Intuitive Eating Gone Wrong with Leah Kern, RD.

Intuitive eating has become a hot topic in the media. I’m glad it’s become popular, but that comes with a danger… diet culture has adopted intuitive eating for its own purposes. So, as people who actually want to heal our relationship with food and not subscribe to diet culture, how do we approach intuitive eating? During this week’s episode, we discussed just that.

This episode is with my dear friend, Leah Kern. Leah is an anti-diet dietician. She’s an RD and a certified intuitive eating counselor. Her practice specializes in helping people heal their relationship with food using intuitive eating. 

[00:01- 02:15] Introductions

[02:15-07:53] Principles of Intuitive Eating

• How intuitive eating came to be.
• The framework of intuitive eating - how it can become another "diet."
• The basics of intuitive eating.

[07:54 - 10:34] Leah's Advice for Someone Who Wants to Work on Their Intuitive Eating

• Identifying whether it's a diet or not. 
• How do social media, mobile apps, and society impacts one's relationship with food? 

[10:35 - 13:38] The Difference with Eating Disorder Care

• It's temporary 
• The long-term goal of being able to stabilize one's relationship with food. 
• Trusting your body's cues - the end goal of eating disorder recovery. 

[13:39 - 28:57] How Leah Integrates Science into the Framework of Intuitive Eating?

• Introduction of gentle nutrition.
• Intuitive eating comes from a place of self-care.
• The importance of balancing nutrition and variety for the body. 
• Leah elaborates on the true essence of balancing - not a salad and burger kind of balancing. 
• Society’s impact on diet culture made it more like a business venture.   

[28:58 - 36:38] The Fusion of Movement and Exercise in Intuitive Eating

• What is movement in the intuitive eating perspective? 
• Understanding what it means to be strong and finding the inspiration in its meaning before indulging in exercises. 

[36:39 - 38:08] Outro

• Where can you find Leah?

Tweetable Quotes: 

"Intuitive eating is eating for the way you want to feel in your body, not the way you want to look in your body." - Leah Kern, RD

“If you are eating and exercising with the intention of wanting to manipulate the size and shape of your body, you are probably going to end up disappointed.” - Leah Kern, RD

Resources: 

• Leah Kern’s Website 
• Leah Kern’s Instagram 
• Shoulders Down Podcast

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You can connect with me, Rachelle Heinemann on Instagram, through my website www.rachelleheinemann.com, or email me directly at rachelle@rachelleheinemann.com