#14 Self-Worth, Diet Culture, and Breaking Free from Food Guilt with Emma Townsin
Diet culture tells us that being smaller means being healthier, more disciplined, and even more worthy. But what if we’ve had it all wrong? In this episode, specialist eating disorder dietitian Emma Townsend breaks down why your body isn’t working against you—it’s actually fighting for you.
From childhood, we’re bombarded with messages equating thinness with goodness—through cartoons, media, and even healthcare professionals who’ve been trained in weight-biased systems. The result? A society obsessed with dieting and shrinking our bodies, even when it harms our physical and mental health.
Emma shares groundbreaking insights on why food restriction backfires and how our bodies respond to dieting as a survival threat—increasing hunger, slowing metabolism, and driving obsessive food thoughts. She also reveals the shocking truth about eating disorders in larger bodies—and why so many people struggling with disordered eating are ignored, misdiagnosed, or even told to keep dieting.
But here’s the shift: instead of fighting our bodies, we can learn to collaborate with them. Hunger, cravings, and emotional eating aren’t failures—they’re signals. Just like mindfulness helps us understand emotions rather than suppress them, we can apply the same approach to our relationship with food.
If you’ve ever felt trapped in a cycle of dieting, food guilt, or emotional eating, this episode is a must-listen. Emma’s approach can help you break free from food rules, trust your body, and finally experience real food freedom.
What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
✅ Why dieting doesn’t work long-term (and what actually does)
✅ How restriction increases hunger, cravings, and food obsession
✅ The truth about eating disorders in larger bodies (and why they’re often dismissed)
✅ How to shift from controlling your body to collaborating with it
✅ Practical steps to rebuild trust with food and hunger
Resources & Links:
🌟 Download Emma’s free resources: foodlifefreedom.com/free-resources
📲 Follow Emma on Instagram: @food.life.freedom
Connect with Kayla:
Website: www.kaylareilly.com
Instagram: @NotYourTherapist.Kayla
Podcast: Subscribe to Not Your Therapist on Spotify , Apple Podcasts or Amazon Music.
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