In this episode of Understanding Disordered Eating, I’m digging into one of the most misunderstood parts of binge eating: why dieting and restriction so often lead directly to the exact thing you’re trying to avoid.

In this episode, I’m breaking down why that happens. We’re talking about how years of restriction, dieting, food rules, and trying to override your body can completely distort your hunger cues. We’re getting into the fear of “if I start eating, I won’t stop,” why so many people feel like their hunger is excessive or wrong, and why the advice to “just trust your body” can backfire when your body has spent years not being listened to.

Even though the idea of following hunger and fullness cues seems simple, there are many misconceptions out there. Today, we’re breaking down what hunger fullness cues are, how to tap into them, working with a dietitian, and how intuitive eating plays a role. Learn more about eating disorder therapy and treatment in NYC and Brooklyn at rachelleheinemann.com.

This week on Understanding Disordered Eating, Rachelle outlines the basics of intuitive eating. She details the 10 principals and goes through how she understands each to mean. She talks about discovering satisfaction in food, learning hunger cues, identifying fullness cues, and stopping to use food as the only way to manage emotions. She talks about how this can be transformative in your healing from eating disorder and disordered eating.

In this episode, we will be unpacking Alexis’s Diet Free Revolution. We talk about incorporating mindfulness (insert eyeball if you feel like it, we’ll talk directly to you soon) and compassion and why they are so important. We’ll talk about some major problems with diet culture, society’s obsession with wellness and thinness, and how you can break free from the ridiculous standards.

Alexis Conason, PsyD, CEDS-S, is a clinical psychologist and certified eating disorder specialist in private practice in New York City. She is the owner of Conason Psychological Services, a Health At Every Size ®-informed group therapy practice specializing in the treatment of binge eating disorder, disordered eating, and body image. She is the founder of The Anti-Diet Plan, a weight-inclusive online mindful eating program and is the author of The Diet-Free Revolution: 10 Steps to Free Yourself from the Diet-Cycle with Mindful Eating and Radical Self-Acceptance (North Atlantic Books, 2021). She was previously a research associate at the New York Nutrition Obesity Research Center in affiliation with Columbia University. Her research has been published in peer-reviewed journals, she is a frequent speaker at conferences, and she has been featured widely as an expert on the topics of mindful eating, body image, and diet culture in the media. ​