This week on my podcast Diet Culture Dropout I explore how diet culture comes up in pregnancy for women. Check out the full episode here.

Pregnancy and diet culture

These two are not a good mix! Being pregnant comes with a whole host of feelings, uncertainty, body changes, and a side plate of diet culture. It is difficult for pregnant women to navigate in today’s body-obsessed world. Significantly when their bodies are changing constantly and the focused outcome of pregnancy is “producing” the healthiest baby possible. Hello, constant mom guilt and body shame. For some women, this is where their disordered eating behaviours begin.

Ways diet culture comes up in pregnancy

Join my conversation with Sam Thomas a Dietitian located in British Columbia. She specializes in pre and post-partum maternal health. We unpack how diet culture comes up in pregnancy from:

• our cultural norms and standards for pre/postnatal bodies
• the medical office during pre and postnatal visits with an emphasis on weigh-ins
• well-meaning loved ones comments from partners, family, or strangers

 

Check out the full podcast episode

Listen to the full episode to hear us dig deeper in reviewing:

• The harms diet culture can have on mom and baby
• Helpful tips to minimize the narrative in pregnancy and motherhood
• Sam’s experience with diet culture impacted her life as a newlywed and skewing her perception of traditional cultural foods for her.

In the end…

Your pregnancy and your journey are unique to you. Making peace with your body changes and honouring your body’s hunger is deeply supportive. When you focus on what your body is doing verse on how it is changing it can help you focus on what is most important. Getting into the habit of retraining your brain from body dissatisfaction to focusing on positive things you bring to the world. Don’t let diet culture take away this special experience for you and your babe.

You can find out more about Sam on Instagram @samanthathomsrd or her website.

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