The Science Behind Health at Every Size® with Dr. Jillian Murphy

The Innovative Therapist

Episode 70. Today's post and episode is actually a replay of my conversation last summer with Dr. Jillian Murphy, ND. I don't replay episodes all that often, but I realized many people missed this one, and it's truly a crucial on in understanding this approach, understanding Health at Every Size, Intuitive Eating, and the somewhat less talked about concepts of Competent Eating and Division of Responsibility work lead by Ellyn Satter. Cutting the Diet Culture Cord One thing that really becomes evident in the conversation with Dr. Murphy, is that anti-diet, weight inclusive approaches benefit all bodies. Not just people with eating disorders or in a certain body size, but ALL OF US. I’m really excited for you to listen to this interview, because we cover a lot and Dr. Murphy is a WEALTH of knowledge as she’s been practicing naturopathic medicine in the weight inclusive space for a decade. One thing that was super interesting to me is the fact that even when things feel “mild” in terms of “healthy eating”, how much freedom you can still gain from cutting the diet culture cord. I seriously learned a ton in this interview. Let’s dive in! "This isn't an individual failure; it's a failure of the system and the information you've gotten… you weren't born eating like this."- Jillian Murphy In the interview, we cover: Why Health at Every Size is not just a social movement, but an evidence-based movement rooted heavily in science. She breaks this down in a way that I truly haven’t heard before, so make sure you stay tuned to really understand why and how this isn’t just a “don’t judge people for their body size” movement (though that’s of course very important, too!)We talk about her training as a Doctor of Naturopathic Medicine and where her focus is, as well as the ways that her training, just like pretty much all standard training programs, were steeped in diet culture beliefs.Her experience with orthorexia and how she finally fully cut the diet culture cord.We talk about her work learning about competent eating through the Ellyn Satter Institute and the power of this approach for kids and adults. I’m SO excited for this part of this conversation, because we talk about a nuanced approach to moving towards a flexible, healthy, sustainable relationship with food called Competent Eating that can be really helpful for people who want more structure than Intuitive Eating provides. Super cool. Do you ever worry that you are wasting your life? I definitely did. In fact, I wrote that in my journal many years ago when I was in the middle of the diet-binge roller coaster ride. I woke up every day thinking about food, my body, and what I would eat that day to “be healthy”The notebooks I had filled with calories and points could fill up a spare bedroomSocial events and vacations immediately prompted the thought “they will notice I gained weight” or “I need to lose weight by then”Deep down I knew I wasn’t living life the way I wanted to, but I didn’t know how to pull myself out of it. If this is you, I want you to imagine what it would feel like to feel empowered in your body and proud of your choices on a consistent basis. I promise you, it isn’t too late. Dieting steals our motivation. It makes us ineffective. It keeps us spinning our wheels in a system that was never built to work. If you are ready take the first step to motivating yourself with what matters to you, download my free Create Powerful Motivation guide (which is quite beautifully designed if I do say so myself), and walk through the 3 simple steps to create motivation that works for YOU in 15 minutes or less. You will get a simple formula to write ONE SENTENCE you can use to motivate yourself on a daily basis. You can write it on your bathroom mirror, put on the background of your phone, or just read it and repeat it in your mind. Look, I know how much it hurts to live a life worrying you are missing out,