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Julie: It’s time to name the neglect from typical food advice. Welcome to the Find Your Food Voice podcast, hosted by me, Julie Duffy Dillon. I’m a registered dietitian with 20 years of experience partnering with folks just like you on their food peace journey. What have we learned? Well, cookie cutter approaches exclude too many people, and you don’t need to be fixed. It’s not you. It’s not me. It’s all of us. Only together we can start a movement and fix diet culture. And we will. Let’s begin with now.

Julie: Hey, there, welcome to episode 354 of the Find Your Food Voice Podcast. I am Julie Duffy Dillon, registered dietitian, and I am so glad you are here. I know you have a lot of podcasts to choose from. So, thank you for choosing this one. I hope that I can help you today to uncover something different about how you want to relate to food. But to begin, I want to ask you a question. Do you ever fantasize about what your relationship with food would be like if you have never dieted in the first place? Like if you’ve never heard about that first diet or had learned that there was something wrong with your body? Do you ever wonder how you would actually make food decisions? Like, can you imagine it? I know for a lot of people I talked to, they can’t even fathom what it would be like. Like relying on something other than a printout sheet or a website with like lists of food. It’s just so hard to actually imagine relying on something that you didn’t even have to think about. One thing I know to be true is that we were all born with this innate ability to take care of ourselves, including our eating decisions. Now, how we took care of ourselves, if it was never messed around with, it would look different. Of course, just like how we make any decision is going to be different. But our eating decisions, uh they come from our food voice and that’s why this podcast is called Find Your Food Voice. We all have a different way to make decisions about food. And if we didn’t live in diet culture and all the systems of oppression operating within it, if we never had to live in this muck, we would have our food voice. It wouldn’t even be something we had to think about. But of course, diet culture is blocking it. And this show, the reason why I’ve been doing this for years and years is we are trying to help you get back to that, to that innate ability. That is your birthright to have like access to the way that you want to make your own decisions, decisions about food and your body. And for every person that does reunite with their food voice, I know that more people are able to access their own because the more of us that reject diet culture, the more we lift up others to do the same. 

Julie: So this episode, I am sharing with you a new way to share your story about what you are currently struggling with. When it comes to food, your body movement, maybe eating disorder recovery, diets or whatever and, and a chance for it to be included in the Find Your Food Voice book. So I’m going to dive deeper into what I’m talking about after a very quick sponsor break. 

Julie: Welcome back. Like I mentioned before the break, this episode is going to be sharing with you ways to share your story and a chance to get it included in the Find Your Food Voice book. So if this is the first time you’re hearing about this book. Well, yeah, January 2025 which is exactly a year from what I’m talking right now. The FFind Your Food Voice book is going to be released. I am super excited and to give you a little update, I am halfway through writing chapter seven of 10 chapters. So I really feel like I’m in a home stretch. Um I’m enjoying the process of writing a whole lot, but I want to give you, I don’t know, some kind of like behind the curtain kind of information about writing this book. So when I was first approached to write this book, I was really um going to bat for including letters from listeners for a number of reasons. If you’ve listened to this show for a number of years, you may know like that has been the foundation of the show. The very first few years, all of my episodes included a letter from a listener. Over the years, I’ve wanted to include more voices, more people helping me to make the show and have different kind of segments. But the, the, the letter from a listener is still like the core area of the show and you, the listener, whether you’re new to me or you’ve been around since the beginning, you’ve been so supportive. And that has helped me through all of my own like personal twists and turns and good times and bad. But I have been so grateful for your support. And so I wanted to include letters for that reason. And also because the, the letters and those of you who have listened and um sent me messages about the letters, how meaningful they’ve been that has made the show like that, that is all of the energy that I um feel back from you has been about how much these letters mean to you. And why I think that happens is because when you, a listener share something personal, it helps other people heal, especially when you share a part of your own relationship with food that may feel isolating and also your own identity or lived experience. When others can see themselves and what you’re experiencing with food or movement or your body, it can really like take away a lot of the shame that comes from diet culture and all those systems of oppression that are blocking you from that access to your own food voice. 

Julie: So, like I said, when I was first approached to write this book, this was like one of the main things that I wanted to make sure that I included and the publisher agreed. They were like, yeah, that sounds wonderful. And I’ve gotten a few letters that uh I’ve been able to include so far and I need yours. So I wanted to share with you a little bit more about what I’m looking for when it comes to these letters. And um also give you some insight into maybe even a little bit more specifics, especially if you’re like, yeah, I want to see my story in print. Like that would be so cool. And as I say this by you offering a piece of your lived experience, just know that there’s something that will help so many people to feel less shame. And we all know when you remove the shame or at least chip away at it a little bit. It is a powerful way to promote the healing process. So I’m going to list for you a few topics in particular that kind of coincide with topics that I’m exploring in the book. And um something else I haven’t shared yet is how I’m going to use the letters within the book. Um What I am envisioning is much like a show. I would like each chapter to have a letter to start the chapter and then, you know, go through my writing kind of how I would go through a show and then at the end of the chapter and a chapter and the chapter with a letter back from food. So what I want to share next is like, what are all these chapters about? And if you have a letter to food that’s on your heart and it doesn’t exactly line up for what I’m gonna share next, please still submit your letter because there are ways to make many work. And this is just like the words that are coming to mind for me. But there are many letters that I know that may not actually use some of these words that could still very much fit. So I just haven’t read them yet and that’s why I don’t have the words yet. Ok. 

Julie: So number one, I am hoping to get some letters from folks who are really new to starting either therapy or work with a dietitian and can describe what that looks like for their experience or um maybe the fear of that or the unknown. So maybe you’re in the very beginning stages of acknowledging maybe an eating disorder history you have or a um acknowledgment of being at diet rock bottom, just sharing that kind of experience with us. I also um I am looking for letters from folks who don’t really have in mind yet what it’s like to not diet. I mentioned this before the break. But I know for many people that I’ve talked to in my office, that’s something that they will often say in the beginning of our work together is they know that they don’t want to diet ever again because dieting has never led to anything sustainable or long term health promoting has just got in the way of life, but they just can’t imagine not dieting. So a letter to food where you can really hash that part out um is something that I’m hoping to also include. OK. Number three, are your experiences within systems of oppression, impacting your eating, your movement, and or body image? So what do I mean by that? You may be wondering so whether you are experiencing um racism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, any other systems of oppression, misogyny. Um I know there are so many more. What, how, how that um how those systems of oppression, whether it’s one or all of those or some combination how that has impacted your relationship with food. 

Julie: All right, the next one I’m looking for are feelings. All the feelings. I have many chapters about different feelings that come while finding your food voice. Anger is a really big one. If you’ve ever worked with me as a client, you know, we spend a lot of time on this. Finding your food voice can feel many different ways in the beginning. It usually feels pretty exciting, exhilarating, then scary. And then there’s a lot of anger and as much as it may feel uncomfortable to feel that anger as a clinician, I look for it and when it starts to happen, it’s not that I’m like excited, but I kind of am because I know that you’re starting to turn around the burden from yourself outward into where it belongs because this is not your individual burden. So if you are struggling with anger as it comes to finding your food voice, I would love to hear about that. And then again, any other feelings, sadness, um you may have just a letter about how sad it feels to not have diets anymore to mourn that as an as an option. That is something I know for a lot of people they have shared with me how that was surprising and um other people have talked about the feelings of loneliness. Um and, and you know, there’s other feelings that can kind of come and go within that as well. But if you’re feeling alone in this journey and also, like I said, sad or angry, sharing a dear food letter that goes into that would be super um important I think to help tell the story of the book. 

Julie: All right. And I think I have 10 no, two more. Um One is how to connect with health while trying to recover your food voice. And if I had to pick one letter, that’s probably the most read on the show, it’s one that connects with that. And I appreciate as a registered dietitian who’s worked with a lot of people with chronic illness. It’s where I do a lot of work. Um especially when I was seeing clients, one on one, there’s one thing with like recovering from an eating disorder or recovering from diet culture. But it’s another thing to also try to add a layer on with food of also trying to promote health and how to do that. Um There a lot of my book does go into that. And so if you have questions on that or if that’s something you’re struggling with, we would love to include your letter on that.

Julie: And then lastly, I have a whole chapter on the trauma from diet culture, from dieting or eating disorder behaviors. So if you have a letter to food that is capturing that for you, how traumatic living in diet culture has been for you. That is something that we would also love to include. So as I’m saying, all this, if you are like, wait, I need to see a list Julie of everything you just said. Well, don’t worry, we have it for you in the show notes. If you go to julieduffydillon.com/submitletter, it will take you to a Google form that has all of those items I just mentioned for you. And if you are also like, what exactly is a dear food letter? I encourage you to go on my website. There is actually a section where you can just read through all the letters. Um If you click on letters, there’s actually like a a category in itself and so you can just read them all. I also have a um post where I go through some guidelines just to kind of give you some ideas what we usually look for and the link will be in the show notes. But I’m gonna say it here too just in case it’s julieduffydillon.com/dearfoodguidelines. So if I went through those and none of those fit your due for a letter, but you still have one that’s on your heart again, please still submit it. We are looking for more to include in the show for this season and also like I said for the book and by submitting it in this form, it goes through how to actually submit it. If you would like to keep it anonymous, you can definitely do that or you can include, you know, your name or just your initials. Basically, you get to decide how this shows up. And um so again, julieduffydillon.com/submitletter will take you right there. All right. So with all that being said, this is all for today’s show, but I just want to say, thank you so much for listening and supporting me, supporting my team and I, as we’re producing this show, we are so excited to share this book with you because we know it’ll help more people to have access to these tools to help them find their food voice. And I look forward to checking in with you next time and until then take care. 

Julie: Thank you for listening. I am Julie Duffy Dillon, and this is the Find your Food Voice podcast. Ready to join the anti diet movement and take the food voice pledge? Go to julieduffydillon.com and sign your name to the growing list of people saying no to diets and yes to their own food voice. The Find Your Food Voice podcast is produced by me, Julie Duffy Dillon, and my team of kick ass folks. I couldn’t make the show without Yeli Cruz, Assistant Producer and Resident Book Fiend. And Coleen Bremner, Customer Service Coordinator and professional Hype Master. Audio editing is from Toby Lyles at 24 Sound. Music is Fly Free by Hartley. Are you looking for episode transcripts? Get them at julieduffydillon.com, where you can also submit letters for the podcast, give us feedback, and sign the Food Voice pledge. We need your voice to end diet culture. We literally can’t do this without you. Subscribe to the Find Your Food Voice podcast to get weekly inspiration and education on how we can defeat diet culture and reclaim our own food voice. I look forward to seeing you here next week for another episode of the Find Your Food Voice podcast. Take care.