Shows
Dr. Marianne-Land: An Eating Disorder Recovery PodcastBiases Against Atypical Anorexia: Why the Label Fails UsWhat if your body size determined whether or not doctors believed you had anorexia? In this solo episode of Dr. Marianne-Land: An Eating Disorder Recovery Podcast, Dr. Marianne Miller, LMFT, challenges the diagnosis of atypical anorexia and reveals why this label fails people who deserve to be taken seriously.
This category is not about atypical symptoms. It is about anti-fat bias. People in larger bodies who restrict food, obsess about weight, and experience medical complications are often told they cannot truly have anorexia because they do not look emaciated. This episode explains why that belief is harmful...
2025-10-0812 minDr. Marianne-Land: An Eating Disorder Recovery PodcastAtypical Anorexia Recovery on Ozempic: One Woman’s Story of Self-Compassion & Nourishment With Amanda Martinez Beck @thefatdispatchAuthor and fat liberation advocate Amanda Martinez Beck @thefatdispatch joins me to share what it’s like to navigate eating disorder treatment while taking a GLP-1 medication for diabetes care. She opens up about her lived experience with atypical anorexia in a larger body, the challenges of muted hunger cues on Ozempic, and how she’s learning to embrace nourishment with compassion. This conversation highlights the nuance of recovery, the complexities of body change, and the importance of choosing curiosity over judgment.
CONTENT CAUTION
This episode discusses eating disorders, fat stigma, and experiences with GLP-1 medications. Please take...
2025-09-2228 minDr. Marianne-Land: An Eating Disorder Recovery PodcastAtypical Anorexia Explained: Why Restriction Happens at Every Body SizeIn this solo episode, Dr. Marianne Miller, LMFT, breaks down the reality of atypical anorexia and challenges the damaging myth that only thin people struggle with restrictive eating. Despite the name, atypical anorexia is far from rare—and for many people in mid-sized and fat bodies, it goes undetected, misdiagnosed, or even encouraged by medical providers because of weight stigma.
Dr. Marianne explores why restriction is deeply harmful regardless of body size, and shares research showing that at least 50% of people who meet anorexia criteria are not in bodies typically identified as anorexic. She also explains how ne...
2025-07-1813 minDr. Marianne-Land: An Eating Disorder Recovery PodcastWhat Is Atypical Anorexia? Challenging Weight Bias in Eating Disorder Treatment With Emma Townsin, RD @food.life.freedomLet’s be real: there’s nothing atypical about “atypical anorexia.” In fact, it’s one of the most common eating disorder presentations—and yet it’s still misunderstood, misdiagnosed, and too often ignored. In this episode, I’m joined by Registered Dietitian and eating disorder specialist Emma Townsin (@food.life.freedom) to break down what atypical anorexia actually is, why the name is a problem, and how weight stigma keeps so many people from getting the care they deserve.
We talk about what happens when restrictive eating shows up in people who don’t fit the “textbook” thin ideal...
2025-04-2235 min
Not Your Therapist#14 Self-Worth, Diet Culture, and Breaking Free from Food Guilt with Emma TownsinSend us a textYour Body Isn’t the Enemy—It’s Fighting for YouDiet culture has fed us a lie: that thinness equals health, worth, and discipline. But what if everything you’ve been taught about food and your body is wrong? Specialist eating disorder dietitian Emma Townsin is here to flip the script on restrictive diets, emotional eating, and why your body isn’t sabotaging you—it’s actually trying to keep you alive.From childhood, we absorb sneaky messages linking thinness to morality—through cartoons, movies, casual co...
2025-03-2436 minDr. Marianne-Land: An Eating Disorder Recovery PodcastWhy Diets Don't Work & How to Repair Our Relationship With Food With Emma Townsin, RD @food.life.freedom
I'm talking with registered dietitian Emma Townsin about the real reasons diets don’t work and what it takes to truly repair our relationship with food. Emma sheds light on the traps of diet culture, why restriction backfires, and how we can build a more compassionate, satisfying approach to eating. If you’re ready to leave behind dieting for good and discover a way to connect with food that feels freeing and sustainable, this conversation is for you.
ABOUT EMMA TOWNSIN, RD
Emma supports her clients to take the stress out of food. Emma's unique meth...
2024-10-2937 min
Food & Life Freedom with Emma TownsinS2 E12. How body respect can help overcome emotional eating and feeling stressed around foodStressful emotional eating issues often stem from issues with our body. In this episode we will explore
What body respect is
How a poor relationship with your body can trigger emotional eating
How to work with your body from a body respect approach
So you can feel good around food!
For more support, join the Anti-Diet Guide to Overcoming Emotional Eating online course. With lessons, exploratory activities and practical tools to feel good around food into 2024 and beyond!
_____________
I'm Emma Townsin, a Registered Dietitian, a Certified Intuitive Eating Coun...
2023-12-1927 minFood & Life Freedom with Emma TownsinS2 E11. How to cope with diet culture during the holiday seasonThe holidays is no holiday for diet culture. These 3 steps can help you stay grounded and confident in your own body and avoid being drawn back into dieting.
For more support, join the Anti-Diet Guide to Overcoming Emotional Eating online course. With lessons, exploratory activities and practical tools to feel good around food into 2024 and beyond!
_____________
I'm Emma Townsin, a Registered Dietitian, a Certified Intuitive Eating Counsellor and founder of Food Life Freedom. I support you to stop
out-of-control emotional eating, binge eating and feeling stressed over food... without falling i...
2023-12-1306 minFood & Life Freedom with Emma TownsinS2 E10 Body acceptance while living with a chronic illness or condition with Grace HamnerGrace and I discuss how navigating chronic body symptoms and chronic illness can negatively impact on our body image. And how easily this can spiral in dieting, disordered eating or an eating disorder.
Grace wonderfully weaves her story of navigating
MCAS (Mast Cell Activation Syndrome) and vulvodynia into her professional knowledge as we explore body image as more than just our appearance but our sense of self and body trust. She shares some support and tips for how to improve body image for those navigating a chronic condition.
About...
2023-12-061h 18Food & Life Freedom with Emma TownsinS2 E9. How to reject the diet mentality for good with Krista BeckKrista and I discuss the first principle of intuitive eating - rejecting the diet mentality. We explore why we can feel stuck dieting, how to spot sneaky "not-a-diet" diets and the first steps you can take to move away from dieting to make space to become an intuitive eater.
About Krista
Krista Beck is a Registered Dietitian, Certified Intuitive Eating Counselor and dieter turned intuitive eater. After struggling with her own disordered eating, Krista has made it her mission to expose diet culture for what it really is and help as many women as...
2023-11-2935 minFood & Life Freedom with Emma TownsinS2 E8. Overeating, binge eating or emotional eating. What's the difference?Experiencing stressful eating is more common than we realise but we don't talk about it enough!
This episode we will explore
The difference between overeating, binge eating and emotional eating
Why you might experience stressful or eating out-of-control
Some tips to start feeling good around food
___
Get more support in the Anti-diet guide to overcoming emotional eating - learn more here!
__
I'm Emma Townsin, a Registered Dietitian and Certified Intuitive Eating Counsellor.
I support you to move away from lifelong dieting, emotional eating and other stressful eating...
2023-11-2229 minFood & Life Freedom with Emma TownsinS2 E7. A non-diet approach to health during midlife and menopause with Sherry PrattToday Sherry and I discuss the challenges many women face while navigating midlife and menopause while living in a diet culture. From navigating emotions, weight changes, life changes and our society's erasure of aging women, there can be a lot to process and accept which can for some lead us toward dieting as a way to try control a changing internal and external world. Sherry shares some non-diet support and tips for those approaching or navigating this time of life.
About Sherry Pratt
Sherry is a certified coach and trained intuitive eating counselor. She left an accomplished...
2023-11-1556 minFood & Life Freedom with Emma TownsinS2 E6. Self care for binge eating with Toni RuddBinge eating is very common, although if we are struggling with out-of-control eating, it might not feel like it. It is a topic we don't talk about much in our culture.
Toni and I are here to change that and take the shame and stigma out of binge eating. We explore:
What binge eating is
Why we might develop binge eating
What we can do to start feeling good around food
Toni Rudd is a Specialist Binge Eating Dietitian. From the UK, she now works online with women all over the world...
2023-11-0848 minFood & Life Freedom with Emma TownsinS2 E5. Why mind-body connection is so important for intuitive eatingDieting tells you your body cannot be trusted. It tells you your body is wrong and it's normal to feel in a fight between body and mind.
This is not true and we can feel at peace with food while supporting our bodies to feel their best. The key is having a strong mind-body connection.
We will cover:
what mind-body connection is
what it can tell us (and why this is important)
how you can improve your mind-body connection
____
For more support: Anti-diet guide to overcoming emotional eating online course. Learn...
2023-11-0125 minFood & Life Freedom with Emma TownsinS2 E4. Navigating postpartum body image with Raquel GriffinRaquel and I discuss body image after pregnancy and how societal pressures and "bounce back" culture can fuel poor body image and sometimes lead to a difficult relationship with food. Raquel shares really helpful tips for navigating body image in the postpartum phase.
About Raquel Griffin
Raquel (she/her) is a queer therapist, Registered Social Worker and Certified Intuitive Eating Counsellor based in the Canadian Province of Nova Scotia. In her private practice she specialises in disordered eating, grief and supporting trans and non binary folks in accessing gender-affirming care.
...
2023-10-251h 01Food & Life Freedom with Emma TownsinS2 E3. What to do when you can't stop thinking about foodToday I am talking about what to do if you experience constant, obsessive or stressful thoughts about food. Often referred to as a lot of "food noise". I will talk through 5 reasons why food might be on your mind all the time. And, if you relate to this, I will offer some gentle steps you can take so food becomes less obsessive and more peaceful.
Here’s how to learn more from me, Emma Townsin (Registered Dietitian and Intuitive Eating Counsellor)
Instagram: @food.life.freedom
Website: www.foodlifefreedom.com
...
2023-10-1826 minFood & Life Freedom with Emma TownsinS2 E2. Communicating Intuitive Eating with men with Jeff AshJeff and I discuss why intuitive eating and body acceptance messages don't always resonate with men and how we can communicate intuitive eating in a way that is better understood by men. This can help men access support and male partners can be better able to support an intuitive eating journey.
About Jeff Ash
Jeff is a nutritionist, Intuitive Eating Coach, personal trainer, and host of the Men's Intuition Podcast where he seeks to encourage other men (and women) to transform their relationship with food, exercise, and body all without restriction, guilt, or shame...
2023-10-111h 03Food & Life Freedom with Emma TownsinS2 E1. Body shame and distress during weight changes with Amanda MittmanAmanda and I discuss why we can feel body shame and distress around our body especially during periods of life when our body goes through changes. Amanda shares really helpful tips and support to navigate body shame and distress and develop a positive relationship with food and body.
About Amanda Mittman
Amanda is a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist, Certified Intuitive Eating Counselor and Body Image Coach. Amanda knows that people and especially women, feel so much shame around their bodies. It is Amanda’s mission to talk about this topic without shame, guilt, or...
2023-10-0451 minFood & Life Freedom with Emma TownsinS2 Trailer. The non-diet and intuitive eating podcastI'm back for season 2!
I'm Emma Townsin, a UK Registered Dietitian and a Certified Intuitive Eating Counsellor. The Food & Life Freedom Podcast is back to help you explore your relationship with food and body, to overcome out-of-control eating such as binge or emotional eating and take the guilt out of food.
We are so much more complex and interesting than the diet-y messages and food rules make us out to be. When we start working with our bodies (rather than against them), we can find our food and life freedom!
2023-09-2701 minFood & Life Freedom with Emma TownsinS1 Bonus. Do you need a diet plan or intuitive eating?Today we have a bonus episode to explore a listener question. “How do I know if I need another diet plan or if I should try intuitive eating?”
We will look at the differences between following a diet plan compared with intuitive eating and explore the 6 signs to look out for that intuitive eating may be your path to finding food freedom.
So tune in to this 10 minute bonus episode that will help you break down what path you need to take to find food freedom.
Links:
Free e-bo...
2023-08-0210 min
AYMES Audio WavesHow to use the intuitive eating framework effectively. With Emma TownsinEmma Townsin, a UK Registered Dietitian, Certified Intuitive Eating Counsellor, is back for part 2 of her discussion with Priya about intuitive eating. In this episode, we discuss how to use the framework effectively, pulling on two patient case studies to give top tips on providing support to patients with an intuitive eating approach.
2023-07-3112 minFood & Life Freedom with Emma TownsinS1 E10. How to deal with emotional eating without dietingThis week we are exploring emotional eating. If you find yourself feeling out of control around food when big emotions come up, this episode will support you with the steps you need to recover from emotional eating without turning to dieting.
We will cover:
Why we eat for emotional reasons
The positive role it can serve in your life
How to know when emotional eating is harmful
4 steps you can take to deal with stressful emotional eating.
So tune in to this 15 minute jam-packed episode for a new direction in how to support emotional eating...
2023-07-1915 minAYMES Audio WavesWhat is intuitive eating? With Emma TownsinFor this episode, we're joined by Emma Townsin, a UK Registered Dietitian, Certified Intuitive Eating Counsellor and owner of Food Life Freedom, to chat about everything intuitive eating.
2023-07-1710 minFood & Life Freedom with Emma TownsinS1 E9: Stress and our gut health with Nickie HursthouseHow does stress and your nervous system influence your gut symptoms? If you experience IBS or gut symptoms, it can be tempting to turn straight to food. But, as we will learn, the gut responds to much more than just food.
We will cover:
1. What is stress and why we need to stop trying to "reduce" it
2. How stress can impact the gut with both physical and nervous system changes
3. When to try food modifications and when to explore your nervous system responses
4. What you can do to reduce...
2023-07-1249 minFood & Life Freedom with Emma TownsinS1 E8. What does it mean to be healthy?Today, we are exploring what it really means to be “healthy”? Is health a personal responsibility? And how much impact does diet and exercise really have on our health? By understanding what makes you feel healthy, rather than what our culture says should be healthy, you can prioritise the areas of your health and wellbeing that really matter to you.
This episode is an exploration, from my own personal perspective looking into the current research and knowledge we have of what it really means to be healthy and how this differs from our common cultural perceptions of heal...
2023-07-0516 minFood & Life Freedom with Emma TownsinS1 E7. What is Diet Culture?Today we are exploring diet culture and how it relates to principle 1 of Intuitive Eating - rejecting the diet mentality. We will explore what diet culture is,
the 6 most common lies we are told about food and bodies and how we can actively start rejecting diet culture.
Exploring and letting go of diet culture is the number one step to finding a peaceful and easy relationship with food and your body so this is a must listen episode as you start becoming an intuitive eater.
Today's episode is brought to you by...
2023-06-2815 minFood & Life Freedom with Emma TownsinS1 E6. How to start Intuitive Eating with Ela LawI speak with Ela Law, Nutritionist and Certified Intuitive Eating Counsellor about how to let go of weight loss dieting and get started with Intuitive Eating.
We explore why dieting has become about acceptance and safety rather than health, how our sense of identity fits in with becoming an intuitive eater and the most important first steps to take to become an intuitive eater.
...
Ela's work focuses on supporting people in healing their relationship with food and learning to accept and respect their bodies. Ela uses Intuitive Eating and Body Acceptance work as...
2023-06-2144 minFood & Life Freedom with Emma TownsinS1 E5. The 10 principles of intuitive eatingWhat are the 10 principles of intuitive eating? As a Dietitian and Certified Intuitive Eating Counsellor, I see many myths and just plain innacurate information about intuitive eating. So, to bust through this, let's break down the principles to learn how intuitive eating really helps you to stop feeling stressed over food and feel good in your body.
Today's episode is brought to you by Reclaiming Your Food Freedom, an online course with all the tools and support you need to stop stressing over food. Learn how you can fast track your journey to feel...
2023-06-1420 minFood & Life Freedom with Emma TownsinS1 E4. What is intuitive eating?Today, we are exploring intuitive eating! What it is, how it can support a positive relationship with food AND with healthy eating, and I'll share my best tips to get started with intuitive eating.
We will discuss:
why body trust and connection is so important for intuitive eating
our innate processes that naturally guide our eating
how our cultural food and body ideals create a disconnect with our body
how a disconnect drives disordered eating behaviours such as emotional eating and binge eating
what eating can feel like as an intuitive eater
my top 3 tips to...
2023-06-0715 minFood & Life Freedom with Emma TownsinS1 E3. Non diet approach for PCOS with Cordula HenggelerToday I am joined Registered Dietitian and PCOS expert Cordula Henggler. Cordula shares her knowledge and helpful advice about how you can support your body to manage PCOS (Polycystic Ovary Syndrome) symptoms without diets and food restriction.
PCOS is a health condition heavily impacted by dieting and weight loss advice. But, as we discuss, this advice is rarely helpful and can cause a lot of harm to relationship with food and management of PCOS symptoms. There are many non-diet food and lifestyle changes that can help manage PCOS symptoms and support a healthy relationship with food and...
2023-05-3145 minFood & Life Freedom with Emma TownsinS1 E2. The problem with weight loss dieting for "health"."I don't want to diet but I need to lose weight for health, what should I do?"
Today we discuss how you can work towards health goals or health improvements without falling into the diet cycle trap. We discuss what the research actually says about weight loss diets and health improvements, why we are constantly told to "just lose weight" (as if it's that simple) and what you can do for your health and general wellbeing.
And importantly, even if you feel stuck in a diet cycle but feel a pressure to continue because you "...
2023-05-2416 min
Food & Life Freedom with Emma TownsinS1 E1. Why weight loss diets don't workIn this first episode we are exploring the biological changes that happen in your body when you weight loss diet so you can take away the guilt and shame you might have felt towards your body if you have not been able to stick with a diet. You don't fail a diet, a diet fails you!
And importantly, even if you relate to these symptoms, it is possible to feel good around food and in your body so follow for future episodes where you can learn how.
Today's episode is brought to you by Reclaiming...
2023-05-1712 min
Food & Life Freedom with Emma TownsinSeason 1 Trailer - The Intuitive Eating and Anti-Diet podcastFood Life Freedom explores our relationship with food and the connection with nutrition, our physical health and our mental wellbeing. With your host Emma Townsin, a Registered Dietitian and Intuitive Eating Counsellor you will explore a new perspective that aims to take away the guilt and shame we so often feel towards food and our bodies so we can truly focus on the health and self care behaviours that work for us.
We explore the latest on why diets don't work and our cultural obsession with weight loss and dive into topics we rarely...
2023-05-1701 min
The Happiness Challenge#44 Joy of Food &Happiness: How to overcome emotional eating with Emma TownsinFood plays a direct role in more than just providing nutrients to our body, it also is a key component in our social life allowing us to celebrate beautiful moments with our friends and family.However, we live in the world where we are given mixed messages around food: we are told how much to eat, what to eat, and even what times to eat. These can lead us to feel shame, guilt and confusion. In this episode, Klaudia invited Emma Townsin who is a registered dietitian and a certified intuitive eating counsellor to share h...
2022-05-2427 min
NutritalkS2E9 How Under-eating is Preventing you From Getting Lean & StrongIn the 9th episode of Season 2, I speak with personal trainer, strength coach and accredited sports nutritionist Aoife McAuliffe
Aoife and I discuss:
Aoife’s journey to becoming a professional health and fitness expert
Why being just a personal trainer wasn’t enough to truly help her clients
Eating more and getting leaner!?
Training smarter not harder
Action steps to move from food restriction to food freedom
We also explore why it might be better to adopt a more flexible style to your dietary patterns, and how reverse dieting can enable you to eat more but s...
2022-01-0456 minNutritalkS2E2 Intuitive Eating - Emma Townsin (RD)In the second episode of series two, I speak to registered dietitian Emma Townsin @food.life.freedom
We discuss:
Emma's professional journey
Intuitive eating
Weight stigma
Health at every size (HAES)
Food stress
Finding food freedom
Emma is a Certified Intuitive Eating Counsellor and HAES aligned practitioner - she is held accountable for providing non-diet and inclusive health care to people in all bodies. After graduating from Deakin University, Australia in 2012, Emma has worked in Clinical Dietetics across hospitals in Australia and the UK in both the NHS and private settings.
...
2021-09-2757 min
How to Thrive: Mind & Body Wellbeing for the Modern WomanFinding food freedom with Emma TownsinThis week on the All Things Food podcast host Nickie Hursthouse talks to Emma Townsin a UK Registered Dietitian and Certified Intuitive Eating Counsellor. Emma is the founder of Food Life Freedom where she works with women to overcome a stressful relationship with food and the body to find freedom in life.The episodes covers:Emma’s journey as a dietitian into the world of non-diet approachesWhat intuitive eating isHow we lose the connection with our body over timeThe effect our food talk...
2021-05-0435 min
Body Truth with Katelyn Parsons058. Taking Up Space With Intuitive Eating Dietitian Emma TownsinIn this episode we sit down with....Emma Townsin
Emma is a UK registered dietitian and a certified intuitive eating counselor. She acknowledges the complex nature of health and the equal importance of both physical and mental wellbeing. She works with women to overcome a stressful relationship with food and body to find freedom in life.
A snippet of what we talk about:
● Emma’s personal body image story- identity in being small and hyper-focused on her BMI
● The fear of taking up space and using her body to byp...
2021-04-0658 min
Love Your Food, Love Yourself, Love Your Life7. Promotion of weight loss promotes weight stigma which can cause harm with Emma Townsin, UK Registered DietitianUK Registered Dietitian joins to discuss what is weight stigma, how it shows up in healthcare, and how it can be harmful and not just emotionally harmful. She also shares her story about being on the fence of either promoting weight loss or promoting health improvement and how she wanted to be in the middle, but after seeing the harm that can be done and through research, the answer is quite clear that a provider cannot be in the middle and she has found it most impactful to focus on health improvements to improve health (how novel right?).
2021-04-0437 min