
When Does Healthy Eating Become Disordered Eating? (Featuring Rachel Hobbs Tremain)
Send us Fan Mail When does healthy eating become disordered eating, and how can you tell when your relationship with food has started to become unhealthy? In this episode of the All or Something Podcast, we sit down with Registered Dietitian and coach Rachel Hobbs to have a nuanced conversation about dieting, eating disorders, disordered eating, binge eating, fitness culture, and what it actually means to have a healthy relationship with food. Rachel describes her philosophy as “anti-diet culture, but not anti-diet, a distinction that opens up a much bigger conversation about where healthy nutrition ends and problematic behaviors begin. We talk about the difference between an eating disorder and disordered eating, whether dieting actually causes eating disorders, and the warning signs that someone's relationship with food may be becoming problematic. We also discuss binge eating, including some of the common misconceptions surrounding it and why simply telling someone to “have more willpower” completely misses the bigger picture. The conversation then moves into the fitness world, where behaviors like calorie tracking, following meal plans, getting lean, cutting weight and pursuing a certain physique can be completely normalised. We explore what happens when someone genuinely wants to improve their health but doesn't want food and dieting to consume their life. What can you do if you're constantly thinking about food? What if you struggle to adhere to a calorie target or meal plan? And does failing to follow a diet mean you've failed, or could the approach itself be part of the problem? We also discuss how parents can help children develop a healthy relationship with food without unintentionally creating fear, guilt or unnecessary food rules. In this episode, we discuss: - What “anti-diet culture, but not anti-diet” actually means - The difference between eating disorders and disordered eating - Whether dieting causes eating disorders - Warning signs of a problematic relationship with food - Why binge eating is often misunderstood - Calorie tracking and meal plans - Why struggling with adherence doesn't necessarily mean you've failed - Food obsession and constantly thinking about eating - When healthy fitness behaviors become unhealthy - Disordered eating in athletes and strength sports - Why losing your period shouldn't simply be dismissed as part of being lean - How to help children develop a healthy relationship with food - Whether you can improve your health without traditional dieting The goal isn't to stop caring about nutrition or to imply that nutritious diets are not health promoting. It's to make sure nutrition doesn't become the thing controlling your life. P.S., If you want to support us and would like monthly lifting workouts, you can join the Momentum by Sohee fitness app. http://momentumbysohee.com If you are interested in fat loss science, you can purchase Ben's best-selling comprehensive fat loss book, Everything Fat Loss. http://geni.us/EverythingFatLoss
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