Are you saying that weight loss is bad?
Today we sit down with the one and only Melainie Rogers. Melainie is a certified eating disorder registered dietitian and supervisor. She is the founder and CEO of Balance Eating Disorder Treatment Center™ and Melainie Rogers Nutrition, LLC in New York City. She is also the co-founder and former president of the New York City chapter of the International Association of Eating Disorder Professionals or IAEDP, advisory board member at the Center for the Study of Anorexia Bulimia or CSAB in New York City, and the co-chair of the Nutrition Special Interest Group with the Academy of Eating Disorders. On top of all that, she is also an active member of several dietetic associations, an author, and a professor.
Make sure to tune in until the end because we will be diving deep in to the misconceptions and the correlations between weight and health.
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Show Notes
[00:01 - 9:11] Opening Segment
I introduce our guest for this episode
The importance of having a conversation about disordered eating
Melainie talks about the brief history of the BMI and how it is being used at present
BMI as a misleading tool to measure health
[9:12 - 35:01] Improving Health Without Weight Loss
Obesity as a risk factor of COVID
An offensive and lazy way of categorizing people
The stress from obesity discrimination poses a higher risk than the weight
Differentiating between correlation and causation
Dangers of recommending weight loss to improve biomarkers
Improved biomarkers can be achieved without weight loss
Being in a respectful environment without pressure to lose weight
The importance of having healthy relationship with food and your body
Educating the people about the bad effects of unhealthy dieting
Losing muscle mass
Increase in hunger
Binge eating
Messing up your natural metabolic rate
Aesthetics vs. Actual Health
It’s not about how much fat, but where the fat is located
Be more careful about visceral fat
The importance of looking at health at every size
Incorporating joyful movement
Improving sleep
Weight is not only the indicator of good health
[29:07 - 43:49] Other Tools to Treat Eating Disorders
Bariatric surgery as a necessary tool for some individuals
Must have a lot of understanding in the procedure’s pros and cons
Important to bring more knowledge about food and health to the general public
Neutralizing relationship with food
Understanding intuitive eating
Tuning eat with what your body feels
Replenishing your body with food that it wants and needs
Will make you feel more in control of your relationship with food
Connect with Melainie through the links below
Quick information about Balance Eating Disorder Treatment Center™
Final words
Tweetable Quotes
“We know from a health perspective, that pure weight doesn't really tell us much about someone's health. It may suggest, but it doesn't tell us definitively.” - Melainie Rogers
"I think the problem with our healthcare system and with how society has been told, is that society has been told to believe that weight is the number one indicator of health and it is absolutely simply not true.” - Melainie Rogers
“What we want to look at then is health at every size, which is no matter what our body shape and size and weight, we can be healthier from that point.” - Melainie Rogers
More From Rachelle
Hey there! I’m Rachelle, the host of the Understanding Disordered Eating Podcast. As a Licensed Mental Health Counselor, I work with clients to make sense of life’s messy emotional experiences.
I believe in the power of deep work and its positive impact on your life in the long term. Learn more about how we can work together here.
You can connect with me on Instagram, through my website or email me directly clicking the links below.
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