Rethinking Wellness Christy Harrison, MPH, RD, CEDS

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Jessica Steier of The Unbiased Science Podcast joins us to discuss the need for empathy and bridge-building in science communication, why she’s critical of restrictive diets and other wellness trends while holding space for their proponents to evolve (and why she’s faced backlash for that), tribalism in the science community, our differing views on weight and why she’s open to learning about the weight-inclusive approach, and more.
Paid subscribers can hear the full interview, and the first half is available to all listeners. To upgrade to paid, go to rethinkingwellness.substack.com. 
Dr. Jessica Steier is an empathetic, passionate, and quirky public health scientist with expertise in chronic and infectious disease prevention. She hosts The Unbiased Science Podcast, which is devoted to objective, critical appraisal of available evidence on science and health-related topics relevant to listeners’ daily lives.
Dr. Steier has expertise in public health policy, research and evaluation design, biostatistics, and advanced analytics.  She believes strongly in scientific education and health literacy, and the translation of research for the general public in a way that maximizes people’s ability to make informed and evidence-based decisions.
The goal of The Unbiased Science Podcast is to dispel misinformation and misconceptions across an array of science and public health topics (e.g., vaccines, GMOs, fad diets, supplements). With the emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic, the podcast initially dedicated most episodes to distilling the latest research about the ongoing pandemic in real time as the evidence unfolded. But the podcast has evolved over time and now tackles a variety of issues. Learn more about the podcast at unbiasedscipod.com.
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Support Rethinking Wellness by becoming a paid subscriber, and unlock great perks like extended interviews, subscriber-only Q&As, full access to our archives, commenting privileges and subscriber threads where you can connect with other listeners, and more. Learn more and sign up at rethinkingwellness.substack.com.
Christy's second book, The Wellness Trap, is available wherever books are sold! Order it here, or ask for it in your favorite local bookstore.
If you're looking to make peace with food and break free from diet and wellness culture, come check out Christy's Intuitive Eating Fundamentals online course.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit rethinkingwellness.substack.com

Christy answers an audience question about going autoimmune diets and celiac disease, and there’s a bonus one for paid subscribers about going gluten-free for an autoimmune thyroid condition.
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Get full show notes and references here.
Ask a question of your own for a chance to have it answered in a future episode.
Christy's second book, The Wellness Trap, is available wherever books are sold. Order it here, or ask for it in your favorite local bookstore.
If you're looking to make peace with food and break free from diet and wellness culture, check out Christy's Intuitive Eating Fundamentals online course.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit rethinkingwellness.substack.com

Psychologist Alexis Conason joins us to discuss her background in “obesity” research, how she came to question the conventional weight paradigm and move to a weight-neutral approach, the industry influence behind the American Medical Association’s decision to classify obesity as a disease in 2013, the mental-health effects of bariatric surgery, how to talk about pharmaceutical-industry influence in ways that don’t give rise to conspiracy theories or make it seem like we’re impugning the entire medical establishment, and more. Then, in the paywalled portion of the interview, we discuss how social media makes it hard to have nuanced conversations about these issues, the discourse around GLP-1 drugs, and the trouble with the research underlying weight-loss recommendations.
Paid subscribers can hear the full interview, and the first half is available to all listeners. To upgrade to paid, go to rethinkingwellness.substack.com. 
ALEXIS CONASON, PSY.D., CEDS-S, is a clinical psychologist and certified eating disorder specialist-supervisor in private practice in New York City. Her group practice, Conason Psychological Services, specializes in the treatment of binge eating disorder, disordered eating, body image concerns, and psychological issues related to bariatric weight loss surgery. She is the founder of The Anti-Diet Plan, a weight-inclusive online mindful eating program designed to help people stop dieting, eat more attuned with their body, and live more peaceful and pleasurable lives. She is the author of The Diet Free Revolution: 10 Steps to Free Yourself from the Diet Cycle with Mindful Eating and Radical Self-Acceptance (June 2021, North Atlantic Books), available wherever books are sold. Dr. Conason is a fierce advocate for helping people recognize and question the societal norms that encourage feeling not good enough about themselves so they can stop fixating on shrinking their bodies and reclaim the space that they deserve in the world. You can find her on social media @theantidietplan.
If you like this conversation, subscribe to hear lots more like it! 
Support the podcast by becoming a paid subscriber, and unlock great perks like extended interviews, subscriber-only Q&As, full access to our archives, commenting privileges and subscriber threads where you can connect with other listeners, and more. Learn more and sign up at rethinkingwellness.substack.com.
Christy's second book, The Wellness Trap, is available wherever books are sold! Order it here, or ask for it in your favorite local bookstore.
If you're looking to make peace with food and break free from diet and wellness culture, come check out Christy's Intuitive Eating Fundamentals online course.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit rethinkingwellness.substack.com

Science communicator Jonathan Jarry joins us to discuss his history of turning to alternative cures for chronic pain, how he came to be skeptical of the wellness industry, the problems with science journalism, why you probably don’t have a leaky gut (despite what many influencers and wellness practitioners claim), the critical article about “leaky gut syndrome” that resulted in death threats, and lots more.
Paid subscribers can hear the full interview, and the first half is available to all listeners. To upgrade to paid, go to rethinkingwellness.substack.com. 
Jonathan Jarry is a science communicator with McGill University’s Office for Science and Society (OSS), dedicated to separating sense from nonsense on the scientific stage. He has a Master’s degree in molecular biology and he brings his experience in cancer research, human genetics, rehabilitation research, and forensic biology to the work he does for the public. With cardiologist Dr. Christopher Labos, he co-hosts the award-winning medical podcast The Body of Evidence, which aims to contextualize findings in the realm of health research and answer the public's most pressing questions about the biomedical sciences while also being funny and entertaining. He talks about science most Fridays on CTV Montreal News and is regularly interviewed in both English- and French-language media. Learn more about his work at jonathanjarry.com. 
If you like this conversation, subscribe to hear lots more like it! 
Support the podcast by becoming a paid subscriber, and unlock great perks like extended interviews, subscriber-only Q&As, full access to our archives, commenting privileges and subscriber threads where you can connect with other listeners, and more. Learn more and sign up at rethinkingwellness.substack.com.
Christy's second book, The Wellness Trap, is available wherever books are sold! Order it here, or ask for it in your favorite local bookstore.
If you're looking to make peace with food and break free from diet and wellness culture, come check out Christy's Intuitive Eating Fundamentals online course.

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit rethinkingwellness.substack.com

Christy answers an audience question about how much protein you really need—and explores why a certain piece of incorrect advice is so popular among influencers and “protein girlies.”
The full version of this episode is for paid subscribers. Listen to the first question here, and sign up for a paid subscription to hear the rest!
Get full show notes and references here.
Ask a question of your own for a chance to have it answered in a future episode!
Christy's second book, The Wellness Trap, is available wherever books are sold. Order it here, or ask for it in your favorite local bookstore.
If you're looking to make peace with food and break free from diet and wellness culture, check out Christy's Intuitive Eating Fundamentals online course.

Katie Dalebout guest-hosts the show to interview Christy about her new book, The Wellness Trap! Christy shares why she wanted to write a book about wellness, the potential harms of integrative and functional medicine (and why we’re understandably attracted to these approaches), the connections between wellness culture and diet culture, the legacy of the “hysteria” diagnosis and why women are still having to push back against the idea that symptoms are all in our heads, the role of social media in spreading wellness mis- and disinformation, and more.
Christy Harrison, MPH, RD, is a registered dietitian nutritionist, certified intuitive eating counselor, and journalist who has been covering food, nutrition, and health for more than 20 years. She is the author of two books, The Wellness Trap and Anti-Diet, and the producer and host of the podcasts Rethinking Wellness and Food Psych, which have helped tens of thousands of people around the world think critically about diet and wellness culture and develop more peaceful relationships with food. Her writing has appeared in the New York Times, SELF, BuzzFeed, Refinery29, Gourmet, Slate, the Food Network, and many other publications, and her work is regularly featured in national print and broadcast media. Learn more about Christy and her work at christyharrison.com.
Katie Dalebout is a writer who produces and hosts podcasts. Her weekly interview show, Let It Out, began in 2013 and now has over 400 episodes. In 2019 she started producing Spiraling, a mental health show she co-hosts with Serena Wolf. In 2016, she published her book Let It Out, an interactive book about using writing for emotional wellness. She now teaches writing workshops, consults with individuals and brands on creative strategy, and writes a weekly newsletter. She lives in Los Angeles where she walks everywhere like she still lives in New York.
If you like this conversation, subscribe to hear lots more like it! You can also sign up to get it in your inbox each week (with a full transcript) at rethinkingwellness.substack.com.
Pre-order Christy's new book, The Wellness Trap, for its April 25 release, and get access to an exclusive webinar discussing the book by submitting your proof of purchase at christyharrison.com/bookbonus!
If you're looking to make peace with food and break free from diet and wellness culture, come check out Christy's Intuitive Eating Fundamentals online course.


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