The Diet Free Revolution with Dr. Alexis Conason, PsyD

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Episode 52. Today I had the immense pleasure of talking with Dr. Alexis Conason! I feel like I sort of met a Health at Every Size® movement celeb, is anyone with me?

Alexis Conason, PsyD, CEDS-S, is a clinical psychologist and eating disorder specialist in private practice in New York City. She is the founder of The Anti-Diet Plan, a weight-inclusive online mindful eating program. 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. You can find her on social media @theantidietplan.

A lifelong New Yorker, Conason lives in Manhattan with her husband and two daughters. She loves all things related to food including cooking, food shopping, watching food shows on TV, and of course eating! But most rewarding is helping her clients transform their relationship with food and experience the joys of eating. She is a fierce advocate for helping people recognize and question the societal norms that encourage their feeling not good enough about themselves so they can stop fixating on shrinking their bodies and reclaim the space that they deserve in the world.

Check out Dr. Conason’s new book! The Diet Free Revolution

Dr. Conason’s website: https://drconason.com/

In this interview, we cover:

Dr. Conason’s personal history with the ineffective diet cycle
Dr. Conason’s professional transition from obesity research to Health at Every Size® and mindful eating work
Why she chose to focus so much on mindfulness and mindful eating versus intuitive eating
Her thoughts on how weight inclusive work merges with the weight loss surgery world
How we are doing as a field and where she’s like to see it improve
Ways to incorporate mindfulness that are simple and easy

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Are You New Here?

Welcome! I’m so glad to have you. You might be wondering what this blog and podcast are all about.

We relate everything in this podcast back to motivation, but not the hustle and grind kind. Truly sustainable motivation that keeps you feeling energetic and engaged in your life for the long haul. We talk about why “I’m just not motivated” is a myth, and why the TYPE of motivation you have is so important to fully understand. If you are ready to learn about motivation and respecting your body in an effective way so that you can live a life you truly love, you are in the right place.

Check out the Foundational Episodes of the Motivation Made Easy Podcast here!

Introduction: What is this podcast all about?
Episode 1: Want to Get & Stay Motivated? A Crash Course on Motivation, Weight Loss, and Health
Episode 2: How Dieting Steals Our Motivation
Episode 3: How To Get Motivated To Improve Your Health (Motivation 101)
Episode 4: How to Transform Health Fears Into Forward Progress

Do you ever worry that you are wasting your life?

I definitely did. In fact, I wrote that in my journal many years ago when I was in the middle of the diet-binge roller coaster ride.

I woke up every day thinking about food, my body, and what I would eat that day to “be healthy”
The notebooks I had filled with calories and points could fill up a spare bedroom
Social events and vacations immediately prompted the thought “they will notice I gained weight” or “I need to lose weight by then”
Deep down I knew I wasn’t living life the way I wanted to, but I didn’t know how to pull myself out of it.

If this is you, I want you to imagine what it would feel like to feel empowered in your body and proud of your choices on a consistent basis. I promise you, it isn’t too late.

Dieting steals our motivation. It makes us ineffective. It keeps us spinning our wheels in a system that was never built to work.

If you are ready take the first step to motivating yourself with what matters to you, download my free Create Powerful Motivation guide (which is quite beautifully designed if I do say so myself), and walk through the 3 simple steps to create motivation that works for YOU in 15 minutes or less. You will get a simple formula to write ONE SENTENCE you can use to motivate yourself on a daily basis.

You can write it on your bathroom mirror, put on the background of your phone, or just read it and repeat it in your mind.

Look, I know how much it hurts to live a life worrying you are missing out, not stepping into the person you were truly meant to be, vibrant, passionate, curious, vulnerable, and brave.

You can listen to the podcast all day, but taking that first step, putting pen the paper (or typing on your phone) is required for true lasing change. It’s time to start living my friend.

It’s 100% free, so what are you waiting for? Grab your free copy of the guide today at DrHondorp.com/Motivate

[One main takeaway is] …trying to shift away from this idea that we are doing something wrong, that our body is broken, that we are not good enough. There’s a lot invested in having us believe those things. And challenging those thoughts and finding ways to really care for yourself with compassion and with mindfulness and trying to come back home to our bodies and reclaim the space and the pleasure and the enjoyment in life that we all deserve.
– Alexis Conason, PsyD

What You Need to Understand about Mindfulness & Weight Inclusive Care

Mindfulness is a powerful and underutilized tool.
It does not need to 30-60 minutes a day to work. Even 5 minutes can have benefits. Even 1 minute! Just start with what feels doable.
The weight inclusive approach is evidence-based and effective. Although we have a long ways to go in terms of education for professionals and all humans, we have evidence on our side.
Social media is not the land of nuance! These conversations may be best held in professional training settings or other spaces that can be more supportive of nuanced and productive conversations.
If you feel overwhelmed and aren’t sure where to focus to improve your health in 2022, really digging deep on understanding mindfulness, what it is and how it applies to eating, can be an excellent place to start.

You can get Dr. Conason’s Free 5-Day Mindful Eating Starter Course at TheAntiDietPlan.com/Free.

Support Independent Bookstores Near You!

Did you know that that if nothing slows their momentum, Amazon will have almost 80% of the book market by the end of 2025?

Look, I love the convenience of Amazon, but I’ve got a super cool way that you can support local bookstores and my blog and podcast simply by buying books like you already do! You can choose any bookstore on the list in the US and Canada (they plan to expand to other counties in the future) OR you can just let the donation get split between all stores. As of this recording, they have raised 15 million dollars for local bookstores. On my bookshop, you will see my absolute favorite books related to health and wellness, courage and vulnerability, and even my favorite fiction and kids books!

My recent favorite related to improving the quality of our lives was Digital Minimalism. Our family actually has decided to do an optional screen free August to re-evaluate the role of screen time in our lives.

So if you believe in supporting local businesses, please consider buying your books through Bookshop from now on!

The Psychology of Wellness Bookshop Link.

Disclaimer: This blog and podcast is for informational and educational purposes only. It is not a substitute for individual professional advice or treatment, including medical or mental health advice. It does not constitute a provider patient relationship.

Disclosure: Using the Bookshop.org links in this post means that I would get an affiliate fee if you purchase from the online bookshop (this supports my business, and local bookstores too!).

Credit: This blog post was co-written and edited by Sarah Grace Rapoport, podcast and blog manager and Psychology of Wellness Intern, and Dr. Shawn Hondorp.