Food Psych Podcast with Christy Harrison · Christy Harrison, MPH, RD, CEDS

#331: How Is Your Relationship with Alcohol? Ft. Jenna Hollenstein

·41 min·4 clips

Jenna started drinking at 12 due to untreated anxiety and depression, weaving alcohol with diet culture throughout her life.

This episode of Food Psych features host Christy Harrison in conversation with dietitian and author Jenna Hollenstein. They explore the complex relationship between alcohol use, disordered eating, and wellness culture. Hollenstein shares her personal history as a "highly functioning alcoholic" who began drinking at age 12. She describes using alcohol to cope with untreated anxiety, depression, and social rejection during her teenage years. Hollenstein studied nutrition at Penn State and Tufts University while her drinking and disordered eating patterns were intertwined. She recounts taking online quizzes about alcohol use but dismissing concerns because she never had a morning "eye-opener" drink. Hollenstein notes that friends and family often normalized her drinking, with one therapist and psychiatrist eventually encouraging her to examine it more seriously. She explains that attempts at moderation felt like "white knuckling" and led to a rebound effect, similar to a restrict-binge cycle with food. Hollenstein took her last drink on her 33rd birthday and entered a three-week intensive outpatient program instead of Alcoholics Anonymous. After quitting, she experienced "dry drunk" behavior, substituting shopping, online dating, and dieting, including a juice cleanse, for the ritual of drinking. She found that meditation and Buddhist philosophy, particularly the concept of "unconditional friendliness" toward oneself, became central to her sustained recovery. Hollenstein contrasts her path with 12-step programs, acknowledging AA's effectiveness for community but preferring an approach that rests in uncertainty. She and Harrison discuss how alcohol advertising and studies on moderate drinking, like those promoting the Mediterranean diet, created a "health halo" around consumption. The conversation touches on the physiological changes of aging, like decreased alcohol dehydrogenase, which can make drinking less tolerable. The tone is intimate, reflective, and educational, grounded in personal narrative and professional insight. Listeners interested in the intersections of addiction, mental health, and diet culture will find this episode compelling. Those seeking a strictly clinical or AA-focused perspective on sobriety might find the alternative, meditation-based approach less relevant.

As heard by us

A careful look at alcohol, recovery, and the wellness language wrapped around both.

Alcohol sits at the center of the conversation, which expands into recovery, disordered eating, and wellness culture as parts of the same pattern.

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Why you'd press play

If dry January talk usually feels too neat, this one digs into what sits underneath it.

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