Category: HAES

Ep 10. Gym Culture without Weight Loss Challenges: Bringing HAES®, Intuitive Eating and Body Positivity into Fitness

28/4/2020

Gym culture can be incredibly toxic for people struggling with body image and eating concerns. Monique Jephcote, APD, PT and Intuitive Eating Counsellor, is infusing weight-neutral principles into the fitness world with compassion, respect and gusto.

In this episode:

How and why Monique opened her non-diet private practice soon after graduating
HAES just makes sense: “Every single body deserves dignity and respect” (and weight loss dietetics is SO boring!)
Monique’s lived experience of disordered eating recovery from her days as a competitive bodybuilder (including the fun, sassy “Beyonce” side of things)
“We get obsessed with food when we’re under-eating”
How Monique never disliked her body as much as she did when she was closest to society’s ideal body shape
The contrast in body diversity and body acceptance between the bodybuilding VS powerlifting scenes
The myriad ways diet culture manifests in the gym setting
On being a non-diet dietitian in a gym, and dealing respectfully with weight-centric fitness professionals: “We don’t know what we don’t know”
The way Monique is challenging perspectives on weight and health in the gym world
The importance of informed consent, body autonomy and compassion regardless of whether clients take a weight-centric or weight-neutral approach
Low energy availability or RED-S (Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport), Hypothalamic Amenorrhoea in female athletes, and the problem with dismissing menstrual disturbances as “just what happens to active women”
Monique’s experiences with Vipassana meditation, and where this fits in with her work as a dietitian and fitness professional

Links:

Monique's Instagram
The Intuitive Dietitian on Facebook
Monique's website
Support the show by becoming a Patreon!

Ep 6. HAES® Naturopathy with Chandrika Gibson

27/2/2020

A Health at Every Size (HAES®)-informed, weight neutral practice is old school naturopathy in its best sense. In this interview with Chandrika Gibson, ND we take a deep dive into HAES naturopathy and yoga therapy.

In this episode:

The co-opting of wellness to sell stuff and the accessibility issues this creates
Differences between health, wellness and wellbeing
The problematic belief that living a “clean” lifestyle guarantees you won’t get sick
Healthism
“Wellness is about the direction you’re facing” - you can live with chronic illness and still have high level wellness
The trouble with naturopaths (!)
How qualified naturopaths can set themselves apart from under-qualified people with questionable training (hint: client-centred practice!)
Homeopathy, reiki, and “meeting the client where they are at”
Navigating a client’s desire to follow extreme diets for cancer
Why a HAES-informed, weight neutral practice is "old school naturopathy in its best sense"
Yoga therapy and the koshas
Finding truly body inclusive and accessible yoga
Chandrika’s research in head and neck cancer and her lived experience with skin cancer

Links:
Support the show at the Non-Diet Yogi Patreon

Chandrika's personal Facebook page, Surya Health and Wisdom Yoga Institute

Chandrika's articles on Medium:
The Trouble With Naturopaths
Body Positive Yoga

The Honeymoon Period

18/7/2019

"I've been on this juice fast for 5 days now, and I feel AH-MAAAAZ-ING!"

"Keto is the best thing I've ever done. After 2 weeks of low-carb I have SO much energy!!"

"Why didn't I try intermittent fasting sooner? I've lost x kg AND need LESS sleep!"

"I've quit sugar and my skin is SO clear."

"Since going raw vegan my periods have stopped, but I've heard that's a sign my body is getting cleaner." (This one's the absolute worst).

Newbies to diets (yes, these are all wellness DIETS, not healthy, sustainable "lifestyle changes") fill online forums with tales of renewed health, regained vitality, happiness... and of course, weight loss. It's enough to make any unsatisfied online wellness trawler jump on board the next media-sensationalised dietary fad.

In fact maybe YOU are on day 7 of your juice cleanse / bulletproof coffee experiment / I Quit Sugar challenge, and you're feeling so good you've decided to become a health coach and "detox the world".

But friend, you need to understand that what you are experiencing is the dietary equivalent of The Honeymoon Period. You feel great and you truly believe that you've found the fountain of eternal youth and vitality.

The Wellness Diet Cycle

17/7/2019

The typical person I see in my clinic is female, in her 20s, 30s or 40s.

She goes to yoga and only shops at organic markets. She makes her own bone broth, vegetable juices, and paleo "treats" (because gut healing is good, and dairy and sugar are "bad").

She spends a small fortune on vitamins, probiotics and herbal supplements.

She is very health conscious, sometimes bordering on being obsessively so.

She has seen numerous health practitioners prior to seeing me.

And despite her utmost efforts to be healthy, she has long list of seemingly obscure health conditions. The list of signs and symptoms I see in these women goes something like this:

Headaches, migraines, intense cravings, cold hands and feet, sleep problems, rough dry skin, brittle hair, hair loss, IBS (irritable bowel syndrome), dizziness, brain fog, low energy levels, low body temperature, constipation, low libido, bloating, indigestion, frequent need to urinate, anxiety, panic attacks, loss of muscle mass, heart palpitations, frequent colds and flu / thrush / UTIs / herpes outbreaks, unpredictable emotional swings, severe PMS, irregular periods, missing periods, infertility.

The woman in question usually doesn't have every single one of these (although some do), but she will have a significant number (around 80% or more) of them.

By the time they've come to see me, many of these women have attributed this long and baffling list of symptoms to candida. Or a food intolerance. Or simply "being too fat".

And they've come to the conclusion (via Google or some health guru) that the obvious solution is to embark upon yet another restrictive diet. Anti-candida, low-carb, paleo, keto, GAPS, SCD, vegan, intermittent fasting, and raw are the usual go-to's right now.

And herein lies the root of the problem.

The Big Thing most health-conscious people are missing (that's ruining their health)

Most of the women I see in clinic do NOT have a food intolerance, candida, or an allergy to grains. I should add that I have been trained to recognise and treat food sensitivity and intolerance so am well aware of what that looks like. Although it is a valid and very real issue, about ninety percent of the time, food intolerance is NOT the causative factor.

The root of these women's problems is this: They are trying too hard to be healthy and as a result, they are eating too restrictively.

The biggest mistake I see women making today is trying too hard to be healthy.

periods, fertility & eating disorders

21/5/2019

"I have my period. So I mustn't have an eating disorder."

For years I thought that if a woman was menstruating regularly, she was displaying one of the ultimate signs of health.

I thought that if a woman had a regular period she must be well nourished. That the moment her caloric intake dipped below her requirements, her body would stop ovulating and periods would disappear.

That Mother Nature never lets our bodies grow babies - a highly energy intensive endeavour that demands massive amounts of resources - in a perceived famine.

For years, I was wrong.

In my time as an eating disorder dietitian, student naturopath, and having lived through an (undiagnosed but still very harmful) eating disorder, I have learnt a thing or two about periods and under eating. Here I'll attempt to bust some common myths around periods, fertility and disordered eating.

FIRST DO NO HARM.

12/3/2019

A call to naturopaths to embrace a weight neutral approach to practice.

Primum non nocere. First, do no harm.

This is the first tenet of the naturopathic oath we all take on graduation day from college, and the most critical.

As naturopaths we strive not to add to the burden of problems of our patients. To refrain from further damaging their physical, mental or emotional wellbeing. To not intervene in such a way that will in any way harm.

Doing nothing is better than doing something that will cause harm.

In many ways, we are very good at abiding by this foundational tenet.

And yet... there is something insidious going on within the naturopathic profession that has not been called out. And despite our best intentions, it is doing serious harm to our patients, our profession, and ourselves.

That thing is a weight focussed approach to health. Whether directly or indirectly, promoting weight loss does irrefutable harm.

Even if it's weight loss "for health". Or weight loss "for fertility". Or weight loss just for the sake of weight loss, because "who doesn't want to be a bit leaner?"

To illustrate my point I'll set the scene. The other week I received two emails: one from a very well known nutraceuticals company promoting its weight loss seminar to naturopaths and other natural health professionals. The other was the exact same email, forwarded on to me from a major natural medicine education institution to its students.

This is not okay.

As I'll illustrate shortly, a focus on weight loss does unequivocal harm. This is in direct opposition to the first and most crucial naturopathic tenet.

It's 2019, and I propose that it's time that practitioners in the field of naturopathic medicine universally adopted a non-diet, weight neutral, Health at Every Size approach. For the sake of our clients, our best practice, and for the future longevity and validity of our profession, we must steer the ship away from the weight-centric doctrine it is starting to (and arguably, has) become and back towards true preventative and holistic medicine.

The kind of medicine that naturopathy sprang from. The kind of medicine that does no harm. The kind of medicine that treats the whole person, not a number on the scales.

Witches don't diet.

6/9/2018

It's 6am, and I'm tired but excited. My 8-month old baby girl, with whom I co-sleep, is up at 5:30am every morning crawling around our bedroom. As I type this she's pulling apart my pile of yoga props and dismantling the crystals, candles and oracle cards that decorate my bedroom altar.

But she's not the main reason why I'm particularly tired and simultaneously excited this morning. In the middle of the night I was up for over 2 hours as a bunch of information and the backbone of this blog, among other things, was downloaded seemingly out of nowhere into my mind, demanding to be written down. It happens from time to time. It's the only time I feel sleep deprived and am cool with it.

So.

Witches don't diet. Let me explain the title of this crazy midnight-inspired blog. Starting with the "witch" bit.

Witches

Up until recently I've felt really uncomfortable with calling myself a witch. My concept of a witch was someone who was a wise woman or man, and a respected elder of years past. One who was a healer, a shaman, a master of herbalism. One who helped and served others in his community. One who understood nature at a deep level, who communed with nature and viewed herself as a part of it, not in command of it.

In our climate of cultural misappropriation, and of hashtags like #witch, #witchvibes, and #blessed, it seemed cliché, cutesy, and just icky to label myself as a witch. I rejected the label and the bastardisation I believed (and still to some extent believe) went with it, much in the same way I once rejected yoga culture, hard.

Sure, I align my energy with the wheel of the year; I observe the sabbats, seasons, and the cycles of the moon.
I use multiple tools to connect with and sharpen my intuition, including but not limited to meditation, embodied practices like yoga.
I love nothing more than to spend hours wandering by myself in the forest - although these days I'm usually accompanied by little people.
I use divination tools such as oracle cards and occasionally scrying.
Despite being scared of ghosts, I feel the presence of long dead loved ones and communicate with them, not frequently but from time to time.
Most mornings I cast a circle, set an intention, burn sage, commune with my ancestors, journal, and/or read oracle cards.
I have had visions of past lives, my own and those close to me.
I have created multiple altars and sacred spaces around my home. My family is just used to having weird stuff including talismans and many sage sticks lying around the place.
I work with the elements of nature and use herbs daily, and crystals sometimes. The main reason I am undergoing a degree in naturopathy is to add clinical herbalism to my tool belt, yet I also talk to plants and try to connect with plant spirits.
I cast my first spell at age 17 and it worked so well I got frightened and didn't cast spells again until my late twenties when I decided I wanted to get pregnant. That, too, worked incredibly well.

Despite all of this, I have long rejected the label of witch. Not wanting to frighten my Christian friends, or freak people out, and not wanting to further disrespect the archetype of wise healer and elder I hold in my mind.

When my spiritual teacher unflinchingly pointed out that I was, indeed, a witch, I immediately recoiled. I told her I didn't feel comfortable with that term, that I felt it was overused and misused. Perhaps at some level, collective long held negative connotations and echoes of painful ancestral memories sounded through my psyche; the centuries when the word 'witch' led women to be tortured, drowned and burned at the stake stored as warnings in my cells.

She gently reminded me that "witch" comes from the word wicca, which means wise. Witchcraft in ancient history was known as "The Craft of the Wise" because most who followed the path were in tune with the forces of nature, had a knowledge of herbs and medicines, gave counsel and were valuable parts of the village and community as healers and leaders.

My teacher showed me that in my haste to retract from cultural misnomers and in my disdain of anything trendy, I had perhaps forgotten what a witch really is.

In the words of author Lisa Lister, a witch is "a woman in her power. She is wise, a healer, someone who is aligned with the cycles of Mother Nature and the phases of the Moon."

A witch is a woman in her power. Her intuition is strong and she listens to it and trusts it. She sharpens her intuition like a knife and uses it to cut through cultural bullshit, allowing her to stay true to herself. She knows the difference between intuition and the voices of fear.

I know many wise, intelligent, heartfelt people who meet this description. Social and environmental justice warriors fighting for gender equality, opposing weight stigma, and lobbying to stop deforestation. The fiercely compassionate and scientifically justified proponents of the Health at Every Size movement. Herbal medicine masters who are fighting to grant cancer patients access to plant medicine that could save their lives in a medical climate where natural medicine is viewed with suspicion and derision.

They are all witches. And so am I.

And if you're still reading this, chances are you are, too.

Intuition

I agree with the notion that a witch is a woman (or man, but I'm mainly talking to women within my platforms) in her power. And a woman can only be in her power by regularly listening to, honing, and trusting her intuition.

Intuition is rooted in the body. Think of the words we use to describe intuitive hunches: I had a gut feeling. The hairs on the back of my neck stood up. I felt it in my bones. I knew it in my heart.

Think of the times your intuitive, instinctual nature has kicked into gear. When somebody has stepped into your space and something feels "not quite right". When you know your child is in danger and you check they're still in their sandpit only to realise they're about to cross the road by themselves.

When you sense the presence of a loved one who has passed on, something around 75% of us report having experienced. When you recognise a soul mate or lifelong friend by how your heart feels and the tingles running down your spine. These are usually gut feelings, a body sense. Not calculations you've made in your head.

Dieting and the religion of thinness have cut down many a modern day witch, leaving a gaping hole in our collective wisdom and capacity to heal ourselves and others.

Dieting

Intuition is rooted in the body. Food rules keep you up in your head, disconnected from your body.

Food rules keep you up in your head, disconnected from your body. It's hard to notice your witchy hunches and intuitive body-felt messages when you're mostly in your head thinking about food, eating, and/or your body.

When you're spending hours googling gluten-free, dairy-free, sugar-free recipes instead of doing your practice, whatever that practice looks like for you.
Calculating, compensating and calorie budgeting instead of nurturing your innate gifts, talents and skills.
"Saving yourself" all day for a dinner out with friends and starving in the process, dwindling energy stores that you could otherwise have spent honing your craft.
Being so cut off from your hunger and/or fullness cues and your body, that intuitive messages seem a distant memory or a far off concept, rather than a daily normal experience.

It's hard to stay connected to your spidey senses if you've skipped breakfast AND lunch, all you can think about is how hangry you are and how you could probably hold out for another hour before you really "need" to eat.

So many women I know (myself included) do a bunch of weird shit that has the capacity to - consciously or otherwise - sharpen our intuition. We wear crystals, read oracle and tarot cards, journal, meditate, practice yoga... all in an attempt to "be more intuitive". Or more accurately, to connect us to the wisdom and intuition we already embody.

But food rules pull us right back out of our bodies and into our heads. You can wear a bone necklace made by a Hopi shaman, burn sage until the neighbours call 000, and do a three-hour headstand atop a giant piece of clear quartz... but as long as you're still stressing about how much sugar you ate yesterday, you're going to stay largely shut down to your intuition.

Intuitive eating

Intuitive eating, intuitive EVERYTHING.

For women whose slavery to the thin ideal has cut them off from their full witchy capacity, intuitive eating is a way to open a doorway to intuitive living. As I once heard another non-diet advocate say, "Intuitive eating, intuitive EVERYTHING."

Intuitive eating asks that we begin listening to the hunger and fullness cues of our bodies. But that's not all. It also offers ways to reject the diet mentality and let go of the religion of thinness so pervasive in our cultural and inherited conditioning.

One caveat: If you've been chronically dieting, or you're in a semi-starved state, listening to and honouring your hunger and fullness can be difficult and complicated. This is where getting help from a non-diet practitioner can be of great value to re-nourish your body first so you can begin to receive and interpret those messages correctly.

Witches don't diet

Witches don't diet. It's impossible to be deeply connected to your intuition while you're still tracking macros like there's no tomorrow, you're not eating enough, or you're deadly afraid of carbs.

Getting a balanced, satisfying and adequate intake of food can ease mood swings, panic attacks, anxiety, and mild depression. Mental health takes a dive when we're in a state of semi-starvation as the body struggles to construct all the neurotransmitters it needs to remain healthy. Intellectual clarity and intuition is improved when the mind receives proper nourishment.

It's time to stop wasting your energy on the illusion of weight loss or maintaining a low weight as if that's the most important thing in life. It's not.

Sister, we need you. Now is the time to hone your craft, shine your light and offer your healing gifts, and dieting is only stopping you from reaching your magical potential. The world needs your witchy-poo self, and it needs it now.

Author

Casey Conroy is an Accredited Practising Dietitian, eating disorder specialist, herbalist in training, yoga teacher, and coming-out-of-the-closet witch.

3 things you MUST know about Postpartum nutrition

29/3/2018

"Eat ENOUGH food. This is where you need to put your big girl pants on, ignore the ridiculous cultural push to lose the "baby weight" as fast as possible... and eat like a grown-ass woman."

What you eat during the month after you give birth has the power to radically improve your strength and recovery.

And, it is said in Chinese medicine, what you eat and how well you take care of yourself during this crucial time has the power to impact your health 20, 30 or more YEARS down the track.

There are other important things to think about in your Golden Month, which I mention here - but of course, being a nutritionist, I believe the food you eat after having a baby is crucial.

Nutritional requirements during recovery and breastfeeding unsurprisingly increase, and in the case of some specific nutrients, quite significantly so.

If you're breastfeeding your requirements for protein, zinc, iodine and vitamin A literally double.

And to produce milk, you need to be getting more overall calories than even during your third trimester of pregnancy; around 500-600 calories more for the first six months postpartum if breastfeeding exclusively (as recommended by the World Health Organisation), which is an extra meal or 2-3 extra snacks a day.

Of course I don't recommend calorie counting and nothing is set in stone - listen to your hunger and fullness cues and you will be fine. Note: If you have a history of or current disordered eating you may find it difficult to follow your body's hunger and fullness cues, in which case seeing a HAES or non-diet health professional would be super helpful for you.

Even if you cannot or choose not to breastfeed, extra nutrition is required to heal from childbirth and replenish your body after nine months of pregnancy.

And if your kids are more school age than newborn, you need some serious fuel to keep up with all the crazy demands asked of you, mama. You have important shit to do and you need energy and nutrients to do it.

So without going into a huge amount of detail on exact postpartum nutrition requirements, here are the three big nutritional principles from TCM you can aim to follow in your Golden Month.

And by the way, nourishing yourself well is as crucial in healing immediately after childbirth, as it is 10 years postpartum. These three tips apply just as much years after your last child is born, as they do as soon as the baby is born.

Why "pre-baby body" is a bullshit concept

29/12/2017

Let me tell you a story...

Once upon a time, a beautiful princess decided she wanted to have a baby. So she instantly fell pregnant and had a perfect pregnancy where she grew a "cute little" bump and didn't gain weight in any other part of her body. Her face didn't explode with pimples in the first trimester whilst her body adjusted to the crazy hormone fluctuations, and she was never EVER a mega bitch to her husband, the prince.

She kept exercising five times a week and eating one salad a day throughout her whole pregnancy like a respectable lady ought to. Then she had a wonderful birth and the next week returned to her pre-baby body so she could continue her life as a professional fitness model as if nothing happened.

Her belly never resembled a cake sagging in the middle from overdoing the baking powder. She never once accidentally shat her pants or peed whilst reaching for a box of cereal in the supermarket, no way. And her baby was perfect and sleeping through the night by zero weeks of age, just in case you were wondering. And she lived happily ever after. The end.

...

So many normal and necessary changes happen to a woman’s body - and life - during pregnancy and after birth. And yet society and the media gloss over all the (literally) shitty stuff and instead feed us the unicorn fairytale version of what motherhood and parenting is "supposed" to look like.

No where is this more evident than in the whole idea of getting your "pre-baby body" back.

Diet culture is relentless in sending new mothers messages about needing to fix their so-called imperfections - that they need to "bounce back", lose the baby weight, and flatten their newly soft and stretched tummies within weeks.

Sadly, the way many new mums attempt to live up to this impossible standard is through restrictive dieting and over-zealous exercise, often taken on before the pelvic floor and abdomen have had a chance to repair. Neither of which are in the best interests of mum or baby, especially if mum is breastfeeding.

Why I QUIT yoga (and what brought me back)

19/9/2017

I've taken the last year and a half off teaching yoga. Some people assume I've just continued to teach and are mildly surprised when I tell them I'm not actually teaching. Others have noticed my absence and have been asking me when I'll start teaching again.

I know I've been especially missed by the (wonderful) AcroYoga community on the Gold Coast. The last yoga event I lead was a couples restorative AcroYoga workshop over 18 months ago. It was a gorgeous workshop and fully booked out. The people who attended were super sweet and provided such encouraging feedback. The staff at the host studio were incredibly helpful, down to earth and lovely. And I had a fantastic time teaching it.

I receive near-weekly emails from curious newbies asking when I'll be teaching my next Acro workshop or class. I politely turn them away and direct them instead to other teachers.

The best reason I can come up with for my absence from the yoga world?

I just haven't felt like teaching yoga.

And more to the point, up until recently I have pretty much taken the last year and a half off from practising yoga.

Yep. No personal practice, besides the odd yoga class every few months, and some meditation in between looking after a newborn who is now a toddler (i.e. extremely sporadic meditation). My preferred form of movement switched from pre-baby trail running, daily vinyasa riddled with handstands and AcroYoga... to walking, reformer pilates and strength training to prepare for and recover from childbirth, and to build the strength I need to haul a toddler around without putting my back out.

I QUIT YOGA. Turned my back on it almost completely. After over a decade of reasonably dedicated practice and nearly as long teaching.

Why?

Basically, two reasons:

1. Once I gave birth to my first child (and probably a bit before that), the personal yoga practice I knew and loved - the dynamic, dance-like, acrobatic, yang-centred practice that is so celebrated in modern yoga culture - suddenly felt like total shit.

2. I had a gutful of how wanky it had all become.

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