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

Healing from Dubious Diagnoses, Disordered Eating, and Overwork with Kirsten Powers

·34 min·2 clips

A week-long therapy program in Tennessee left Kirsten Powers “80% better” three weeks later.

Christy Harrison opens by framing Food Psych as a show that critiques diet and wellness culture and centers intuitive eating and the anti-diet approach. She introduces Kirsten Powers as a New York Times bestselling author and former CNN political analyst, then sets up a conversation about chronic fatigue, illness, dubious diagnoses, and wild out there wellness treatments. The episode is also presented as a cross-post from Rethinking Wellness. Powers talks about how she absorbed messages about thinness, partly from her mother’s obsession with weight and appearance and partly from a culture that keeps pushing images and ideals. She says she was often small when she was younger because of a high metabolism and anxiety, but that it was not healthy. From there, the conversation turns to what she wanted instead: health, strength, and energy, not just a smaller body. She also explains that she has always loved exercising intensely, but previously could not fuel that activity well enough. Now she is doing more intensive exercise and feels much better. The episode stays centered on personal history, body image, disordered eating, and the search for what was actually driving her symptoms.

As heard by us

A reflective anti-diet conversation that ties Kirsten Powers' health story to wellness culture.

Kirsten Powers talks through chronic fatigue, illness, dubious diagnoses, and the wellness treatments that came with them, then lands on what she came to see as the real cause of her symptoms.

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Why you'd press play

Follow one conversation about chronic fatigue, dubious diagnoses, wellness treatments, and what it took to find the real causes.

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