
audience that they feel unseen and unheard either on our
podcast or in real life, because they relate to everything
we talked about on this podcast when it comes to
(07:37):
overthinking about food all the time, obsessing, you know, using
exercise for the wrong reasons, rumination, guilt, dieting. But they
look different than me and Amy, my co host, and
some of the guests that we have on also, we
try to really have all guests on that I think
bring valuable information. We don't, you know, judge based on
(07:58):
body size, but ultimately people need to see people that
look like them to understand. But essentially it boils down
to the fact that yes, what we're saying speaks to them,
but they still don't think they deserve to raise their
hand and say I have a problem because they're still
occupying a bigger body where their doctors are telling them
to lose weight and their family friends are telling them
(08:19):
to lose weight, And how could that be an eating disorder? Yeah,
for sure. And I realized prior to becoming a dietitian,
I did a lot of like bonds here work dealing
with eating disorders. It just so happened that the dietitian
that I was previously working with, she did specialize in
working with eating disorders. So I spent many years and
outpatient eating disorder program for adolescents, and a lot of
(08:41):
the things that I saw there, I started to see
in clients that were coming to me wanting to lose
weight because their b m I was a certain size,
or their weight was a certain size, or the doctor
said they had to lose weight, whatever the thing may
have been, and they were exhibiting the same symptoms as
the eating just our patients that I had worked with.
(09:02):
And it kind of made me please and say, like, okay,
regardless of your body size, if you come to me
with disordered eating habits, or an eating disorder. My recommendations
are going to basically be the same thing whether or
not you're considered underweight by the b m I skill
or overweight or obese. And that's when I really started
to make that switch from not promoting intentional weight loss,
(09:24):
because what I explained to people is that your body
is smart and it knows what to do. But if
you have all these years of trauma surrounded by food,
if you've been trying to lose weight your whole entire
life and you're constantly on a diet, you're so out
of touch with what your body is natural like hunger
and satiety cues are, or what your body's natural affinity
for movement is or isn't. And so if you've spent
(09:46):
so much time and energy focusing on these things and
you're still in a larger sized body, you need to
heal whatever that may be. And in the end, your body,
your body weight may decline, but it may go up
or may stay the same. We're not really sure, you know,
But it's just healing those issues or obstacles like I
(10:06):
like to call them. It's really the main focus. So
whether it's someone who is diagnosed clinically with an eating disweater,
or someone who just comes to me who had disweatered
eating symptoms. And I think that that's just so important
for everyone to hear. Whatever body size you currently occupy
or have occupied in the past, you are worthy of
(10:26):
coming home to your body first and foremost. And coming
home does not mean effort, force, restriction, discipline will plower.
It means love, compassion, care, nourishment, um support. And it's
important to know that if you're listening and you're a
bigger body or you let I think it's important for
(10:47):
also smaller all bodies to really hear this message because
we we all bring the stigma. I bring the stigma,
you know, we all bring the stigma that somebody can
do more. But what if they've already done the most
and we don't know it and they're really hurting. So,
I mean, the main takeaway I really want to be
loud and clear on this podcast is that anybody, any
(11:08):
physical body and anybody, any person can have an eating
disorder act a hundred percent. And I think it's important
for us to do this work and to continue to
do you know, there's a lot of research that's being
done that's really reshaping how things are looked at in
a clinical like hopefully it will trickle up to a
clinical setting um and how it's viewed there, because right now,
(11:32):
I haven't worked in a clinical setting in a few
years now, but when I did, there's just a lot
of as you know, like wait, stigma and bias, and
people are not getting adequate care. But at the end
of the day, like, regardless of your body size, you
should feel good with what you're eating, and you should
feel good in the way that you move your body,
and forcing yourself to do something is not going to
(11:54):
just make a difference your your body is smart. It's
always gonna end up where it's supposed to end up
as long as you're listening to it. Yeah, what are
some of the stigmas that exist around eating disorders and
bigger bodies, both from the healthcare practitioner, the individual, and
just society. As far as the individual who doesn't feel
that they're allowed quote unquote to have an eating diswater
(12:18):
or or have disordered eating because they are in a
larger body is really dangerous because there are like medical
implications of you know, whatever the habits, maybe regarding restriction
or any like actual eating, diswater behaviors as far as
the practitioner goes. And I know when I was working
with various physicians and like the local error gardens City
(12:41):
Manhattan things like that, they don't look at the individual
as a whole and they just say like, oh, this
person is pre diabetic, so tell them to lose weight,
Like that's what they would tell me. And I would say, well,
what if someone comes to me and they're pre diabetic
and they're at a quote unquote normal weight, what are
(13:03):
my recommendations done? Has nothing to do with your weight.
My recommendations whether you're a normal weight or overweight or
obese and you're pre diabetic, it's going to be the
same thing. So doing more like health centered recommendations and
not weight centered recommendations will improve patient outcomes. So this
is definitely something that practitioners and physicians should be paying
(13:23):
attention to. But it's just reframing people's understanding of like
what actual health is and it's not one size. And
I mean I've had hundreds of patients back when I
used to work like in a physician's office, and I
would just see back to back patients people with high cholesterol,
you know, not taking care of themselves, but their weight
was considered normal, So what would someone's recommendation be. Then
(13:47):
you know there's no weight recommendations for those patients. There's
obviously other recommendations that will actually improve their lab values
and things like that. So just refocusing how we look
at health and how to actually improve health. And you
have a really unique background because you were on the
track for premed transition to becoming an r D and
(14:07):
you have PCOS where the general recommendation is to lose weight.
That being said, I feel like we could sub that
into an entire episode, So we're not going to dive
too deep on that just yet. But if you're listening
right now and you're super interested on dealing with pcos
or why doctors may say just lose weight and things
(14:29):
will improve, join us when a Lenny comes back, which
is going to be in about two weeks from this
episode's air date, So just so you know, that's why
I'm not diving a little bit further now, but I
really want to dive into that on our second episode,
where we could get a little bit more nitty gritty
into disease states managing them with weight and outcomes related
(14:49):
to do so, So why are the symptoms of an
eating disorder more important to really think about rather than
just way or b AM I well weight and b
M I. Both of those things are not actual habits,
and the symptoms are the habits that you form. And
(15:10):
so what I find is a lot of individuals, whether
they're quote unquote considered a normal sized body or a
larger sized body, a lot of times those symptoms are
encouraged like restriction, cutting out food groups, motivational Monday, let's restart,
let's reset Monday, cheat days, all those things. Those are
disordered habits to have, and all of those disordered habits
(15:34):
are geared towards shrinking your body. And so when we
talk about shrinking our bodies just scientifically, like I explain
to people, your body isn't just like selectively loose fat.
It doesn't just say this person has a lot of
fat on their body and we're just gonna use that
up as energy. It's very taxing on the body to
actually burn fat for fuel when you aren't giving it
(15:56):
adequate energy and carbohydrates. It actually may be easier for
it to use your own muscle mass, which we know
is important for so many different things, not just strengthen
things like that, but your immune system all these different things.
So when you're losing weight and you're forcing your body
to shrink itself in a in a very unhealthy, disordered manner,
(16:17):
you're lowering your b min and you're lowering your weight,
but you're also lowering your lean body mass and then
your your immunity, like you said, beautifully. Yeah, So I
always recommend to people like people are always so concerned
with like calories and how much on burning and this
and that, and the worst thing that you could do
is essentially like starving your body from adequate nutrients, adequate carbohydrates,
(16:40):
adequate protein, et cetera, and shrink your lean body mass
because we know it's hard, especially as we get older,
to build up that lean body mass. So reframing what
people think of in terms of weight loss and what
it actually really means, some of my clients are like, Wow,
I never even thought about that, because all you hear
is like, oh, let's get healthy and lean and happy,
(17:00):
and no one thinks about what it actually means and
what the consequences on the body actually are. You just
triggered a memory and it's a little off tangent, but
I have. You know, I'm pretty selective in who I
follow when it comes to people what they'll say about
food and bodies like I have. You know, I don't
want a feed that doesn't reflect. Not that I'm not
(17:22):
open to hearing other people's thoughts, but it can be
even I wouldn't say triggering for me, but it's kind
of just like, oh, I can't I can't see this,
you know. But recently I follow a trainer that I
worked with one time in d C. The only time
I ever saw a trainer one it is literally one time,
and then I was like no, but he was a
good trainer when it came to movement, functional movement. You know,
(17:45):
we didn't talk about anything nutrition wise, and I never
really heard him speak about anything nutrition wise. And he
did a post recently about you know, should you intermittent
fast or not? And I thought he was going in
the direction that was going to be great, and it
pivoted into it's all about the calories, calories in verse,
(18:05):
calories out, and I was really shocked because it's really
shows how insidious social media can be when it comes
to following health professionals because it was so posed like
I was going to really like cheer him on and
be proud of what he was putting out, and yet
(18:25):
it boiled down to just old science and treating everybody
like we're the same, Like if you and I just
ate the same amount, first of all, we shouldn't eat
the same amount. Not that I deserve less or more
than you or you more than me, but who knows, right,
Like who knows what's going on in my body and
what's going on in your body? That that we're just
(18:47):
a simple math equation. And I found it so dangerous
and scary that this is, you know, obviously rampant. I
don't see it as much because of where my head
is at, but it's still rampant. But imagine someone who
isn't you with your education and your outlook. It prays
on these individuals. And we could talk about how many
(19:08):
different celebrities push these you know, unrealistic or even just
trainers that maybe you like how they train and you
like the recommendations training wise that they make, but then
they are still rooted in diet culture, and you know,
to send out that message to so many people just
further makes it more difficult for voices like hours to
(19:28):
like reach as many people as pos. They just don't know, right,
Like they don't know. He doesn't know that he's saturated
in diet culture or that he's perhaps suffering, like I
even mean it like compare, like I had to unfollow
because it just I just couldn't. And I have a
really high tolerance. I really don't just unfollow somebody when
I disagree with them. I don't believe in that personally.
(19:49):
But it just really upset me that this is still,
you know, going on. And I know you don't really talk,
like you said, like you don't tell your personal story
so much, but I did go back on your feet
a little bit, and I think it's actually really helpful
when you do tell parts of your personal story. And
you told one story about how you were lifting at
(20:12):
the gym and you faced some sort of stigma in
doing so. Do you remember this? Which one was it?
That someone was like approaching me in regard? Yeah? Oh yeah,
for sure. I mean that has definitely happened, like the
fat phobia environment of a gym. So what happened exactly
if you're comfortable talking about it? Yeah, So essentially I
(20:35):
was I had been trained by my sister who is
also a dietician and a personal trainer, but she had
trained me for like maybe a few years prior to
me just working out on my own. So not that
I'm a personal trainer by any means, but I have
an idea about you know, good form, and I had
a plan and all these sorts of things. I was
at my gym and it had happened a few times,
(20:59):
but that one specific, big time that you're referring to
was this trainer. This was obviously pre covid um. This
trainer had come up to me, and he didn't have
a great bedside manner, even though he wasn't a physician,
but like, you know, just the way he came up
to me, it was just very abrupt in the middle
of my set and was like, oh, you're working out
(21:19):
one part of your body, but I believe I was
working out another, which was bizarre in itself. And he
basically was like targeting me because I was in a
larger sized body and I and I didn't want to
come to that conclusion and make that judgment, but I
watched him throughout my hour there, however long it was.
He did not go up to anyone else and there's
(21:40):
a bunch of other people there. So in gym's they're
like meant to target. They're literally told to target people
who they think could become clients for you know, weight loss.
And I went to the manager and the manager wasn't there,
but there was someone behind the desk and I kind
of got into like a little bit of a fight
with her, and I was like, listen, like this has
happened before. I've never said anything before, but I just
(22:01):
wanted to let you know, like like this is what
I experienced. It made me really uncomfortable and like I'm
fine and I'm happy here, and I not like doubting
what I'm doing. Like if I went up to them
and said like, hey, can you show me how to
do this? Or hey, would you like me to show
you that, Like, it wasn't The conversation wasn't like that
at all, and the woman was not very helpful and
(22:21):
she was like, oh, well, that happened to me one time.
And then I started training every day and I was
like it was just such a bad experience. And I mean,
thinking of other women in particular who are in larger
sized bodies working out in the weightlifting area, it's not
very common, and so it just further perpetuates. Like everyone
deserves to work out however they want without getting biased
(22:45):
from other people. Like there are people who work out
there who have terrible form, look like they're going to
hurt their backs, and all these other things. You can
go suggest things to them too. You don't just have
to walk up to someone and say, oh, let me
train you. Like two things to that think. Number one
is is that you felt targeted that the trainer came
up to you and if I'm understanding you correct correct
(23:07):
me if I'm wrong, but assumed that because you were
at the gym, and because you were training pretty hard
with weight and all of that, that your goal must
be to lose weight. So he or she inserted themselves
and said, let me help you fix your form, do this,
And you looked around and he wasn't going up to
anyone else who was in particular, you know, bad form,
and you weren't there to lose weight. You were there,
(23:30):
Why were you there? This dude didn't even ask me
to crack my form, which it didn't need crack thing
because I was very I'm very careful with what I do,
not saying it's perfect but like, but if he had
made some sort of suggestion, then I would have said, okay, whatever,
and even if he didn't go up to anyone else,
and I would have taken it a little bit better.
But it was very obvious and it wasn't super busy,
(23:53):
so it just was like he walked around, he saw
me and just like came right up to me, and
it was very tired at it, and um, it's unfortunate,
Like I said, it's for me, I'm fine, like I
really don't care. But for other women, I don't see
a lot of larger sized women at the gym that
I go to. I mean, it's a diverse gym. There's
a lot of different people who go, their old, young,
(24:15):
different ethnicities and everything like that. But it's very rare
for me to see a larger sized woman. And for me,
who someone who has not had such a good experience
in my life with exercise when I found weightlifting and
I fell in love with it, like it's my favorite
thing to do, like it's the best part. Well, it
was the best part of my day pre COVID. But
(24:36):
you know, it deters people from going and so I
can only imagine how someone else who already feels maybe
self conscious or like awkward in a place with like
all men as is to be made to feel out
of place, and a hundred percent agree that your experience
is what you felt. And I'll also share that it's
been a long time since I've been in a gym too,
(24:58):
and I'm like, very my energy is are you? Like
I can try to give off good energy, but when
trainers used to approach me, I find it really soliciting,
Like I wouldn't say anything related to my body. But
it's like I already pay a freaking expensive gym membership.
I don't need to be solicited into personal training like you.
I have my background and exercise physiology. I know how
(25:18):
to work my form. I know what you're doing, you know,
step off. But it really is it's like, this is
my time to be in my body. If I want
a personal trainer, I'm going to ask for a personal trainer.
I mean maybe other people do like when a trainer
comes and helps them, but I feel like a good
rule of thumb, like you said, like if anyone is
self conscious, they might not want extra eyes on them,
(25:40):
especially from a professional, you know, and as they're trying
to figure out what feels good in their bodies and
also asking permission if you would like to have a conversation.
I mean, when a client comes to they're coming to you.
You already have that conversation. It would be the same
as me going into someone's deans and just saying, hey,
(26:00):
I could do this, like you know, how not cool
that is. So it's definitely approaching the client in a
way that's like open ended and saying like, hey, is
there anything you'd like to be working on? You know,
but definitely that experience was and even if somebody is
very you know, social media has become a quote unquote
vulnerable place for a lot of young women. Even if
a woman is saying I struggle with binge eating or
(26:23):
I hate my body or blah blah blah, it's not
the role of a registered dietitian I believe, or even
a way inclusive one or some of the practices health
at every size like you and I to say, oh,
let me help you, Like yes, we will, we want
to help you, but it's not our job to knock
on your door. Because there's that permission to and readiness
(26:43):
and willingness and stages of making somebody feel comfortable that
already feels singled out, whether they have been or not.
I think you your confidence really comes through and everything
that you do, and I'm sure it has something to
do with the way you grow up. I could just imagine.
But you also shared another personal post that growing up
(27:05):
you were told to cover your stomach and your butt
and where oversized clothing. Who told you to do that?
First of all, definitely like everyone in my family, Like
I am Greek in a time, but I grew up
mostly Greek, and the Greek community in general is pretty judgmental,
and so my whole entire life, I was basically in
(27:27):
a larger sized body from second grade, I would say,
And so that kind of traveled with me throughout my
life and as I got baker and larger, and you know,
I grew That's like a whole other story. But definitely
like my grandmother, my mother who suffered with like disordered eating,
and that kind of translated down on us my aunt
(27:48):
and they're still to this day, like my aunt um
and other family members, they still talk about things not
towards me, but like about themselves. And obviously, like you
absorbed what other people say are around you. So when
you're told to like, oh, pull down your shirt. I
always viewed my body, whatever size it has been throughout
my life as like something that I should be ashamed
(28:10):
of it. Yeah, And as I have gone through my
self love journey, which I always explained to people, like
is not linear, Like it wasn't like just one day
I woke up and I was like, yes, like I
love everything about myself. Like, that's not what self love is.
It's just giving your body the grace to know that
like it does great things for you. And wearing things
(28:32):
that make you feel comfortable is important. So if wearing
oversized things and things that cover your butt is something
that makes you feel good uncomfortable, then you should do that.
But I realized that I didn't have to do those
things if I didn't want to. So I've had clients
and I see a lot of girls and women on
social media who are in smaller bodies than me that
(28:53):
also struggle with that same type of thing. Um, So
regardless of like where you are, you know, whatever your
body size is, it's a common thing that people experience.
But definitely, you know, accepting myself as I am and
saying like this is okay, and this is me is
something that took me a really long time to come
to terms with. So I wouldn't say like I'm as
(29:15):
like out there and confident as Lizzo, but um, you know,
because she's amazing and and I always love the way
she is. It's very inspiring for me, um, and for
so many other women. But definitely like going against what
I had usually thought was acceptable for me has been something.
I love what you said that if you want to
(29:36):
wear an oversized shirt and that's your style or what
you feel comfortable in today, great, But I think it's
really cool how you've it sounds like for you wearing
clothing that fits you, it's more of an accurate reflection
of who you are, at least right now. Then you
know what you were told to be. So it's so
(29:56):
cool to watch you kind of take your power back
and unlarned things that were ingrained within you so deeply.
And I think that gives confidence for other women who
were in your you know, in a similar position to you,
where they were told to, you know, cover up their
stomach because it wasn't flat or where a strong at
the beach, or only where a one piece, Especially as
we get into summer is. If that's what you want
(30:18):
to do, do it. But you can also slowly take
your power back if you want to by doing things
radically different. And again, I think that your confidence is
really what comes through for me, for you. And you
come off the same as Lizzo, I'll say like, really,
I don't, I'm not such a compliment. Well, who knows,
(30:40):
you know, And I bet Lizzo as her own major
struggles with this stuff. You know, she's a performer. She
can get on stage and maybe look like she turns
it on. And this is a huge assumption and I
don't even want to, you know, speak about it further
than that, but who knows what she's going on underneath that.
And I think a big turning point from you was
and I woke up and I realized, like I couldn't
(31:03):
keep trying to shrink myself anymore physically, like my body
and I couldn't keep going through that cycle of like
dieting and restricting and then overeating and going through that
whole thing, because that's what your body's natural tendency is
when you restrict something. I woke up one day and
I was just like, you know what, like whatever, I
am right now, it's fine, and I need to start
(31:26):
listening to what my body is saying. And slowly but surely,
that's kind of how I fell into intuitive eating. I
had read the book when I was in school, but
I kind of didn't even really remember that, and I
just slowly started to like listen to myself. I had
never listened to myself before. But accepting the fact that
if I stayed at where I am right now, whatever
that may be, that's fine and that's okay. And telling
(31:48):
myself that every day over time like helped me kind
of get to that place. That's such a powerful affirmation
because we're never allowed to just be and you gave
it to yourself radically. So let's dive even deeper to
that in our second episode. So we'll wrap up here.
We're gonna put all your information in the show notes below,
(32:09):
and stay tuned. We're gonna have a Lennie back to
discuss her own PCOS journey, more of how she kind
of came to find that comfortability in her own body.
Why health practitioners might be limited in their scope although
their intentions may or may not be good. We'll find
out and learning more about how you became a weight
(32:31):
inclusive dietitian and what that really means. Thank you so
much for having me. This is a really great conversation
to just hear your feedback and hearing like you kind
of interpret things. It was definitely very insightful for me. Well,
you're wonderful and we're so happy to have you. Thank you,
and we'll have you back on here real soon
I won't lend my body out out everything that I'm
made do. Won't spend my life trying to change. I'm
learning to love who I am. I get I'm strong,
I feel free, I know who every part of me.
It's beautiful and I will always out way. If you
(00:24):
feel it with your eyes in the air, she'll s
love to the mood. I am there. Say good one
day and time did you and die out? Welcome back
to Outweigh Today it's just me Lisa, and I'm joined
by an amazing guest, a Lennie, who's a registered dietitian.
Welcome a Lennie, Thank you so much for having me.
(00:44):
I'm super excited to be here. I'm so excited, and
I just keep meeting amazing health professionals on Instagram like you,
and you happen to be local to where I live,
which is on Long Island, so even better. Hopefully we'll
meet when things come down a little bit with COVID
over here. But I think that it's really easy when
you're on social media to get sucked down the rabbit
(01:05):
hole of one way nutritionists perform and think that's what
nutrition is. And it's really great to know that obviously,
or maybe not so obviously. The trend has become a
lot more anti diet. But once you kind of foray
into that world by way of Instagram, you keep finding
more and more people, so it's it's such an exciting
(01:26):
time for sure. It's definitely um. I've been on Instagram
like professionally for a few years now, but when I
first started, this anti diet movement was not there, and
I found as a dietitian in a larger sized body,
I was definitely like I had never seen another dietitian
on Instagram that wasn't a larger sized body. My original
(01:48):
name before All Bodies Nutrition was the Curvy Dietitian, and
that's how I started it, and I ended up changing
it because I felt like excluded bodies that were not curvy.
So I like, on my journey of you know, wanting
to promote diversity of body size, I found that I
wanted to use the name that was all encompassing because
(02:11):
we are all not meant to have the same type
of body and so in general, definitely, this anti diet
trends has been very prevalent for the past year, which
is really great to meet other dietitians not just locally,
but like across the country and even across the world
who have this message in this outlook, and how it's
really changing the face of what you would think nutrition
(02:32):
should be quote unquote. So it's super cool. Yeah, I
wish we met earlier. Like like you said, I I
started using Instagram professionally to speak about I don't know
if I was calling it an anti diet message, but
I mean it was starting to look a lot like
what you hear me say today. But I too was,
you know, in my sphere, the only person that was
(02:53):
saying it. But I was a smaller body. So it's
really great to kind of I think, being juxtaposition to
who you know. I think as as quote unquote hard
a time as I had showing up to a platform
where all dietitians we're not saying what I was saying,
it was probably still more well received than perhaps you
(03:17):
because of you know the implications of what curvy means
or what bigger bodies might mean in terms of health,
which we're going to break down. What I love is
that you've really been owning your own personal body for
a long time, and you said specifically that when you
came to Instagram, you didn't see other bodies that looked
(03:39):
like yours as registered dietitians showing up. But I'm curious,
what about in real life? Did you have any registered
dietitians who were model behavior that looked like you, that
you looked up to. I would say definitely, like just
going through dietetics like the DPD, which are the requirements
(04:00):
we had to take to be able to apply for
the dietetic internship, Like there were maybe one or two
other girls that were in larger sized bodies. It was
definitely different. I mean, I guess thankfully, like at that time,
like it wasn't something that bothered me. But throughout the
years of like having interns when I used to work
in clinical and I did receive interns that were in
(04:23):
different sized bodies, they expressed to me how like hey,
like how did you how did you feel? And I
was like, you know, I was never treated differently by professors,
but definitely when I was in my internship, certain preceptors
that I had had a bias towards me, and uh,
it definitely felt not so great. But as I've gotten older,
I realized, like it just comes down to their their
(04:45):
inability to see outside of themselves and like what nutrition
is supposed supposed to quote unquote look like. And you
know I have to say, like, um, I went to
l U Post which is on Long Island for my
internship and my masters and everything, and like I was
never made to feel any different. But you know, there
are times where I'm sure I saw a new patient
who didn't know what I looked like and they came
(05:07):
in to me. And this was before I was a
wait inclusive dietitian, and I'm sure they had some sort
of bias. But you know, that's why I do what
I do to try to spread the message of like,
everyone's body is different and even if we all ate
the same exact things and move the same way, we
would still look completely differently. Yeah, And I mean, I
think when you're talking about your preceptors, you have the
(05:28):
preceptors if you're unfamiliar. When we go through our training
to become a registered dietitian, we do an internship and
it's supervised by other registered dietitians. So the dietitians that
are above us, so to speak, that are training us,
are called our preceptors. And a lot of older generations
as well as current generations have weight stigma, so the
(05:50):
belief that a bigger body means that you are less
healthy and therefore your behaviors are less healthy. And there's
this idea that you know, you just make the healthy
choices and we'll all look the same. But hopefully we're
continuing to break this down in the podcast. But there's
something about your personal confidence I think that has kind
(06:11):
of carried you through probably difficult moments that would have
otherwise broken somebody else down in your same exact body.
So I think there's something about your personal confidence that
you know, really shines through or your self worth or
something that has maybe not always been tied to your
body tracts definitely like from my whole life, and I
(06:31):
mean that's something that maybe we'll progress talking about, like
my personal journey, which like I don't highlight on my
feed anymore because it's not relevant to other people, Like
what body weight my body has gone through or changes
my body has gone through has nothing to do with
what anyone else's body should or should not do, and
that's just you know, how my body works. But definitely
self worth where I realized like I am a worthy
(06:55):
person and I am a competent person regardless of what
size I am, or what weight I am, or whether
or not my stomach is flat or not. And as
far as my knowledge goes of nutrition and working with
clients depending on like what their situation is is totally
separate from that. That's awesome. So your work, if it
(07:15):
hasn't come through, is really centered around eating disorders in females,
specifically in larger bodies. And I love that you're targeting
that because we do hear from a lot of our
audience that they feel unseen and unheard either on our
podcast or in real life, because they relate to everything
we talked about on this podcast when it comes to
(07:37):
overthinking about food all the time, obsessing, you know, using
exercise for the wrong reasons, rumination, guilt, dieting. But they
look different than me and Amy, my co host, and
some of the guests that we have on also, we
try to really have all guests on that I think
bring valuable information. We don't, you know, judge based on
(07:58):
body size, but ultimately people need to see people that
look like them to understand. But essentially it boils down
to the fact that yes, what we're saying speaks to them,
but they still don't think they deserve to raise their
hand and say I have a problem because they're still
occupying a bigger body where their doctors are telling them
to lose weight and their family friends are telling them
(08:19):
to lose weight, And how could that be an eating disorder? Yeah,
for sure. And I realized prior to becoming a dietitian,
I did a lot of like bonds here work dealing
with eating disorders. It just so happened that the dietitian
that I was previously working with, she did specialize in
working with eating disorders. So I spent many years and
outpatient eating disorder program for adolescents, and a lot of
(08:41):
the things that I saw there, I started to see
in clients that were coming to me wanting to lose
weight because their b m I was a certain size,
or their weight was a certain size, or the doctor
said they had to lose weight, whatever the thing may
have been, and they were exhibiting the same symptoms as
the eating just our patients that I had worked with.
(09:02):
And it kind of made me please and say, like, okay,
regardless of your body size, if you come to me
with disordered eating habits, or an eating disorder. My recommendations
are going to basically be the same thing whether or
not you're considered underweight by the b m I skill
or overweight or obese. And that's when I really started
to make that switch from not promoting intentional weight loss,
(09:24):
because what I explained to people is that your body
is smart and it knows what to do. But if
you have all these years of trauma surrounded by food,
if you've been trying to lose weight your whole entire
life and you're constantly on a diet, you're so out
of touch with what your body is natural like hunger
and satiety cues are, or what your body's natural affinity
for movement is or isn't. And so if you've spent
(09:46):
so much time and energy focusing on these things and
you're still in a larger sized body, you need to
heal whatever that may be. And in the end, your body,
your body weight may decline, but it may go up
or may stay the same. We're not really sure, you know,
But it's just healing those issues or obstacles like I
(10:06):
like to call them. It's really the main focus. So
whether it's someone who is diagnosed clinically with an eating disweater,
or someone who just comes to me who had disweatered
eating symptoms. And I think that that's just so important
for everyone to hear. Whatever body size you currently occupy
or have occupied in the past, you are worthy of
(10:26):
coming home to your body first and foremost. And coming
home does not mean effort, force, restriction, discipline will plower.
It means love, compassion, care, nourishment, um support. And it's
important to know that if you're listening and you're a
bigger body or you let I think it's important for
(10:47):
also smaller all bodies to really hear this message because
we we all bring the stigma. I bring the stigma,
you know, we all bring the stigma that somebody can
do more. But what if they've already done the most
and we don't know it and they're really hurting. So,
I mean, the main takeaway I really want to be
loud and clear on this podcast is that anybody, any
(11:08):
physical body and anybody, any person can have an eating
disorder act a hundred percent. And I think it's important
for us to do this work and to continue to
do you know, there's a lot of research that's being
done that's really reshaping how things are looked at in
a clinical like hopefully it will trickle up to a
clinical setting um and how it's viewed there, because right now,
(11:32):
I haven't worked in a clinical setting in a few
years now, but when I did, there's just a lot
of as you know, like wait, stigma and bias, and
people are not getting adequate care. But at the end
of the day, like, regardless of your body size, you
should feel good with what you're eating, and you should
feel good in the way that you move your body,
and forcing yourself to do something is not going to
(11:54):
just make a difference your your body is smart. It's
always gonna end up where it's supposed to end up
as long as you're listening to it. Yeah, what are
some of the stigmas that exist around eating disorders and
bigger bodies, both from the healthcare practitioner, the individual, and
just society. As far as the individual who doesn't feel
that they're allowed quote unquote to have an eating diswater
(12:18):
or or have disordered eating because they are in a
larger body is really dangerous because there are like medical
implications of you know, whatever the habits, maybe regarding restriction
or any like actual eating, diswater behaviors as far as
the practitioner goes. And I know when I was working
with various physicians and like the local error gardens City
(12:41):
Manhattan things like that, they don't look at the individual
as a whole and they just say like, oh, this
person is pre diabetic, so tell them to lose weight,
Like that's what they would tell me. And I would say, well,
what if someone comes to me and they're pre diabetic
and they're at a quote unquote normal weight, what are
(13:03):
my recommendations done? Has nothing to do with your weight.
My recommendations whether you're a normal weight or overweight or
obese and you're pre diabetic, it's going to be the
same thing. So doing more like health centered recommendations and
not weight centered recommendations will improve patient outcomes. So this
is definitely something that practitioners and physicians should be paying
(13:23):
attention to. But it's just reframing people's understanding of like
what actual health is and it's not one size. And
I mean I've had hundreds of patients back when I
used to work like in a physician's office, and I
would just see back to back patients people with high cholesterol,
you know, not taking care of themselves, but their weight
was considered normal, So what would someone's recommendation be. Then
(13:47):
you know there's no weight recommendations for those patients. There's
obviously other recommendations that will actually improve their lab values
and things like that. So just refocusing how we look
at health and how to actually improve health. And you
have a really unique background because you were on the
track for premed transition to becoming an r D and
(14:07):
you have PCOS where the general recommendation is to lose weight.
That being said, I feel like we could sub that
into an entire episode, So we're not going to dive
too deep on that just yet. But if you're listening
right now and you're super interested on dealing with pcos
or why doctors may say just lose weight and things
(14:29):
will improve, join us when a Lenny comes back, which
is going to be in about two weeks from this
episode's air date, So just so you know, that's why
I'm not diving a little bit further now, but I
really want to dive into that on our second episode,
where we could get a little bit more nitty gritty
into disease states managing them with weight and outcomes related
(14:49):
to do so, So why are the symptoms of an
eating disorder more important to really think about rather than
just way or b AM I well weight and b
M I. Both of those things are not actual habits,
and the symptoms are the habits that you form. And
(15:10):
so what I find is a lot of individuals, whether
they're quote unquote considered a normal sized body or a
larger sized body, a lot of times those symptoms are
encouraged like restriction, cutting out food groups, motivational Monday, let's restart,
let's reset Monday, cheat days, all those things. Those are
disordered habits to have, and all of those disordered habits
(15:34):
are geared towards shrinking your body. And so when we
talk about shrinking our bodies just scientifically, like I explain
to people, your body isn't just like selectively loose fat.
It doesn't just say this person has a lot of
fat on their body and we're just gonna use that
up as energy. It's very taxing on the body to
actually burn fat for fuel when you aren't giving it
(15:56):
adequate energy and carbohydrates. It actually may be easier for
it to use your own muscle mass, which we know
is important for so many different things, not just strengthen
things like that, but your immune system all these different things.
So when you're losing weight and you're forcing your body
to shrink itself in a in a very unhealthy, disordered manner,
(16:17):
you're lowering your b min and you're lowering your weight,
but you're also lowering your lean body mass and then
your your immunity, like you said, beautifully. Yeah, So I
always recommend to people like people are always so concerned
with like calories and how much on burning and this
and that, and the worst thing that you could do
is essentially like starving your body from adequate nutrients, adequate carbohydrates,
(16:40):
adequate protein, et cetera, and shrink your lean body mass
because we know it's hard, especially as we get older,
to build up that lean body mass. So reframing what
people think of in terms of weight loss and what
it actually really means, some of my clients are like, Wow,
I never even thought about that, because all you hear
is like, oh, let's get healthy and lean and happy,
(17:00):
and no one thinks about what it actually means and
what the consequences on the body actually are. You just
triggered a memory and it's a little off tangent, but
I have. You know, I'm pretty selective in who I
follow when it comes to people what they'll say about
food and bodies like I have. You know, I don't
want a feed that doesn't reflect. Not that I'm not
(17:22):
open to hearing other people's thoughts, but it can be
even I wouldn't say triggering for me, but it's kind
of just like, oh, I can't I can't see this,
you know. But recently I follow a trainer that I
worked with one time in d C. The only time
I ever saw a trainer one it is literally one time,
and then I was like no, but he was a
good trainer when it came to movement, functional movement. You know,
(17:45):
we didn't talk about anything nutrition wise, and I never
really heard him speak about anything nutrition wise. And he
did a post recently about you know, should you intermittent
fast or not? And I thought he was going in
the direction that was going to be great, and it
pivoted into it's all about the calories, calories in verse,
(18:05):
calories out, and I was really shocked because it's really
shows how insidious social media can be when it comes
to following health professionals because it was so posed like
I was going to really like cheer him on and
be proud of what he was putting out, and yet
(18:25):
it boiled down to just old science and treating everybody
like we're the same, Like if you and I just
ate the same amount, first of all, we shouldn't eat
the same amount. Not that I deserve less or more
than you or you more than me, but who knows, right,
Like who knows what's going on in my body and
what's going on in your body? That that we're just
(18:47):
a simple math equation. And I found it so dangerous
and scary that this is, you know, obviously rampant. I
don't see it as much because of where my head
is at, but it's still rampant. But imagine someone who
isn't you with your education and your outlook. It prays
on these individuals. And we could talk about how many
(19:08):
different celebrities push these you know, unrealistic or even just
trainers that maybe you like how they train and you
like the recommendations training wise that they make, but then
they are still rooted in diet culture, and you know,
to send out that message to so many people just
further makes it more difficult for voices like hours to
(19:28):
like reach as many people as pos. They just don't know, right,
Like they don't know. He doesn't know that he's saturated
in diet culture or that he's perhaps suffering, like I
even mean it like compare, like I had to unfollow
because it just I just couldn't. And I have a
really high tolerance. I really don't just unfollow somebody when
I disagree with them. I don't believe in that personally.
(19:49):
But it just really upset me that this is still,
you know, going on. And I know you don't really talk,
like you said, like you don't tell your personal story
so much, but I did go back on your feet
a little bit, and I think it's actually really helpful
when you do tell parts of your personal story. And
you told one story about how you were lifting at
(20:12):
the gym and you faced some sort of stigma in
doing so. Do you remember this? Which one was it?
That someone was like approaching me in regard? Yeah? Oh yeah,
for sure. I mean that has definitely happened, like the
fat phobia environment of a gym. So what happened exactly
if you're comfortable talking about it? Yeah, So essentially I
(20:35):
was I had been trained by my sister who is
also a dietician and a personal trainer, but she had
trained me for like maybe a few years prior to
me just working out on my own. So not that
I'm a personal trainer by any means, but I have
an idea about you know, good form, and I had
a plan and all these sorts of things. I was
at my gym and it had happened a few times,
(20:59):
but that one specific, big time that you're referring to
was this trainer. This was obviously pre covid um. This
trainer had come up to me, and he didn't have
a great bedside manner, even though he wasn't a physician,
but like, you know, just the way he came up
to me, it was just very abrupt in the middle
of my set and was like, oh, you're working out
(21:19):
one part of your body, but I believe I was
working out another, which was bizarre in itself. And he
basically was like targeting me because I was in a
larger sized body and I and I didn't want to
come to that conclusion and make that judgment, but I
watched him throughout my hour there, however long it was.
He did not go up to anyone else and there's
(21:40):
a bunch of other people there. So in gym's they're
like meant to target. They're literally told to target people
who they think could become clients for you know, weight loss.
And I went to the manager and the manager wasn't there,
but there was someone behind the desk and I kind
of got into like a little bit of a fight
with her, and I was like, listen, like this has
happened before. I've never said anything before, but I just
(22:01):
wanted to let you know, like like this is what
I experienced. It made me really uncomfortable and like I'm
fine and I'm happy here, and I not like doubting
what I'm doing. Like if I went up to them
and said like, hey, can you show me how to
do this? Or hey, would you like me to show
you that, Like, it wasn't The conversation wasn't like that
at all, and the woman was not very helpful and
(22:21):
she was like, oh, well, that happened to me one time.
And then I started training every day and I was
like it was just such a bad experience. And I mean,
thinking of other women in particular who are in larger
sized bodies working out in the weightlifting area, it's not
very common, and so it just further perpetuates. Like everyone
deserves to work out however they want without getting biased
(22:45):
from other people. Like there are people who work out
there who have terrible form, look like they're going to
hurt their backs, and all these other things. You can
go suggest things to them too. You don't just have
to walk up to someone and say, oh, let me
train you. Like two things to that think. Number one
is is that you felt targeted that the trainer came
up to you and if I'm understanding you correct correct
(23:07):
me if I'm wrong, but assumed that because you were
at the gym, and because you were training pretty hard
with weight and all of that, that your goal must
be to lose weight. So he or she inserted themselves
and said, let me help you fix your form, do this,
And you looked around and he wasn't going up to
anyone else who was in particular, you know, bad form,
and you weren't there to lose weight. You were there,
(23:30):
Why were you there? This dude didn't even ask me
to crack my form, which it didn't need crack thing
because I was very I'm very careful with what I do,
not saying it's perfect but like, but if he had
made some sort of suggestion, then I would have said, okay, whatever,
and even if he didn't go up to anyone else,
and I would have taken it a little bit better.
But it was very obvious and it wasn't super busy,
(23:53):
so it just was like he walked around, he saw
me and just like came right up to me, and
it was very tired at it, and um, it's unfortunate,
Like I said, it's for me, I'm fine, like I
really don't care. But for other women, I don't see
a lot of larger sized women at the gym that
I go to. I mean, it's a diverse gym. There's
a lot of different people who go, their old, young,
(24:15):
different ethnicities and everything like that. But it's very rare
for me to see a larger sized woman. And for me,
who someone who has not had such a good experience
in my life with exercise when I found weightlifting and
I fell in love with it, like it's my favorite
thing to do, like it's the best part. Well, it
was the best part of my day pre COVID. But
(24:36):
you know, it deters people from going and so I
can only imagine how someone else who already feels maybe
self conscious or like awkward in a place with like
all men as is to be made to feel out
of place, and a hundred percent agree that your experience
is what you felt. And I'll also share that it's
been a long time since I've been in a gym too,
(24:58):
and I'm like, very my energy is are you? Like
I can try to give off good energy, but when
trainers used to approach me, I find it really soliciting,
Like I wouldn't say anything related to my body. But
it's like I already pay a freaking expensive gym membership.
I don't need to be solicited into personal training like you.
I have my background and exercise physiology. I know how
(25:18):
to work my form. I know what you're doing, you know,
step off. But it really is it's like, this is
my time to be in my body. If I want
a personal trainer, I'm going to ask for a personal trainer.
I mean maybe other people do like when a trainer
comes and helps them, but I feel like a good
rule of thumb, like you said, like if anyone is
self conscious, they might not want extra eyes on them,
(25:40):
especially from a professional, you know, and as they're trying
to figure out what feels good in their bodies and
also asking permission if you would like to have a conversation.
I mean, when a client comes to they're coming to you.
You already have that conversation. It would be the same
as me going into someone's deans and just saying, hey,
(26:00):
I could do this, like you know, how not cool
that is. So it's definitely approaching the client in a
way that's like open ended and saying like, hey, is
there anything you'd like to be working on? You know,
but definitely that experience was and even if somebody is
very you know, social media has become a quote unquote
vulnerable place for a lot of young women. Even if
a woman is saying I struggle with binge eating or
(26:23):
I hate my body or blah blah blah, it's not
the role of a registered dietitian I believe, or even
a way inclusive one or some of the practices health
at every size like you and I to say, oh,
let me help you, Like yes, we will, we want
to help you, but it's not our job to knock
on your door. Because there's that permission to and readiness
(26:43):
and willingness and stages of making somebody feel comfortable that
already feels singled out, whether they have been or not.
I think you your confidence really comes through and everything
that you do, and I'm sure it has something to
do with the way you grow up. I could just imagine.
But you also shared another personal post that growing up
(27:05):
you were told to cover your stomach and your butt
and where oversized clothing. Who told you to do that?
First of all, definitely like everyone in my family, Like
I am Greek in a time, but I grew up
mostly Greek, and the Greek community in general is pretty judgmental,
and so my whole entire life, I was basically in
(27:27):
a larger sized body from second grade, I would say,
And so that kind of traveled with me throughout my
life and as I got baker and larger, and you know,
I grew That's like a whole other story. But definitely
like my grandmother, my mother who suffered with like disordered eating,
and that kind of translated down on us my aunt
(27:48):
and they're still to this day, like my aunt um
and other family members, they still talk about things not
towards me, but like about themselves. And obviously, like you
absorbed what other people say are around you. So when
you're told to like, oh, pull down your shirt. I
always viewed my body, whatever size it has been throughout
my life as like something that I should be ashamed
(28:10):
of it. Yeah, And as I have gone through my
self love journey, which I always explained to people, like
is not linear, Like it wasn't like just one day
I woke up and I was like, yes, like I
love everything about myself. Like, that's not what self love is.
It's just giving your body the grace to know that
like it does great things for you. And wearing things
(28:32):
that make you feel comfortable is important. So if wearing
oversized things and things that cover your butt is something
that makes you feel good uncomfortable, then you should do that.
But I realized that I didn't have to do those
things if I didn't want to. So I've had clients
and I see a lot of girls and women on
social media who are in smaller bodies than me that
(28:53):
also struggle with that same type of thing. Um, So
regardless of like where you are, you know, whatever your
body size is, it's a common thing that people experience.
But definitely, you know, accepting myself as I am and
saying like this is okay, and this is me is
something that took me a really long time to come
to terms with. So I wouldn't say like I'm as
(29:15):
like out there and confident as Lizzo, but um, you know,
because she's amazing and and I always love the way
she is. It's very inspiring for me, um, and for
so many other women. But definitely like going against what
I had usually thought was acceptable for me has been something.
I love what you said that if you want to
(29:36):
wear an oversized shirt and that's your style or what
you feel comfortable in today, great, But I think it's
really cool how you've it sounds like for you wearing
clothing that fits you, it's more of an accurate reflection
of who you are, at least right now. Then you
know what you were told to be. So it's so
(29:56):
cool to watch you kind of take your power back
and unlarned things that were ingrained within you so deeply.
And I think that gives confidence for other women who
were in your you know, in a similar position to you,
where they were told to, you know, cover up their
stomach because it wasn't flat or where a strong at
the beach, or only where a one piece, Especially as
we get into summer is. If that's what you want
(30:18):
to do, do it. But you can also slowly take
your power back if you want to by doing things
radically different. And again, I think that your confidence is
really what comes through for me, for you. And you
come off the same as Lizzo, I'll say like, really,
I don't, I'm not such a compliment. Well, who knows,
(30:40):
you know, And I bet Lizzo as her own major
struggles with this stuff. You know, she's a performer. She
can get on stage and maybe look like she turns
it on. And this is a huge assumption and I
don't even want to, you know, speak about it further
than that, but who knows what she's going on underneath that.
And I think a big turning point from you was
and I woke up and I realized, like I couldn't
(31:03):
keep trying to shrink myself anymore physically, like my body
and I couldn't keep going through that cycle of like
dieting and restricting and then overeating and going through that
whole thing, because that's what your body's natural tendency is
when you restrict something. I woke up one day and
I was just like, you know what, like whatever, I
am right now, it's fine, and I need to start
(31:26):
listening to what my body is saying. And slowly but surely,
that's kind of how I fell into intuitive eating. I
had read the book when I was in school, but
I kind of didn't even really remember that, and I
just slowly started to like listen to myself. I had
never listened to myself before. But accepting the fact that
if I stayed at where I am right now, whatever
that may be, that's fine and that's okay. And telling
(31:48):
myself that every day over time like helped me kind
of get to that place. That's such a powerful affirmation
because we're never allowed to just be and you gave
it to yourself radically. So let's dive even deeper to
that in our second episode. So we'll wrap up here.
We're gonna put all your information in the show notes below,
(32:09):
and stay tuned. We're gonna have a Lennie back to
discuss her own PCOS journey, more of how she kind
of came to find that comfortability in her own body.
Why health practitioners might be limited in their scope although
their intentions may or may not be good. We'll find
out and learning more about how you became a weight
(32:31):
inclusive dietitian and what that really means. Thank you so
much for having me. This is a really great conversation
to just hear your feedback and hearing like you kind
of interpret things. It was definitely very insightful for me. Well,
you're wonderful and we're so happy to have you. Thank you,
and we'll have you back on here real soon
Feeling Things with Amy & Kat News
Host
Amy Brown
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