Thank you, Dalia, for your very thoughtful answers!
As a white cis woman with celiac disease, lactose intolerance, and insulin resistance, I am confused at the idea of my body being trustworthy, The cold hard reality is that I cannot trust it to digest certain foods properly, and that there is a very real genetic component to this. Celiac disease and lactose intolerance runs on my dad's side of the family and type 2 diabetes on my mom's side. I found freedom in accepting that this is just the way it is - that my body and genes suck and that I can't eat like everyone else without serious health consequences.
Hi, I'm not Dalia so take this with a grain of salt, but I understood that to mean that the body is trustworthy when you listen to what it is trying to tell you regarding pleasure (and pain, I think). So when your body reacts painfully to gluten, the body is being trustworthy by saying "hey, this isn't a thing we can digest" which is I think a complementary way to think about what you said about freedom in accepting it the way that it is.
Also not Dalia, but I agree with this. I mean my body can’t be trusted not to attack my central nervous system like a foreign body. (MS) But I can trust it to tell me my overheating even when other people say “it’s not that hot.” However hot it is, my body is too hot and pretending it isn’t is not going to end well.
Yes! It's amazing how many people want to try and invalidate what our bodies feel. Regarding celiac disease, I've literally had people say to me "just one bite won't hurt!" and I've had to explain that one bite will make me sick and throw off my digestive system for days.
Oh gosh, re: the pleasure is poison line, it made me think back to the time I tried a new burger place and thought they had the most delicious gluten-free rolls ever...until I got sick that evening, looked back at the receipt, and noticed that despite me telling them gluten-free there was no upcharge on the receipt...meaning that the super tasty roll was regular bread :(
I wanted to add another comment thanking you, particularly for the line "Low body weight can be a sign of failing health, and higher body fat can be protective."
I got covid 12 days ago and literally had a neighbor (who knew that I had covid) ask me a couple of days ago if I had lost more weight (facepalm)...my response was "um, probably because of covid..." it's so awkward because I know she meant well, but her question was so inappropriate!
I mentioned in another comment that type 2 diabetes runs in my family. My mom is 5'5" and 138 lbs and on insulin and her doctor is concerned that she has lost weight due to muscle atrophy. Sure, she's in the healthy BMI bracket but has way less muscle than she should, which is frightening. My pre-diabetes has been in remission since 2018 through dietary measures - at the time it went into remission I was 5'5" and 195 pounds (BMI obese). When I got pregnant later that year, my doctors were shocked at how low my fasting blood sugar and A1C were - "the lowest I've seen in a long while". Yet if you put me and my mom next to each other and had to guess which one was the diabetic, I bet almost everyone would guess me and not her.
thank you for this! what a wonderful interview. I work in healthcare and am always looking for more knowledge around ways to promote body positivity. trusting your body is a fabulous place to start!
not sure if this will work but i would check out christy harrison's website - i believe she has a list of non diet dietitians and there may be one in the dc area!
As usual this interview took me a few days to read, but definitely worth it to keep coming back! Downloaded Dalia's podcast, can't wait to listen after work!
Thank you, Dalia, for your very thoughtful answers!
As a white cis woman with celiac disease, lactose intolerance, and insulin resistance, I am confused at the idea of my body being trustworthy, The cold hard reality is that I cannot trust it to digest certain foods properly, and that there is a very real genetic component to this. Celiac disease and lactose intolerance runs on my dad's side of the family and type 2 diabetes on my mom's side. I found freedom in accepting that this is just the way it is - that my body and genes suck and that I can't eat like everyone else without serious health consequences.
Thoughts?
Hi, I'm not Dalia so take this with a grain of salt, but I understood that to mean that the body is trustworthy when you listen to what it is trying to tell you regarding pleasure (and pain, I think). So when your body reacts painfully to gluten, the body is being trustworthy by saying "hey, this isn't a thing we can digest" which is I think a complementary way to think about what you said about freedom in accepting it the way that it is.
Also not Dalia, but I agree with this. I mean my body can’t be trusted not to attack my central nervous system like a foreign body. (MS) But I can trust it to tell me my overheating even when other people say “it’s not that hot.” However hot it is, my body is too hot and pretending it isn’t is not going to end well.
Yes! It's amazing how many people want to try and invalidate what our bodies feel. Regarding celiac disease, I've literally had people say to me "just one bite won't hurt!" and I've had to explain that one bite will make me sick and throw off my digestive system for days.
Oh gosh, re: the pleasure is poison line, it made me think back to the time I tried a new burger place and thought they had the most delicious gluten-free rolls ever...until I got sick that evening, looked back at the receipt, and noticed that despite me telling them gluten-free there was no upcharge on the receipt...meaning that the super tasty roll was regular bread :(
Thank you, this is a good way to look at it. It's trustworthy, also, in starting with less strong symptoms as a warning sign, if that makes sense?
I wanted to add another comment thanking you, particularly for the line "Low body weight can be a sign of failing health, and higher body fat can be protective."
I got covid 12 days ago and literally had a neighbor (who knew that I had covid) ask me a couple of days ago if I had lost more weight (facepalm)...my response was "um, probably because of covid..." it's so awkward because I know she meant well, but her question was so inappropriate!
I mentioned in another comment that type 2 diabetes runs in my family. My mom is 5'5" and 138 lbs and on insulin and her doctor is concerned that she has lost weight due to muscle atrophy. Sure, she's in the healthy BMI bracket but has way less muscle than she should, which is frightening. My pre-diabetes has been in remission since 2018 through dietary measures - at the time it went into remission I was 5'5" and 195 pounds (BMI obese). When I got pregnant later that year, my doctors were shocked at how low my fasting blood sugar and A1C were - "the lowest I've seen in a long while". Yet if you put me and my mom next to each other and had to guess which one was the diabetic, I bet almost everyone would guess me and not her.
thank you for this! what a wonderful interview. I work in healthcare and am always looking for more knowledge around ways to promote body positivity. trusting your body is a fabulous place to start!
i'm obsessed with this interview!!!!! thank you ahp for making this happen on your large platform.
This was so good to read -- thank you for this share.
Love all of this so much.
Slightly off topic- But can anyone recommend a weight neutral dietitian in the area DC who can work with someone with other chronic illnesses?
not sure if this will work but i would check out christy harrison's website - i believe she has a list of non diet dietitians and there may be one in the dc area!
As usual this interview took me a few days to read, but definitely worth it to keep coming back! Downloaded Dalia's podcast, can't wait to listen after work!