Does weight influence health?
Can you, the Listener, sit with this question for a moment and notice what comes up for you.
Is there a ready made answer in support of one position or another, and if so, with what degree of certainty does it present itself?
Does it conjure up any memories, feelings, or grievances?
If you were to approach a traditionally trained medical doctor and an eating disorder specialist with this question, chances are they would both give you a very different answer, both of which would be intellectually coherent and supported by research.
However, the pitfall in rigidly adopting either approach is that we are then approaching a client with a premade set of assumptions about what might be true for them and what it feels like to live in their body.
In this episode, Kari Anderson shares her story, first in facing anti-fat bias, then becoming an eating disorder clinician at a time when the field was submerged in HAES and intuitive eating, and finally confronting chronic health issues that motivated her to find her own path to health and well being.
She talks about the ways in which both camps misunderstood her and how this might guide a more humble approach to holding space for another person’s story.
Dr. Kari Anderson, DBH, LPC, CEDS-C, is an eating disorder specialist, author, educator, and behavioral health clinician with more than three decades of experience in the field.
Dr. Anderson is the author of Food, Body & Love and is known for translating emerging science about the brain, nervous system, metabolism, food noise, and cravings into practical approaches to healing. A Certified Eating Disorder Specialist and Consultant, she serves on the iaedp Foundation Board and has trained and consulted with eating disorder professionals nationally and internationally.
Her work is grounded in a simple belief: our relationship with food and our bodies makes much more sense when we understand the biology, psychology, and lived experience underneath it.
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