E011 - Leah Kern: Intuitive Eating, Cannabis & Kid’s Books

Today I have a very eclectic conversation with Leah Kern (https://www.instagram.com/leahkern.rd/) we cover: Who Leah is and why she's so passionate about intuitive eating. How to use cannabis and remain intuitive with your food intake, even with "the munchies". Why kid's books seem to be our first insight into diet culture and anti-fat bias and what to do about it as a parent. The combination of thoughts around loving your parents but also being annoyed about their diet culture habits. Listen to Leah's podcast, Shoulders Down: https://leahkernrd.com/podcast/  Leah's blog on cannabis: https://leahkernrd.com/intuitive-eating-and-cannabis-use-how-to-prevent-binging-when-you-get-high-munchies/  Get in touch with Leah: https://leahkernrd.com/contact/  Download my free book: https://nextstepnutrition.co.uk/freeguide/  Sign up to the presale list for the ASS programme: https://nextstepnutrition.co.uk/anti-summer-shred-project/  Full Timestamps: Introduction [00:00:11] The host introduces Leah Kern, an anti-diet dietitian and certified intuitive eating counsellor, and explains the topics they will discuss, including marijuana and intuitive eating, and the impact of diet culture on children's books. Discovering intuitive eating [00:04:32] Leah shares her personal journey of discovering intuitive eating from a disordered place and how it changed her life, leading her to pursue a career as an anti-diet dietitian. Transitioning to Weight Inclusive Health [00:08:59] Leah talks about her experience in college and how her professors were transitioning the curriculum from being weight normative to weight-inclusive health at every size. Using Cannabis and Intuitive Eating [00:12:22] Leah discusses the importance of talking about cannabis usage and intuitive eating, and how it can affect people's relationship with food. She also shares her top tips for people who use cannabis recreationally and want to stay connected with their bodies. Unwanted Side Effects of Cannabis Usage [00:13:22] Leah emphasizes that people use cannabis for many different reasons, including medicinal use, but unwanted side effects such as feeling out of control with food can affect the quality of life. She encourages people to seek the right tools and support to get their relationship with food to a point where cannabis doesn't equal an automatic out of control binge situation. Why it's important to talk about cannabis and intuitive eating [00:15:39] Leah Kern discusses why it's important to talk about the relationship between cannabis and intuitive eating, and how it can be adapted to support people who use cannabis. Using the intuitive eating framework with cannabis [00:17:30] Leah Kern and the host discuss how the intuitive eating framework can be applied to the experience of using cannabis, and how it takes practice over time. Food habituation and the sadness of saying enough [00:22:45] Leah Kern explains the concept of food habituation and how it can help people who struggle with binging when high. She also discusses the sadness of saying enough and how it's a choice between feeling uncomfortable for hours or just a few moments. Intuitive eating and children's books [00:25:58] The speakers discuss the anti-fat bias and diet culture messages present in popular children's books, such as Harry Potter, and the impact they can have on children's body image and self-worth. Parenting and body image [00:30:46] The speakers discuss the difficulty of navigating popular media with harmful messages and the importance of providing explicit messaging at home to help children develop a healthy body image. Media Literacy [00:31:55] The host and guest discuss the importance of media literacy in helping pre-teens and teens understand why certain body image ideals are problematic. Parents and Diet Culture [00:35:00] The guest shares her experience growing up with a father who was always dieting and a mother who was not explicitly dieting but still had some diet culture tendencies. Deeper Emotional and Mental Health States [00:39:03] The hosts discuss the love-hate relationship with social media and how it has allowed for more conversations around deeper emotional and mental health states. Healing relationships with food and body [00:40:06] Leah Kern talks about how it's normal to have complex feelings about food and body, and how she helps her clients heal their relationships with food and body. Finding a comfortable exercise environment [00:43:21] Leah Kern talks about her struggle to find a comfortable exercise environment that is free from diet culture and how she has made notes to herself to find a teacher that she feels comfortable with. Finding a Safe Fitness Space [00:48:17] Leah and the host discuss the challenges of finding a safe fitness space, especially for people in larger bodies. Creating a Directory of Trusted Professionals [00:49:31] The host mentions Tali Rae's work on creating a directory of trusted professionals and places in the UK, and the need for similar directories in the US. Leah Kern's Work and Content [00:49:51] Leah shares her Instagram, website, and podcast, which covers topics such as cannabis and intuitive eating. The host links to her work in the show notes.