#254: Diet Culture in Yoga Culture with Anti-Diet Yoga Teacher Fiona Flynn, and How to Navigate Orthorexic Thoughts Around Vegetarianism and Veganism with Co-Host Christyna Johnson

Food Psych Podcast with Christy Harrison

Anti-diet yoga teacher and body image coach Fiona Flynn joins us to discuss how yoga philosophy has been co-opted by diet culture, how having “forbidden” foods keeps us stuck in the restrict-binge cycle, how confronting her own weight stigma helped to heal her relationship with her body, bringing an anti-diet approach to the yoga community, and so much more. Plus, Ask Food Psych guest co-host Christyna Johnson answers a listener question about how to navigate orthorexic thoughts around veganism.

Fiona Madhuri Flynn E-RYT 500, YACEP, founder and director of Body Wisdom Intuition, is a Health At Every Size® and Anti-Diet advocate, an Intuitive Eating Guide and a Nutrition and Body Image Coach and has been offering support in attuned eating since 2011.

Having lived in an ashram for 16 years and taught yoga consistently in the Bay Area since the 1990s, she has experienced the problems with disordered eating and exercise behaviors in the world of yoga, and she is now on a mission to awaken the yoga community to the harmful effects of co-option by diet culture. Her passion and specialty is guiding and supporting people in recovering an easeful and satisfying relationship with food, body and mind.

Fiona offers a free monthly “Good Newsletter” with tips and inspiration, one on one guidance, group programs and Yoga Alliance approved continuing education, both in-person and virtually. Believing that compassionate embodiment and empowerment are for EVERY-BODY, scholarships are available for all her offerings. Find her online at BodyWisdomIntuition.com.

Christyna Johnson (she/her) is a registered dietitian working with eating disorders and intuitive eating. She provides education on food insecurity, food apartheid, and racial inequity as it relates to health, well-being, and our relationship with food. She works in private practice to support her clients in their journeys towards a peaceful relationship with food and body. In her free time she reads books, takes care of her plant babies, and is slowly learning to explore the outdoors. Find her online at EncouragingDietitian.com.

For full show notes and a transcript of this episode, go to christyharrison.com/foodpsych.

Ask your own question about intuitive eating, Health at Every Size, or eating disorder recovery at christyharrison.com/questions.

Christy's book, Anti-Diet, is available wherever you get your books. Order online at christyharrison.com/book, or at local bookstores across North America, the UK, Australia, and New Zealand.

Grab Christy's free guide, 7 simple strategies for finding peace and freedom with food, for some ideas of how to get started on the anti-diet path.

If you're ready to break free from diet culture once and for all, come check out Christy's Intuitive Eating Fundamentals online course.