The Anti-Diet Club Podcast

This week we have a client story from Siobhan O’Conner. This was an emotional episode as Siobhan openly shares her memories of going along to slimming clubs from the age of 9, along with caregivers who regularly dieted and reinforced the idea that being fat was something to be avoided at all costs. Siobhan recalls her younger years of always being the party girl and struggling with alcohol, mental...

Ever have that feeling of "I shouldn't feel this way about my body" because, in theory, you align with the body positivity movement? Because you've read all the books, you’ve followed all the social media accounts, you listen to all the podcasts. You might even be accepting and positive about all other bodies. Yet you can’t seem to shift your negative feelings about your own body, you still have t...

In this episode we have an incredible conversation with Samantha Fox, she lifts the lid on how compulsory heterosexuality and compulsory femininity is so deeply ingrained in us and forms so much of our beliefs from a young age. She explains how curiosity and getting radically honest with who we really are allows us to break free from these systems of oppression. There are so many parallels to anti...

Do you find yourself eating in the dark? Hiding your food from others? Eating in your car or just anywhere out of sight from others? The restriction of dieting causes reactive eating but so often this reactive eating carries so much guilt and shame, we feel we have to hide it from others. We share our own stories of secret eating and how this played a big part in our dieting years, in the hope tha...

This is the second part of our client story with Karen Murray. This week Karen shares with us the highs and lows of her food and body recovery journey. She gives us an honest account of what she struggled with along the way, and what felt easier as she went through the process of accepting her body. Some surprising feelings came up as she began to dismantle diet culture thoughts and rediscover the...

This week we bring you an incredible open and honest client story from Karen Murray. Like so many of us, her struggles with food and body span over decades and have been ever-present at every point in her life. Karen explains the true extent to which she attempted to control her body size through food and exercise and how she found her way out through anti-diet work. Karen is a client of Gillian’s...

What a guest we have for you this week, none other than Dr Asher Larmie (they/them) aka The Fat Doctor. Asher is a Transgender Non Binary fat activist and GP with over 20 years of medical experience in the UK. Asher shares with us how their own journey unfolded and the ways in which the medical system is harming fat patients and why they continue to fight for an end to medical weight stigma. &nbsp...

What happens when Intuitive Eating feels like an uphill struggle or quite simply out of reach? This week we share our honest thoughts and experiences of why Intuitive Eating might not be the perfect answer for everyone opting out of dieting. We delve into the privilege behind Intuitive Eating and discuss some of the factors that mainstream Intuitive Eating providers aren't talking about. Topics Co...

This week we welcome our first guest of season 3, Rebecca Spittles. She shares with us her own personal recovery story and journey from hating her body to finding her self-worth outside of diet culture. She tells her incredible story of always being presented as the ‘big’ girl and the stigma that came with that from a young age and explains how this played out in her social life and the relationsh...

How do you accept your body if you gain weight? Can you heal your relationship with food and still control your body? How much influence do you really have over your body size in the first place? We know weight gain is a valid fear for many, and that it’s not as easy as simply just learning to love your body and be happy with it at any size especially when the world is set up for thin people and w...

How do you judge yourself? Who are you comparing yourself to? We know that you can’t escape the trap of comparing yourself to others and wondering if you are good enough. Even if you have managed to leave the world of diet culture behind, these feelings still come occur. This episode is all about recognising when you are allowing these feelings to affect your self worth and how to work through the...

This week we are joined by Emily Perfect a primary school teacher passionate about supporting children to feel confident in themselves, their own bodies, and happy with who they are! She joins us to explain how diet culture and food obsession affect kids at a young age and shares with us the simple changes she had made at her school to ensure the children develop a positive body image. Emily share...

Emotional eating is a concern for many of our listeners so we wanted to cover this topic in detail for those of you that find yourselves continually in the cycle of eating emotionally and feeling bad about it afterwards. We both identified as emotional eaters during our own journey and struggled with trying to control it for years. In this episode we chat through these experiences of emotional eat...

This week we are talking about binge eating and how to feel relaxed around food with Isabel Foxen Duke. Isabel has been influential in both of our journeys to recovery from dieting and also our progression into becoming anti-diet coaches and developing our understanding of binge eating. She has an incredible amount of knowledge about food and how restriction of food ultimately affects our ability...

This week I’m turning the mic on Gillian to interview her about her journey to becoming a yoga teacher and her experience of how diet culture intersects with yoga culture. Gillian explains how western yoga culture has become heavily interlinked with healthism, diet culture, and the beauty ideal which has an impact on how it is represented and who can access it. The version of yoga we’re sold has s...

Our guest on the show this week is fat fertility coach, Nicola Salmon. She shares with us the influence her PCOS diagnosis had on her from a young age, how anti-fat bias shows up in our healthcare system and what choices are available to people at higher weights who want to grow their families. Nicola is a fat-positive fertility coach and author of “Fat and Fertile”. She helps fat folks navigate g...

Why do photos trigger so much body shame? What do we do when we look back at pictures and wonder why we ever thought there was anything wrong with us? How do we feel when our body has changed or we have recovered into a larger body? Why don’t we feel confident to be able to get into the pictures with our loved ones? Join us as we discuss all the things that come up around photos, past, present and...

Our guest on the show this week is body image expert, Summer Innanen. She shares her years of experience with us to explain why making peace with your body isn’t about loving how you look. We get deep into conversation with Summer to help you explore healing your relationship with your body without trying to fall in love with every part of it. Summer Innanen is a professionally trained coach speci...

Giving up dieting and healing from diet culture can uncover a myriad of emotions. This week we discuss why letting go of our ideal body and hopes of what could have been, feels like processing a loss through grief. In this episode, we explore the stages of body grief, why it’s important to allow space for these feelings, and how to support yourself towards body acceptance. Topics covered: 5 Stages...

This week we welcome our first guest on the show, Ly Kerr. In this episode she shares her personal story of experiencing medical weight stigma and the impact it had on her journey to body liberation. Her story reminds us of the prevalence of weight bias in our health care system and the harmful effects it has on individuals in bigger bodies seeking medical care. If you feel alone in your struggles...

How do you set goals, focus on health or pursue wellbeing when you're no longer dieting?  When you first embark on a life without dieting, it can feel a little disorientating and while everyone around you is still rooted in diet culture, it can leave you questioning if you have made the right choice. In this episode we help you detangle weight from health and bust some common myths around wha...

As we approach January with it’s relentless pushing of diets, lifestyles and wellness nonsense, we know that many people will be tempted and in some cases encouraged to partake again for yet another year. We’ve brought you this episode to help you make that decision armed with some things to think about when considering if dieting is in fact the solution. Topics covered in this episode include: We...

What is anti-fat bias? How does it harm us and what can we do about it? In this week's episode we’re talking about some of the overt and covert ways in which anti-fat bias shows up in our culture and how this contributes to our collective fear of weight gain keeping us stuck in diet culture, body shame and distressed eating patterns. Discussions in this episode include: Weight stigma Weight bias/o...

What does self-care actually do for us? How does it affect us when we’re not taking care of our own needs? In this week’s episode, we explore what self-care means to us and how it is linked to how we feel about our bodies and our ability to pursue a life without dieting. Discussions in this episode include: Body Dissatisfaction/Body image Self Talk/Inner Critic Diet Culture Values & Beliefs So...

In this week's episode, we cover the topic of boundaries. What exactly are boundaries? Why do we need them and when is it ok not to have them? What's the difference between a request and a boundary? In this episode, we reveal the challenges we have faced with simple boundaries and why we feel it’s ok not to have this perfected.  Discussions in this episode include: Weight loss/dieting Diet re...