Building a Healthy Relationship with Food with Christy Harrison

As a registered dietitian nutritionist with specialization in eating disorders and a certified Intuitive Eating counselor, Christy Harrison aims to help people be at peace with food and their body. Curious with her own as well as other people’s diverse and evolving relationships with food, she also runs the Food Psych podcast which explores the intersection of food and psychology. She stands by the Health at Every Size and Intuitive Eating principles in all of her work.

As she builds (and helps her clients build) a healthy relationship with food, Christy discovers that food is more than just about nutrition. It is more than a fuel for our body and sustenance of our life. Food is culture, people, places, environment, emotions, exploration, and more importantly, life. Our relationship with food, in fact, reflects a lot about the various aspects of our lives.

Tune in to today’s show to be inspired by Christy’s journey and exploration of food, body, and mind. Getting out of our comfort zones is never easy, but recovery is going to involve a lot of exploration of new places in our minds. With acceptance, letting go, and self-compassion, working towards being at peace with food will be a worthwhile journey that will shape our personality and help us grow as an individual.

What You’ll Learn

What inspired Christy’s Food Psych podcast
How Christy’s relationship with food has evolved throughout the years
The Health at Every Size principles and movement
Why the BMI chart does not determine your health
There is so much more to food than just nutrition
Why learning to let go is a difficult but worthwhile resolution for the New Year

Favorite Quote

Ring the bells that still can ring, Forget your perfect offering, There is a crack in everything, That’s how the light gets in. -Leonard Cohen

Favorite Recovery Resource:

8 Keys to Recovery from an Eating Disorder: Effective Strategies from Therapeutic Practice and Personal Experience (8 Keys to Mental Health)

Radical Acceptance: Embracing Your Life With the Heart of a Buddha

Advice to Former Self

Don’t despair; reach out and ask for help. You’re not actually alone and as not so broken as you think. You’re just struggling with something that so many people struggle with. Also, look up Eating Disorders.

Definition of Recovery

Being able to put food and exercise at their rightful place
Not using behaviors to control your body
Having food be nourishing but also fun, having exercise be joyful movement and not punishment, and having the energy to move on and do great things in your life
Not letting food and exercise be the be-all and end-all, but letting them support us on our way to happiness