In this solo episode, Leah talks about why it can feel so hard to figure out what to eat when you’re coming from a history of dieting.

She outlines some of the main obstacles she sees clients running into, and then offers a solution for how to transition into intuitive eating without feeling like you’re free falling.

She gets into:

• Why figuring out what to eat is likely a muscle you haven’t strengthen
• How loosing the structure of dieting can feel destabilizing and overwhelming.
• The obstacle of knowing what sounds good but not knowing how to reconcile that with what would feel good in your body.
• The missing nutrition education necessary to be able to make informed eating decisions.
• A brand new tool Leah created to give you gentle structure in figuring out what to eat, without rigid diet rules.

👉 ENROLL IN WHAT TO EAT, a workshop on August 10th, 2026

More From Leah:

• 📚Download your free Intuitive Eating Starter Pack
• Apply to The Embodied Method, my 1:1 coaching program
• Join my self-paced course, The Return
• Subscribe to Leah's Youtube Channel
• Subscribe to my personal Substack
• Follow me on Instagram for more intuitive eating content @leahkern.rd
• Visit my website to learn more about my coaching offerings
• Subscribe to my weekly newsletter to get a nugget of intuitive eating inspiration delivered straight from my heart to your inbox each week.
• Send me a voice message on Speakpipe
• Email me: Leah@leahkernrd.com

🍽️ Are you overwhelmed by figuring out what to eat without the structure of diet rules? Enroll in our upcoming live workshop, WHAT TO EAT, on August 10th @ 3pm PT. Use code PODCAST at checkout to get $7 off.

In this episode of Shoulders Down, Leah sits down with Ragen Chastain, speaker, researcher, board-certified patient advocate, and leading voice in the fields of weight science, weight stigma, and healthcare.

Ragen shares her personal journey from years of chronic dieting and an eating disorder to becoming a weight-inclusive health advocate. She explains what happened when she conducted an extensive review of the weight loss literature and discovered that the evidence did not support many of the claims she had been taught to believe.

Together, Leah and Ragen explore the intersection of weight science, healthcare, and stigma, unpacking why weight-inclusive care is an evidence-based approach and how weight-centered healthcare can create harm for patients in larger bodies.

You’ll hear about:

• Ragen's experience with dieting, weight cycling, and eating disorder recovery
• Common misconceptions about weight science and healthcare
• The impact of weight stigma on patient care
• How Ragen became involved in fat activism and weight-inclusive healthcare advocacy
• What healthcare providers often get wrong about weight and health
• The growing influence of GLP-1 medications and how they are being marketed

More From Ragen:

• Newsletter: Weight and Healthcare
• Health at Every Size® Health Sheets
• Blog: Dances With Fat
• Instagram: @ragenchastain

More From Leah:

• 📚Download your free Intuitive Eating Starter Pack
• Apply to The Embodied Method, my 1:1 coaching program
• Join my self-paced course, The Return
• Subscribe to Leah's Youtube Channel
• Subscribe to my personal Substack
• Follow me on Instagram for more intuitive eating content @leahkern.rd
• Visit my website to learn more about my coaching offerings
• Subscribe to my weekly newsletter to get a nugget of intuitive eating inspiration delivered straight from my heart to your inbox each week.
• Send me a voice message on Speakpipe
• Email me: Leah@leahkernrd.com

🍽️ Are you overwhelmed by figuring out what to eat without the structure of diet rules? Enroll in our upcoming live workshop, WHAT TO EAT, on August 10th @ 3pm PT. Use code PODCAST at checkout to get $7 off.

In this episode, I respond to and unpack some of the most common comments I received after the viral Jillian Michaels vs. Body Positivity debate video was published.

I’ll be honest: it took me a long time to record this episode. Reading through hostile and misinformed comments is unpleasant. But I ultimately decided this conversation was worth having, because the comments reveal deep misunderstandings about weight, health, and what ethical nutrition care actually looks like.

In this episode, I cover:

• Why I said that I believe its unethical to encourage weight los ( and how this differs from judging people who choose to pursue weight loss.
• The flawed assumption that a dietitian’s role is to control someone’s body size
• Why weight is not a measure of health
• The criticism I received from fellow dietitians and why this hurt the most

Mentioned in the episode:

• Behind the Scenes of the "Jillian Michaels vs Body Positivity" Debate with Edie Stark
• We Watched The Jillian Michaels Debate Back... And Had Thoughts with Edie Stark
• Unpacking the Viral Jubilee Body Positivity Debate with Marcy Guevara
• You're Not Wrong For Desiring Weight Loss
• 5 Reasons Why Your Weight Doesn't Determine Your Health

🍽️ Are you overwhelmed by figuring out what to eat without the structure of diet rules? Enroll in our upcoming live workshop, WHAT TO EAT, on August 10th @ 3pm PT. Use code PODCAST at checkout to get $7 off.