The intuitive-eating movement is getting huge, and I’m loving the idea of ditching diets, eating the foods I want without any guilt, and tuning in to my body’s needs and cues. I’m all for spending less time thinking about food and what my body looks like and focusing more on what my body can do and on creating an awesome, fulfilling life.
All that sounds amazing, doesn’t it? But it’s not that easy to just flip a switch and undo the diet-culture messages we’ve been overwhelmed with for decades that encouraged restrictive or disordered eating habits, exhausting exercise routines, and the incessant self-hating thoughts that our bodies needed to change and shrink to be considered acceptable or beautiful.
It’s going to take some time to go back to how things were when we were carefree kids, eating when we were hungry, stopping when we were full, and not obsessing about calories and what size our jeans were. This new journey may also take decades, but you can speed up the process with support and by flooding your mind with new antidiet, self-love messages. That’s why I love the Intuitive Bites podcast.
Created by Kirsten Ackerman, MS, RD, CDN, a nondiet registered dietitian and intuitive-eating coach, this podcast is great for anyone new to their food-peace journey or those who’ve been on it a while. Kirsten told POPSUGAR, “I really created the podcast with the intention of spreading awareness around the harms of diet culture and the path to recovery from it.”
She speaks kindly and openly about her own struggles with disordered eating and gives advice and tips on how to navigate your new antidiet life in a world so consumed with dieting and weight loss. She speaks with experts covering important topics such as intuitive eating, Health at Every Size (HAES), body image, fat acceptance, and body liberation.
Here are some of my favorite episodes so far:
Dieting and trying to lose weight since I was 13 years old has been so mentally exhausting and emotionally damaging. I’m ready to live a new life without restriction and with food freedom and to undo the self-hate I’ve been taught for too long. I love listening to this podcast while on walks in the woods with my dogs, and it feels like free therapy! Not that there is any substitute for actual therapy, but I’ve learned so much and felt supported and encouraged on my journey.
Hearing the same messages over and over again about body positivity and intuitive eating is finally starting to drown out the harmful messages I’ve been hearing all these years. I’m so grateful for podcasts like these, because every day, I feel like a small piece of the massive weight is being lifted off me, and I’m seeing clearer, living happier, and learning to be a better role model for my daughter to continue on her own self-love journey.
Image Source: Kirsten Ackerman