#86: From Conforming to Belonging: Your Body is Not Your Forever Project with Savala Nolan

The Full Plate Podcast with Abbie Attwood, MS

The incredible Savala Nolan joins us on this week’s episode of the Full Plate podcast to talk about belonging versus conforming, understanding the body as our home, and how to walk away from a lifetime of disordered eating.

I recorded this conversation while I was on my August hiatus from the pod, so I actually got the chance to listen back to the episode and it hit me even harder the second time around.

Savala is warm, funny, kind, smart as hell, and she will blow your mind open when she explains really hard, complex, and nuanced topics. I felt so at home speaking with her, and I hope you enjoy our conversation as much as I did.

Our conversation covers…

• Growing up with many dualities of race, body size, and class
• Being put on a diet starting at age 4
• Rebelling and conforming
• Our mothers, their diets, and our dieting
• The bond of dieting
• Our body as our home
• Unlearning the language of diet culture
• Quitting diets not being a choice for some
• The body is inescapable
• The cake we all need to have, and eat too

Savala Nolan is the author of the critically acclaimed Don't Let It Get You Down: Essays on Race Gender and the Body. Her writing has been featured in Vogue, The New York Times Book Review, NPR, Time, Harper’s Magazine, and more. She holds a law degree from the University of California at Berkeley, where she lectures on identity and law and directs the Thelton E. Henderson Center for Social Justice. Her second essay collection, Good Woman, is forthcoming from HarperCollins.

Enjoying this podcast? Please support the show on Patreon for bonus episodes, community engagement, and access to "Ask Abbie" at Patreon.com/fullplate

Patreon is also home to the episode transcripts (which are publicly available to everyone, not just our patrons!). If you’re looking for those, head over to Patreon.

Find the show on Instagram: @fullplate.podcast

Find Abbie on Instagram: @abbieattwoodwellness

Looking for more support and concrete steps to take to heal your relationship with food and your body? Apply for Abbie's next 10-week group program: https://www.abbieattwoodwellness.com/group-coaching

Already been at this anti-diet culture thing for a while, but want community and continued learning? Apply for Abbie's monthly membership: https://www.abbieattwoodwellness.com/circle-monthly-group

Podcast Cover Photography by Anya McInroy

Podcast Editing by Brian Walters

This podcast is ad-free and support comes from our Patrons on Patreon: Patreon.com/fullplate