Ep 146 - Helping Teens and Tweens Navigate Body Changes and Food Stuff w/ Oona Hanson

Don't Salt My Game | With Laura Thomas, PhD

We’re back with a brand new guest this week on Don’t Salt My Game - the lovely Oona Hanson. Oona spent 25 years in education and now helps parents and guardians raise kids who have a healthy relationship with food and their body. As well as her private practice as a parent coach, she also works as a family mentor at Equip and holds a master's degree in educational psychology and a master's degree in English. Her work has been featured widely including on CNN, USA Today, Good Morning America, US News and World Report Today, People and Parents Magazine.

In this episode, we cover some really big and important topics like;

• The challenges of feeding teens
• Some of the nuances of using the Division of Responsibility with older kids and teens and why Oona actually doesn't use it at all with her own family
• Why language like “hollow legs” and “bottomless pit” are really problematic when talking about bodies and appetites, especially for teenagers
• Who is allowed to own their appetite and who isn't
• Red flags for eating disorders and disordered eating
• The parallels between bodies changing in teenagers, as well as body's changing in midlife amongst parents
• How we can create a safe environment for normalising body changes.

I really love talking to Oona and really appreciate her work. I know that so many of you are going to resonate with this episode and find it super helpful, and if you do then please share the love and share it with friends and family, and hit subscribe to stay in the loop with new episodes dropping weekly.

Show Notes:

• Follow Laura on Instagram | Twitter
• Follow Oona on Instagram
• Follow Don’t Salt My Game on Instagram
• Laura’s Website
• Oona’s Website
• Sign up for the Let’s Talk About Snacks, Baby Workshop
• Book in for a complimentary 15-minute Discovery Call with Laura
• Check out this piece Oona wrote about why Division of Responsibility might not be suitable to use with eating disorders
• Listen to the Don’t Salt My Game episode with Scott Griffiths talking about muscle dysmorphic disorder
• Buy an Intuitive Eating friendly guide to managing different health concerns
• Sign up for a Learn with LCIE Course
• Buy a copy of Just Eat It | How to Just Eat It
• Edited by Joeli Kelly