Life After Diets

Do you feel obsessed with thoughts of food? In this episode, Stef & Sarah talk about the reasons this may be happening for you -- none of which include being selfish, addicted, or gluttonous! We cover: The role of restriction in food obsession (including the role of ghrelin, the hunger hormone) Food obsession driven by feelings of food guilt, including guilt about not eating "clean" enough Is it f...

In this episode, Sarah and Stef discuss the role of rules, comfort, joy, creativity, and boundaries in relation to food-as-reward. We'll take a look at: Food as a pressure-release system at the end of a long day How diet culture has manipulated happy, comfort foods as something we have to earn Sarah & Stef's memories of food as rewards or treats Stef's concept of "joy reservoirs" The interplay of...

In this episode, Sarah and Stef make sense of the impulse to eat when your rational brain doesn't want to be eating. Do you ever feel conflicted about eating? Do you feel like you self-sabotage? We'll take a look at: Why the conscious brain and the subconscious mind have different agendas Eating just to "get it over with" Eating from rebellion or to access pleasure Can you talk yourself out of a b...

B ut I Can't Cope With My Emotions In this episode, Sarah and Stef talk about the role of emotions in binge eating versus emotional eating recovery. Do you feel like you've tried "sitting with" your feelings but it doesn't make a difference? Or that you don't know what to do with your emotions at all? We'll take a look at: Why addressing emotions doesn't always "work" to stop binge eating The issu...

But I Can't Cope with My Weight Gain In this episode, Sarah and Stef talk about how difficult it is to deal with weight gain that we experience from binge eating or overeating, as well as the weight we may gain after giving up diets.. Do you feel like you want to give up diets but feel torn about the possibility of gaining weight? Or do you feel distress about the weight you've gained during overe...

In this episode, Sarah and Stef talk about exercise, movement and impact on weight, hunger and mental health. Do you struggle to approach exercise in a non-diet way? If you're not losing weight do you find it difficult to motivate yourself to get moving? We take a look at: Our relationship to exercise Having a routine vs flexibility When to move and when to rest Examining self-talk about exercise...

Do you find yourself eating when you're bored? In this episode, Sarah & Stef interrogate the feeling of boredom and how it relates to eating urges. We cover things like: What is boredom, really? Why Sarah dislikes terms like "tolerate" and "sit with" when it comes to emotions. What do you DO to cope with an emotion like boredom? Boredom, eating, and watching TV If you eat when you're bored, can yo...

But What If I Need to Diet For My Health?   In this episode, Sarah and Stef discuss the idea of dieting for health reasons. Do you believe weight loss will improve your health? Are there foods you need to avoid and feel guilty for still having them? We take a look at: How linked are weight loss and health? Food intolerances and bingeing Dealing with guilt about the impact of our eating on our heal...

In this episode, Sarah and Stef talk about the difference between food rules and food boundaries. Have you ever felt like you don't want food rules, but you feel lost without some kind of structure?  We talk about: The definition of rules vs the definitions of boundaries Why rules feel good at first Stages of setting boundaries When are you ready to set a boundary? Sarah's morning video technique...

In this episode Sarah and Stef talk about bad body image days. Do you look in the mirror and hate what you see? It's a big subject, so this week we are focusing on What it's like to have poor body image Creating a more neutral response to body dissatisfaction Cognitive dissonance Body acceptance How we handle a bad body image day Connect with the show! Instagram – https://www.instagram.com/lifeaft...

In this episode, Sarah & Stef discuss the different ways hunger can show up and different ways of responding to it. Does it matter if hunger is physical, mental, hormonal, or emotional? How should we handle each kind of hunger? We discuss things like: Should we listen to hunger signals when we're not physically hungry? Why Sarah gets triggered to eat when she's cold Symptoms of hunger Why our brai...

In this episode Sarah and Stef delve into the idea of self-compassion. Can self-compassion be a tool for changing your behaviour, or is it a way to let yourself off the hook? Tune in to hear us talk about     Common misunderstandings about self-compassion     Why it's easier to have compassion for others     Shame around binge eating and our bodies     Improving negative self-talk     Kindness vs...

Have you ever tried Intuitive Eating (IE) and thought: this doesn't work for me? Sarah & Stef discuss some of the reasons why this might be happening, including: Is IE the gold standard? Turning IE into another set of rules Allowing foods versus permission to binge Approaching IE as another way to lose weight Permission to take what you need and leave the rest Fullness as a trigger vs fullness as...

In this episode we look at that all-important question many of us have asked ourselves – why can't I stop eating? In an attempt to answer this question Sarah and Stef discuss the following:       Compulsive and trance-like eating       The role of biology and the nervous system in our eating behaviours       Physical restriction vs mental restriction       Brain hunger vs physical hunger       Bin...

Welcome to the second episode of the Life After Diets podcast. This week Sarah and Stef talk about the desire to lose weight, even after giving up dieting. We deep dive into topics like:  Is weight loss incompatible with giving up diets? The reasons why we decided to stop pursuing weight loss Weight set point theory How we deal with friends talking about weight loss and dieting Why we feel like we...

Welcome to the pilot episode of the Life After Diets podcast. This week Sarah and Stef share their own stories of eating disorder recovery and body image healing. Tune in to hear them talk about the lows and highs of their journeys, including     When they realised their disordered eating was a problem     The swing between dieting and binge eating     Binge eating disorder vs bulimia nervosa, eat...