Food Psych #233: COVID-19 and Eating-Disorder Recovery, Plus How to Handle Weight Gain and Body Changes with Rachel Millner

Photographer: Khali MacIntyre

Fat-positive psychologist and eating-disorder specialist Rachel Millner joins us to discuss how she navigated a changing body while helping clients in eating-disorder recovery, coping with discomfort in a larger body, how the Health At Every Size® community responded to her weight gain compared to the culture at large, teaching kids how to navigate diet culture and other forms of oppression, and so much more. Plus, Christy answers a listener question about how to navigate eating-disorder recovery while socially distanced from your support system because of COVID-19. 

Rachel Millner is a fat-positive psychologist and activist, certified eating-disorder specialist, and Certified Body Trust® Provider. She specializes in working with adolescents and adults with all forms of eating disorders and those wanting to break free from diet culture. Rachel is in private practice in Bucks County, PA and sees clients virtually and in-person. She has given talks nationally on topics related to “atypical” anorexia, incorporating HAES and weight-inclusive care into clinical practice, and adapting clinical approaches to HAES. Find her online at RachelMillnerTherapy.com.

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We Discuss:

  • What Rachel has been up to since her first appearance on Food Psych®

  • Weight-centricism in the eating-disorder-treatment field

  • How conventional healthcare ignores the evidence for HAES and weight-inclusive care

  • Moving from a weight-normative to a weight-inclusive approach as a healthcare practitioner

  • Why Christy refers to herself as an anti-diet dietitian

  • HAES as a radical and political approach to care

  • Having humility in the process of unlearning

  • How Rachel navigated changes in her body while helping clients in eating-disorder recovery

  • Working to accept our body changes rather than hiding and/or explaining them away

  • Being affected by others’ perceptions of our bodies, especially as helping professionals

  • How the HAES community responds to weight gain compared to diet culture, and Rachel’s personal experience of this

  • Coping with discomfort in a larger body

  • Community, and its importance in eating-disorder recovery

  • The increasing awareness of HAES and body positivity, particularly among youth

  • Teaching kids how to navigate diet culture and other forms of oppression

Resources Mentioned

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Listener Question of the Week

How can a person navigate eating-disorder recovery when the COVID-19 pandemic has led to a change in their living environment and/or support network? Should we be concerned if we are eating more, less, or otherwise differently from usual? What are some resources for people who are struggling financially as a result of COVID-19? Why might immune-boosting foods or supplements potentially be harmful? What are the best ways that we can prevent the spread of COVID-19? What are the steps that we should take if we do become sick?

Resources Mentioned: 

 
Christy HarrisonCOVID-19, pandemic, eating-disorder treatment, evidence, Health At Every Size, HAES, weight-inclusive, radical, political, social justice, humility, unlearning, weight gain, eating-disorder recovery, eating disorders, community, discomfort, body positivity, diet culture, kids, children, youth, oppression, anti-diet, S720