Thrive Beyond Size Michelle Tubman

CW: Talk about eating disorders, bulimia, binge eating disorder, restricted eating, purging

I’m so glad to be back in front of the microphone with you all because I recorded so many episodes before going on an African vacation that I feel I haven’t reached out in a very long time! It feels good to connect again. I had a wonderful trip and you’ll hear a little more about it in this episode. My guest today is Helen Bennett. She’s a certified health and addiction recovery coach who specializes in helping people break free from compulsive eating and is the founder of BulimiaFreedom.com. Helen and I have just an amazing, honest, beautiful conversation about disordered eating, the feelings and challenges that come with it, and how a peaceful relationship with food can be reclaimed.

CW: Discussion on sex, sexuality, and fatphobia

Friends, I hope you were able to join me last week for part one of this conversation with my guest Angela Corry. Angela is a clinical and sexual health educator, an expert in fatphobia and sex, and last week we talked about body image and fatphobia and how perceptions have changed throughout history. Fatphobia is very pervasive in our society and it shows up everywhere, especially in areas of sexuality and pleasure. This second episode with Angela really focuses on pleasure. It’s our right, in whatever body, as a human, to experience pleasure on every level, including sexually. But why don’t those of us in bigger bodies often feel comfortable experiencing or seeking pleasure? And how can we change that?

Friends welcome to another episode of Thrive Beyond Size. Today’s topic is so big that you’ll hear from my guest twice. We’re doing a two-parter, part one this week and part two next week. My guest is Angela Corry and she’s a clinical and sexual health educator from right here in my hometown of Edmonton, Alberta. Angela and I are going to talk about pleasure at every size. Sex? Yes. Intimacy? Yes. But also just pleasure in general. Enjoying pleasure. For this conversation, we are really focusing on why women often don’t feel deserving of pleasure which often stems from the fat-phobic society we live in. Men suffer from this too, of course, but women do more so and we’re focusing on women in this episode. But why is fat our foe? And how can we see fat as just a fact of who we are and not what we deserve?

Hello friends! I’m excited to share what I’ve learned with you all today because I have been down a rabbit hole for this topic. The question that prompted my research was “Where does the statistic that 95% of diets fail come from?” And I dug deep. I don’t advise you to go my route and Google, I did it so you don’t have to. But amongst all the fat shaming and weight discrimination, I found some answers. Some of those came from the book “Anti-Diet” by Christy Harrison. And the first place it was reported was in 1959 in a study done by Dr. Albert Stunkard. The research is there! The statistic is accurate. And that’s what this episode is about.

Content Warning: conversation on eating disorders and disordered eating: mentions of anorexia nervosa, bulimia, weight bias, and suicidal ideation

Hello friends. Today’s topic is a big one and a sensitive one as well; today we’re talking about eating disorders. It’s a different type of conversation, though, because we’re not going to talk about what they are and how to diagnose them, instead, we’re going to talk about why they’re so prevalent in our society and why they’re underdiagnosed as well as myths perpetrated by the diet culture. I’m not tackling this subject alone, either. I’ve invited Dr. Cristina Castagnini, a licensed psychologist who focuses on helping women with food and body image struggles, to have this conversation with me. Cristina hosts the podcast ‘Behind the Bite’ where eating disorders are talked about from a personal and professional perspective. This conversation is very necessary and Cristina is wonderful to have it with.

We talk a fair bit about chronic pain on this podcast, friends, and some things have become abundantly clear. First, that chronic pain is not taken seriously if you live in a bigger body. Second, while movement is important, the fitness industry and diet culture rob movement of joy. In the place where chronic pain and diet culture meet, where do people who live with pain in bigger bodies go if they want actual advice that isn’t simply “lose weight”? I’ve invited Dana Karen, or DK, Ciccone to join me for a conversation about this topic. DK is a certified Pilates instructor and is trained in pain reprocessing therapy through the Pain Psychology Center. She also wrote the book “You’re Meant to Move: A Guide to Conquering Chronic Pain, Increasing Stress Resilience, and Reclaiming an Active Life” so this discussion is right in her wheelhouse.