BEYOND WEIGHT: On Eating Disorders with Elizabeth Jackson

Why Weight Goals Need to Stop Being the Marker of Full Recovery.

This is the 6th episode of Beyond Weight - a NEW series that asks the question “how can we manage health concerns without focusing on weight loss, food restriction, and body shame?”.

Today, Jill is speaking with Elizabeth Jackson, MS, RDN, LDN - a Licensed and Registered Dietitian specializing in eating disorders, child and family feeding issues, management of eating and weight-related illness and co-occurring/substance use disorders. Together they're talking about the limitations of conventional thinking about Eating Disorders, when we do need to think about weight and meal plans, and how to do those things while holding a higher ideal for recovery. We also talk about the issue with weight goals - how it can lead to misdiagnosis, misunderstanding, and only partial eating disorder recovery.

In this episode, we discuss:

• Monitoring physiological factors vs weight goals
  
• Believing patients when they report what they are eating - and why some practitioners might not believe
  
• Jackson’s Individual Weight Continuum (examines physiological markers instead of specific weights)
  
• Treating the individual and the importance of story
  
• Trauma from food insecurity
  
• Why a moderate lifestyle is more than enough
  
• How to get more intentional if it’s right and interesting for you... without falling into old diet traps
  
• Fixing the relationship with food FIRST
  
• When Intuitive Eating is not a good fit for eating disorders
  
• What we CAN’T control
  
• Why weight restoration goals should NOT be led by BMI
  
• When eating is NOT malleable... what can we do?
  

Links:

https://www.ellynsatterinstitute.org/product/prof-web-bodypositive/

TW: In this episode, we loosely discuss weight, calories, and a few diet plans are mentioned. Please listen only if these topics aren't triggering for you. Also - these sessions are designed to educate and entertain. They are not prescriptive. If you are struggling with food and body image issues , you should reach out to your primary care provider for individual advice before self-diagnosing or treating.