E24. Redefining Beauty Standards for a Healthier Relationship with Aging with Registered Dietitian Deb Benfield

The Air We Breathe: Finding Well-Being That Works for You

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Today on the podcast, I am joined by Deb Benfield, a Registered Dietitian with over 35 years of experience. Deb focuses on supporting women in healing their relationships with their bodies, food, and movement.

In this episode, we will discuss:

• The idea of "letting yourself go" as you age.
• Control and knowing that letting go of that control will allow you to trust your body again.
• Some pros and cons of intuitive eating, how it may not be a solution for every person, and how it is more nuanced.
• Diet culture rules and rules of aging, and testing the boundaries of breaking those rules.

Deb also shared some physical and mental shifts to lessen the impact of diet culture. First, the idea of "what happens when you stop looking at your body and start to live in your body," what clothing feels good, what movement feels good, etc. And second, "trying to stay connected to taste when you're making choices about your food," slowing down to really taste your food and ask yourself what you actually enjoy eating.
Bio:

Deb invites you to blaze a liberating new path to a respectful, nurturing relationship with your aging body. She has helped hundreds of women heal their relationship with food, eating, and their bodies in her more than 35-year career as a Registered Dietitian/Nutritionist and Registered Yoga Teacher specializing in preventing and treating disordered eating. Now in her 60s, she focuses her research, training, passion, clinical, and lived experience on the intersection of pro-aging and body liberation.
Her work is rooted in helping you:

•Shift your relationship with your body from your life’s project to your life partner

•Nourish your body in midlife and beyond to support growing older in alignment with your values

•Recognize internalized ageism and end it

•Untangle from diet/wellness culture mess

•See midlife and beyond as a time of Emergence and Authenticity

Deb centers accessible practices so you can apply principles to your daily life and experience true transformation.

She offers 1:1 coaching, small group coaching, a membership community, and professional consultation. She also founded Body in Mind Nutrition, a group practice of big-hearted and highly skilled Registered Dietitians specializing in weight-neutral care and treating eating disorders. Deb is also a lover of rivers, words, and her kids and grandkids. She is currently envisioning life as a semi-nomad.
Resources:

• Dacy Gillespie - Mindful Closet @mindfulcloset

Kapitel

1. Challenging Diet Culture and Embracing Aging (00:00:00)

2. Understanding Trauma and Developing Self-Compassion (00:16:49)

3. Mindset Shift and Body Relationship Practices (00:28:43)

4. The Importance of Positive Aging (00:40:29)

5. Aging and Upsetting Wellness Trends (00:49:49)