Gluten Free Engineer - Making Gluten Free Easy

Beyond Restriction: Intuitive Eating While Gluten-Free with Katy Harvey

• Carrie Saunders • Episode 20

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Have you ever wondered if it's possible to practice intuitive eating when you medically can't eat certain foods? In this enlightening conversation with Katy Harvey, non-diet dietitian and intuitive eating specialist, we explore the complex relationship between necessary dietary restrictions and a healthy relationship with food.


Resources to Support Your Journey

For those interested in learning more about intuitive eating while managing necessary dietary restrictions, Katy recommended joining her Facebook group "Intuitive Eating Made Easy" or exploring her courses "Stepping Off the Dieting Rollercoaster" and "Non-Diet Academy." These resources provide structured support for rebuilding a healthy relationship with food, even when medical conditions require certain limitations.


Save money, and no more guessing for dinner!  Use code GFE to get 20% off annual membership at thedinnerdaily.com. Plan meals for less than $4/month and save money at the grocery store!

Come join us in our free Facebook Community, The Gluten Free Engineer. 

It’s a space where you can connect with others living gluten-free, ask questions, swap tips and recipes, and get support from people who truly get it. Whether you’re newly diagnosed or a seasoned gluten-free pro, you’ll feel right at home.

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Carrie Saunders:

Quick reminder before we get started on this episode this podcast is based on my personal experiences and isn't medical advice. Today, I'm so excited to bring you a powerful and encouraging conversation with Katie Harvey, a non-diet dietician, intuitive eating expert and host of the Rebuilding your Trust With your Body podcast. Katie helps women break free from diet culture, stress less about food and make peace with their bodies. In this episode, we're diving into the intersection of intuitive eating and the gluten-free lifestyle, because, yes, you can honor your health, eat the foods you love and feel good about your body all at the same time. We'll talk about how going gluten-free can affect your relationship with food, common mistakes people make when they start eating gluten-free, and how to approach nutrition without falling into a diet mentality. If you've ever felt overwhelmed by what you should or shouldn't eat or wondered if intuitive eating is even possible when you have to be gluten-free, this episode is for you. Welcome to the Gluten-Free Engineer Podcast. I'm your host, k Saunders.

Carrie Saunders:

In 2011, I was diagnosed with celiac disease a moment that changed everything, but I was determined not to let it hold me back. With my two engineering degrees, I set out to reverse engineer the gluten-free lifestyle, breaking down recipes, safety tips, travel hacks and everything in between to rebuild a life I love. Whether you have celiac disease, gluten intolerance or simply choose to live gluten-free, this podcast is for you. Join me each week as we simplify the gluten-free lifestyle, make it fun and prove that you don't have to miss out on anything. Welcome back to the show. Today we have a special guest with us. Her name is Katie Harvey and she is a Midwest girl, a non-diet dietitian and the host of Rebuilding your Trust with your Body podcast. She specialized in intuitive eating and helping women ditch and dieting. So welcome to the show today, katie. I'm so glad to have you on our podcast.

Katy Harvey:

Oh my gosh, I'm so thrilled to be here. I cannot wait for this conversation.

Carrie Saunders:

So tell us a little bit more about you. I've, you know, gave a little brief introduction, but I know there's more behind, katie, so tell us a little bit more about you.

Katy Harvey:

Oh, of course, yeah.

Katy Harvey:

So I grew up in Iowa, I live in Kansas city and, as far as my background, I am a registered dietitian, but I always present myself to people as I'm a non-diet dietitian, because usually when people first hear dietitian, they're like, oh my gosh, you're going to put me on a diet, and they just think that that's basically all we do is put people on diets and help them lose weight, and so I take a very different approach.

Katy Harvey:

I take a non-diet approach because what we know is that dieting actually does not work long term for the vast majority of people. But I care very much about helping you honor your health and to feel good in your body and about your body, and so I focus a lot on our relationship with food and you know why we're eating, what we're eating, how we're feeling about it, how we're feeling about our bodies, and I do that through the lens of intuitive eating is kind of my shtick and it's my framework that I use with most of my clients. So, as far as my work, I have a private practice where I work with people individually, and then I have online courses and programs where I work with people from all across the world, which is so much fun.

Carrie Saunders:

So I love that you help people with their relationship with food, because I know our listeners are most of them are celiac or they're gluten intolerant for where they choose to be gluten-free for another health reason and it I even have a podcast episode a few episodes back about. You know, what does it do to you when you find that you have to, you know, be gluten free? It is. It can be a grieving process and anger behind it too. So I love that you come at it with a you know, a way that we're looking at a relationship with food, because I think that's really important, because we can be bitter on a situation like that or we could also, you know, just have an unhealthy relationship in a different direction. So what do you see the role that a diet culture plays in our relationship with this food?

Katy Harvey:

It's, it's so complicated and I would say I mean diet culture is so pervasive, like for all of us who are alive and breathing today. We were born into a world that already subscribed to the idea that thin is good and fat is bad, and our ideas about how to accomplish thinness and avoid fatness, have you know, they kind of ebb and flow. It's like, oh, low fat, but then we changed our mind. Oh, low carb, and now intermittent fasting, low fat, but then we changed our mind oh, low carb, and now intermittent fasting. And so the actual diets themselves are kind of a moving target. But that underlying premise that thinness means that you're being good, you're being healthy, you're being virtuous, you're being successful, and that fatness means the opposite of all of those things is kind of like the core belief system that diet culture is built around. And then what I have seen a lot in the past decade or so is the entering of wellness culture center stage. So now it's not always so much about oh, we need to go on a diet and lose weight, because a lot of people have caught on to the reality that diets don't really work and it's like well, this isn't a diet and lose weight, because a lot of people have caught on to the reality that diets don't really work and it's like, well, this isn't a diet, it's a lifestyle change. And now there's all these ideas of what we need to be doing to get healthy.

Katy Harvey:

And in my podcast I have this segment that I do I call it Wellness Woo where I'll break down these things that are just like pseudoscientific kind of nonsense or things where the claims have just been vastly over-exaggerated. And I actually see we can talk about this more if you want to. But I actually see the gluten-free recommendation a lot in the wellness woo space A million percent. There are times that people can benefit from or need to be avoiding gluten. There are also a lot of things where people are told they should do that and it's utter nonsense and it's not necessary. And I don't believe in doing unnecessary restrictions with food because I think that negatively impacts our relationship with food. So this diet culture thing and this wellness culture thing, I mean it's just so baked into everything all around us and it's hard to escape from it everything all around us and it's hard to escape from it.

Carrie Saunders:

I think it really is and I think also you know from from a little bit of what you said there is like sometimes that also makes it hard for those that do actually need to be gluten-free to be gluten-free safely, because people think it's just a fad that you're doing or something like that, or or you're trying to be special or you know. So that can really affect, I feel like, our psychology. With food especially those for celiac or those that need to be off of it for health reasons, it can be you can always feel like an outcast.

Katy Harvey:

Or that thing where it's like you know, people might be throwing around the the phrase gluten-free sort of loosely or saying that they are, that something they made is, but if they don't truly understand, like with celiac, what it means, that like you can't be cross contaminating or anything. And there's gluten free as far as kind of like more of the trend or like kind of the diety version of it. And then there's gluten free of like the protocol that needs to be followed medically and then there's, you know, kind of in between areas with that as well. But yeah, it can be sort of invalidating or even at times dangerous for people who truly need to be gluten-free.

Carrie Saunders:

Yes, I know I have gotten as a celiac gluten to accidentally, especially in the beginning when I didn't understand the protocol and or my friends or family didn't understand. You know the protocol of the cross contact or cross contamination and you know I would get sick from it or one of my kids would get sick from it, who also are celiac too. So I know, as a dietitian, what do you see, some of the biggest mistakes and misconceptions people have about going gluten free. We kind of touched on a little bit, but can you go a little deeper there?

Katy Harvey:

I think one of the biggest ones is the idea that being gluten-free is just inherently a healthier lifestyle.

Katy Harvey:

It's the way that it's talked about in culture implies that if you're not eating gluten, that you're like trying to be healthier, and so then you know, the unspoken part of that is that, oh, that must mean gluten is unhealthy.

Katy Harvey:

And for a lot of people, if you ask them, like, what is gluten, they have no idea but they're avoiding it right, and so I like to tell people that, okay, if you're not eating gluten, that doesn't make your diet inherently healthier. And in fact, a lot of people who cut gluten now it's like what they end up eating is not necessarily giving them the balance and variety and nutrition that they need. So I think that's one thing is just this global assumption that it's a healthy lifestyle in and of itself that we should all be striving for, as if gluten is somehow bad for us, just universally as humans, which it's not. Yes, there are some people whose bodies don't react well to it, but that doesn't mean that everybody should be avoiding it or trying to minimize it for any reason. So I think that that's sort of the biggest global misunderstanding that I see in the gluten-free space.

Carrie Saunders:

Well, and what I found, too, is that a lot of people who go gluten-free whether it's because they have to or not they replace those gluten items with gluten-free processed food too, and I talk about that on our podcast. That's not necessarily healthier. You're going to be much healthier if you're replacing it with whole foods that are naturally gluten-free and you're eating a variety of fruits and vegetables and you know proteins and things like that that are actually are, you know, naturally gluten-free. And replacing that donut that's, you know, that has full of gluten with a gluten-free donut is not any better, unless you medically need it.

Katy Harvey:

And I think so many people think like oh, this gluten-free donut like this is more virtuous than a regular donut. I mean, really, they're basically the same thing. Otherwise, you know, it's like not a significant swap really.

Carrie Saunders:

Right, yeah, and I even and I talk about sometimes, and I'm sure you can probably back this up too that many that gluten foods are fortified with certain minerals that we tend to not eat in America because we're not eating.

Katy Harvey:

An important point. Yeah, I mean I think about like a lot of the gluten containing foods. They are fortified with B vitamins, folate, sometimes iron even, which obviously we can get iron from meat and stuff, but like folate in particular, a lot of people do not get enough of, and one of our main sources of it um, a good example is breakfast cereal.

Carrie Saunders:

So then let's say that somebody does need to be gluten-free. They're listening to the podcast, they're celiac or they're gluten intolerant for some other reason. You know, maybe they have a gluten intolerance in general or they need to be off gluten because it helps a different autoimmune disease. How would you recommend getting those vitamins that are not in these four? You know our foods aren't fortified with them, so how would you recommend getting those vitamins? Would it be through supplementation or would it be through specific other foods that are naturally gluten-free?

Katy Harvey:

I lean more towards other foods when possible. There's time and place for supplements, but the vast majority of supplements that people take are a complete waste of money and big supplement you know, we all talk about big pharma.

Katy Harvey:

Big supplement is its own beast. It's a billion dollar industry, multi-billion dollar and a lot of it's basically a scam. It's so many people are just creating expensive pee for themselves through supplements and one of my issues with supplements is like okay, best case scenario they are treating a deficiency or keeping you from getting a deficiency and they're doing something positive for your health. Worst case scenario it's causing you actual harm and then the you know most of what happens is somewhere in between, where it's basically doing nothing or very little for you and people, because it's it's completely unregulated by any governing body like the FDA does not oversee it, so there is no guarantee. That's what. What is in those supplement bottles is actually what it says on the bottle or in that dose, or that there's not other things added. And that's an important point from a gluten standpoint, because some of those things can contain gluten that you may not be aware of and you have to pay attention for that. Supplements can also interact with medications, for example. So I caution people with supplements.

Katy Harvey:

Again, there is a time and place, absolutely, but I don't like to just sort of say let's replace food with supplements and not worry about the nutrition that we're eating, because there's also a lot of benefit to getting the nutrients from food, because when we're eating these foods we're also getting the other nutrients that come along with it in that food. So you're not just getting the single thing, like you would in a supplement. You're getting, like plant foods, for example, you're getting the other phytonutrients that are in there. You might be getting some fiber, which is really important. So when possible, to get it from food for sure. And then, if you're not getting enough, supplement is like. Let's think about what the word supplement means. It means to like in addition to, or to kind of make up for, not to replace.

Carrie Saunders:

I think that's a great point and I think a lot of people don't think about that and they just go for the quick fix, get that supplement, and I knew in my experience like supplements are sort of positioned as healthy, right, so it's the same thing.

Katy Harvey:

I'm being gluten-free and I'm taking all these supplements and I'm being so healthy.

Carrie Saunders:

Right. Well, and I know in my experience when I have had to supplement, if I really have to dig and find that supplement that is more bioavailable too than the ones that come from basically the pharmaceutical-ish type of companies where they're really concentrated in small pills and they don't actually have a bit more natural version of that vitamin within the pill. And many times I've found those supplements that I do actually notice a difference on. I have to take three or four pills across the whole day to actually get the nutrients and I actually can see a difference versus, you know, the ones that are just generic or you know, highly concentrated or something. They just aren't available.

Katy Harvey:

There's probably people listening who it's like, oh my gosh, they've got like their big, like cabinet full of supplements, or like their pill sorter, and it's like taking your supplements as a full-time job Cause you're like, okay, I've got to like stay on this schedule and I have to take this many of them, and it can become a lot to manage too.

Carrie Saunders:

It really can, and I feel like you know anybody listening who might be questioning you know, am I doing the right thing with supplementation?

Katy Harvey:

I encourage you to work with your doctor and a dietician like Katie, like as a dietician, a lot of times clients will send me their supplement list and they'll be like can you just help me sift through this and like tell me, ok, what should I be taking, what could I let go of? And we can usually whittle down a decent chunk of them and then there may be a few core ones that we keep. So that's a great use for a dietitian, because it's really our wheelhouse is to be able to look at those different micronutrients and stuff and other types of supplements as well, to kind of gauge like what's helping and not helping. And yes, we may need to kind of work with your doctor to figure out what would be necessary and safe medically.

Carrie Saunders:

Right, and I know that many supplements and some people listening may not understand this or know this. They need another vitamin with them to be more bioavailable, and that's something that a dietician like you can help them with. You know cause we absorb calcium better when we're have some of the other vitamins that naturally iron with vitamin C?

Katy Harvey:

Yeah, exactly.

Carrie Saunders:

Yeah, and so if you don't know what you're doing with supplementation, you could be, like you said, just wasting your money and wasting your time.

Katy Harvey:

Um, let me give you another example, too, of kind of the dark side, like my own mother at one point was taking green tea supplement. Green tea, it's so healthy. This supplement must be so healthy. It gave her liver damage. Her doctor's like why are your liver enzymes so high? And they were looking at everything she's taking. And, lo and behold, this green tea supplement was the culprit. And it turns out that's a fairly common thing that happens. So again, like, just because it's a supplement or it's natural or it's a, you know, a vitamin, it doesn't mean that it's safe. And also we have to consider what's the dosage and so many things. So I would encourage people to not just go willy nilly putting yourself on supplements, like do it with, with the expertise of somebody who knows what they're doing.

Carrie Saunders:

For sure, because you know we're not experts. You know most of us listening aren't experts in diet, nutrition and or a doctor. So I completely agree with you that checking with a dietician and and or your doctor in many times, especially the dietician, because sometimes the doctors don't have the time or resources to be looking into that unless they're more of a holistic doctor as well.

Katy Harvey:

So I feel like a lot of people don't realize that doctors in med school get almost zero nutrition. They might get like a three hour lecture on nutrition. It's a very minimal part of their training and so you know, just like I don't walk around pretending to be a surgeon or to know how to do that, I wish there's some doctors who are very good about saying, yes, please go see a dietician. But some doctors are just like given this off the wall nutrition advice and I'm like, okay, hold on. And and that's another thing to have like just because a doctor wrote a book, let's say it doesn't, that's about diet. It does not mean that that's actually sound advice, because it's really not their training, it's not necessarily their expertise, unless they do have additional training in nutrition.

Carrie Saunders:

Well then, let's go back to going gluten-free and how it affects our relationship with food. So maybe you can speak a little bit to more towards you know, those who are celiac or have to be gluten-free for other reasons. You know how can we help them, you know, have a good, healthy relationship and not feel what's the word I want to come up with Like where they feel mad or upset that they have to do this diet change and they have this you know, anger type of relationship with food because they're having to upheave their whole you know way of life and change their complete diet. So how do you help them repair that relationship with food whenever they do have to go off of gluten?

Katy Harvey:

Yeah, yeah, cause I think there's like different camps of people who end up gluten-free, where sometimes it's by it's kind of forced upon them with a diagnosis. And then there's just you know people maybe more by choice, and when it's by choice, a lot of times it feels more like a positive change in their life. Lot of times it feels more like a positive change in their life when it's when you get that celiac diagnosis, let's say, and it rocks your world and you're told you can't have gluten, and not only you can't have it like, or you know you can have a little bit of, and it's like no, like you can't have it. And you need to be pretty darn diligent about that. I you used the word grief earlier. It's a grieving process and people will often go through the stages of grief, maybe denial, anger, bargaining, depression and then ultimately acceptance. And it's so important that you're allowing yourself to experience each of those phases it's not necessarily going to go in that order, you might cycle back through some of them and that it's such a valid thing because it takes away a lot of the freedom that you have to just kind of go live life and do whatever.

Katy Harvey:

I'm thinking of this weekend my son's having his birthday party at this trampoline park. So the trampoline park is providing pizza and cookie cake. Well, if a celiac kid is coming to this party, they can't just eat pizza and cookie cake. So what do they do? Are they going to not come to the party? Are they going to come and bring their own food? Are they going to come and not eat?

Katy Harvey:

Like all three of those scenarios kind of suck, you know, and it's same for us as adults. Like it. It limits what you can choose at a restaurant. You may have times where you're inadvertently getting exposed and you're getting sick. I mean even the way you have to operate your kitchen. If you live with other people, you're going to have to have like a separate toaster or make sure you're not cross-contaminating and you're just having to think through so many things that most people don't have to think about deeply on a daily basis and that's a lot. So self-compassion for that like validating your experience and letting yourself acknowledge those emotions and affirm for yourself that of course this is hard, yes, this is hard, and it is an act of self-care to do what you need to do to take care of your body in that way.

Carrie Saunders:

Well, I think that you know I, as you were talking there you know it is such a mental load to have to be constantly thinking about how do I eat when I go to this place. There is pizza at a party and the kids have the pizza greasy fingers, and it goes everywhere and you know you end up touching a surface that they've got it and then you eat something gluten-free with your hands and boom, now you've got gluten a little bit, cause the pizza grease, I feel like, carries gluten like nothing else out there it is. It's like a gluten transformer. That grease just like carries it along. And so you know it's mentally taxing and I think we need to, like you said, give ourselves grace, especially once we've gotten past the grieving stages, and give ourselves grace. And that you know we have this higher mental load on ourselves whenever we are either celiac ourselves or need to be gluten-free for other medical reasons or our children are in our family. It's both.

Carrie Saunders:

We've all three of our children have it and I have it and, honestly, my dad was diagnosed with it, you know, and I found out after he passed away. He denied it for over 10 years and didn't tell anybody. His wife didn't even know. He didn't tell me. I told him to be tested. Both my parents, whenever I found out I had celiac in our kids too, they completely denied it until you know, until he passed. And I found it in his medical records after he passed. So denial is real. Wow, denial can be huge. Yeah, yes, denial and grief can be so real, for sure.

Katy Harvey:

I'd love to also speak to, or about the person who may have decided to cut out gluten as a byproduct of some issues in their relationship with food. So I work with a lot of folks who have disordered eating and eating disorders and this is a theme that I see over and over again people choosing to go gluten-free, essentially as a form of restriction, of trying to control their food and to be able to potentially lose weight, and it becomes sort of a way to maybe avoid things like cookies and brownies and pizza and things that they feel like they shouldn't be eating or that they don't deserve to eat. So it's like, well, if I just go gluten-free, then that kind of like takes care of that problem and they don't necessarily medically need to be gluten-free. And oftentimes for that individual part of healing their relationship with food and recovering from that disordered eating is going to be the reintroduction of gluten foods and making peace with those foods. And so I feel fairly certain that there may be some of those folks who are listening to this, and then you may have some folks who are kind of in between, who are like I thought I needed to be gluten free, but I don't have a diagnosis officially.

Katy Harvey:

Maybe I feel better when I don't eat it, but I guess I don't know for sure. Like, I've worked with a lot of those people who are sort of in between, and especially if you're having a lot of like GI issues and stuff, sometimes people are like is it the gluten, Because we hear so much about that, or is it dairy or whatever? And that's where, again, working with a dietician can be really helpful, because sometimes it's like once we kind of heal your gut and get things back in working order, people are surprised like oh, actually I can tolerate these things, that I didn't think that I could. And it might be sort of scary if they've been avoiding those foods because they feel guilty when they eat them. But once you make peace with food and you realize you don't have to cling on to all these restrictions, it's just like life is so much easier and you have so much more freedom and flexibility.

Carrie Saunders:

So well and the play off that. I know that for me, you know I'm I'm approaching 50s here soon. A lot of people are like you are like till 29. When I look at you, I'm like no, I'm actually 48. I look at you, I'm like, no, I'm actually 48.

Carrie Saunders:

But I know, for me, I struggle to lose some extra belly fat and being gluten-free I'm already, because I'm celiac, I'm already restricted on what I eat and you teach a lot about intuitive eating. So if somebody is listening and they have to be gluten-free and they do want to lose some weight but they don't want to diet because they realize, you know, they're older, like me and they realize, well, this doesn't actually, it only temporarily works and it doesn't really work long-term. How would you advise them to like, help them do intuitive eating so that they fuel their body appropriately, so they feel comfortable in their body and maybe lose a little bit of extra weight if they need to do that, but but real ultimately have a good relationship with food and and are just, you know, eating by intuition. What does that actually mean and how would somebody do that?

Katy Harvey:

Oh, absolutely. I'm like so excited because this is my wheelhouse, so I'm going to kind of break apart a few components of what you asked about. So the first aspect people will sometimes come to me and they'll say I'm interested in intuitive eating but I probably can't do that because I have to follow this like kind of medical type of dietary restriction, so in this case gluten. But I hear it a lot also from people with, like, diabetes or food allergies or whatever. So they'll say, like can I eat intuitively when I can't? Like I can't have a cupcake that has gluten in it if, intuitively, I want it? Like I'm not supposed to do that. So how is that intuitive eating? And my answer to that is yes, a million percent. We can follow dietary restrictions with intuitive eating. When we look at it through the lens, that part of eating intuitively is honoring your body's medical needs.

Katy Harvey:

A lot of people hear intuitive eating and they kind of misunderstand what it means. Some people think it means eat whatever you want whenever you want. That's not intuitive eating, that's impulsive eating. Some people think intuitive eating is just eat when you're hungry, stop when you're full, and hunger and fullness are part of it. Within the intuitive eating framework. There's 10 principles, and hunger and fullness are two of them, but that's 20%. The other 80% has a lot to do with how we think about food and health and nutrition and our bodies, and so we would think about okay, yes, we want to honor hunger and fullness, we want to choose satisfying foods. But also part of listening to your body is listening to your medical data, listening to the fact that if your body is saying it cannot tolerate gluten, then you should not be eating gluten, and so we would look at it as like that is listening to your body. And then, if you are craving things like desserts, let's find some gluten-free ways to incorporate those that are enjoyable for you. So there's that aspect that intuitive eating is still a beautiful framework, even when you have to have gentle nutrition modifications is what we call those.

Katy Harvey:

And then, when it comes to kind of like the body image stuff and like, well, what do I do if I know dieting doesn't work, but I kind of want to lose some weight? So I want to speak a little bit more to this concept that dieting doesn't work and what we mean by that. So what we know is that a person can go on pretty much any diet, it doesn't matter if it's the cookie diet, the cabbage soup diet, weight watchers, keto, intermittent fasting, whatever. You can go on any of them and you probably will lose some weight initially, but the problem is, within two to five years, about 95% of people have regained that weight and for two thirds of those people, they've regained more than they lost, which is what makes dieting itself the number one predictor of weight gain, not weight loss. So the other problem with that is when we yo-yo, when our weight goes up and down over and over again. We call it weight cycling, and that weight cycling itself is actually very hard on your body and your health and your metabolism, and weight cycling correlates with increased risk of heart disease and increased risk of early death. So when I tell people like we have got to get you off the dieting roller coaster, that is what I mean. We don't want to be yo-yoing up and down, so we want to look at how do you eat in a way that allows you to live life without feeling crazy and obsessed about food all the time, because when you're depriving yourself, that is what will happen. And how do you do that when you can also honor your health and maintain a stable body weight that is appropriate for your body and your genetics at this phase of life, because it does change throughout life.

Katy Harvey:

Sometimes I have people who are, you know, like in their 50s or even their 60s, who think that they should weigh what they did at like 25. And I'm like, okay, that's an unrealistic expectation. So, for women in particular, when we approach that menopause change where it's like puberty part two and our hormones are shifting, that's another wellness woo thing, by the way, is like all this hormone balancing stuff and preying on women who are perimenopausal is like all this hormone balancing stuff and preying on women who are perimenopausal of like here's my special diet program and supplements and exercises that are gonna get rid of your belly fat. It's utter nonsense, because part of what's happening when we go through menopause is we are experiencing a decrease in our estrogen production. Your ovaries are shutting down. You're not secreting estrogen.

Katy Harvey:

Well, your body loves estrogen and estrogen is good for your bones, it's good for your heart and that's why postmenopausal women are at higher risk for heart disease and osteoporosis, and so your body's actually really smart and it goes well. If my ovaries aren't giving me enough estrogen, is there another way to get some of it and turns out belly fat secretes estrogen. So this belly fat that we experience when we go through menopause is quite literally like your body taking care of you. It actually has some health benefits and it's often a futile effort to try and fight against it because your body's not going to want to get rid of it. So, as hard as it is because our culture does not like round bellies on women, or that belly pooch or however you want to think of it, it's very much seen as like not the aesthetic ideal.

Katy Harvey:

And then we hear all this stuff about the dangers of abdominal adipose tissue, blah, blah, blah. And you have to look at context and nuance with that. So you know when we're specifically talking about women, going through menopause like this is a very expected, normal and even beneficial change, and it can be so hard to tolerate and accept that. So I you know I never promise any of my clients weight loss. What I tell them is when you step away from dieting, when you want to make peace with food, when you want to have a positive relationship with your body and honor your health, you might gain weight, you might lose weight, you might stay the same.

Katy Harvey:

And what happens with your weight.

Katy Harvey:

Very much is going to depend on where you're currently at in relation to where your body kind of wants to be, and then it's also going to depend on how are things going as you're implementing intuitive eating, because a lot of people who wing it and try I call it DIYing it with intuitive eating they're like watching the YouTube videos and listening to the podcast they're implementing it incorrectly is maybe the most simple way to put it.

Katy Harvey:

I see a lot of the impulsive eating, just like, oh, I thought I was doing intuitive eating because I was eating whatever I wanted. Well, that's not listening to your body, that's just eating whatever pops into your head, or they're not really. They might be including some of the foods that they use to restrict when they're dieting, but they're still feeling guilty and they're still judging it and they're thinking of it as crap and junk and blah, blah, blah, and what that's doing is actually increasing the drive for overconsumption of those foods. So we've got to do the mental work as well. So, anyway, I mean that's a very long-winded answer to the complexities of that question, but I hope that this gives people something to really think about and that they can kind of see themselves in it too.

Carrie Saunders:

Um, I think that's really well explained, honestly, because I, you know, I came into this podcast interview not knowing much about what intuitive eating was, and so I love how you really broke that down and made it, um, you know, kind of a little bit more piece by piece and that it's there's a lot of mental to it which makes a lot of sense when you think about it, and that we need to listen to our bodies and listen to our brain some, but like not quite overdo it, kind of like how you're talking about where we can be overindulging instead. So I love how you really broke that down. So, for those listening who might be interested in more information about intuitive eating or getting a hold of you or connecting with you more, what are some best ways for them to reach out to you and learn more about intuitive eating and the services that you provide?

Katy Harvey:

Well, of course, I would love that, so probably the best place to come hang out would be my Facebook group. So I have a Facebook group called Intuitive Eating Made Easy and I am in there every day. I am currently the only admin, the only moderator, and it's a safe group. So I have a Facebook group called intuitive eating made easy and I am in there every day. I am currently the only admin, the only moderator, and it's a safe group. What I was telling people? I run a tight ship there. We don't do big drama or anything, and so it's a wonderful, supportive, compassionate community and I do a lot of you know, kind of mini trainings and education and resources in there. And, uh, for people who are on Instagram, you can always find me over there as well. I'm at Katie Harveyrd.

Carrie Saunders:

Nice, and then so do you also mentioned you have some courses, too, on this. What so? What are the courses that you have on intuitive eating?

Katy Harvey:

Yeah. So I have one uh, it's called stepping off the dieting rollercoaster, and that one is perfect for the person who's kind of like okay, I think I'm ready to not do the dieting thing anymore, but I'm also scared. Because I'm scared I'm going to gain weight and I think I might want to try this intuitive eating thing, but I don't know exactly what to do or how to do it like, kind of right from the get-go. It's perfect for that person because I show you how to make that transition without it going off the rails and that's kind of a mini course so you can get through it pretty quickly. And then my more robust 10-week program. It's a group coaching program and a course is called Non-Diet Academy and that's where we're getting in there and we're really kind of overhauling your entire relationship with food. We're healing your metabolism, we're implementing intuitive eating, we're looking at emotional eating and body image and your relationship with exercise. So if you're the person who's like I need the whole shebang, that would be more of where I would steer you.

Carrie Saunders:

I love that. I love how you really incorporate the mental aspect into it, because that is really, I feel like, the long-term way to be healthier with food is. You've got to heal that relationship, emotionally and mentally, with your food, so I love that you have a course that covers that? Yeah, Because it's that's one of the reasons why diets don't work, is it's just a bandaid?

Katy Harvey:

Yeah, you can white knuckle the behaviors for a while, and eventually your body's going to override that because it works against your biology, not with it, and so I, the way I frame it people's like let's learn how to work with your body instead, and that way it becomes something you can sustain for a lifetime.

Carrie Saunders:

That's great, so I really appreciate you having you on our show and teaching us a bit more about intuitive eating, and you know all the complexities that nutrition can be there when you have celiac or gluten intolerance. I appreciate you being on our show.

Katy Harvey:

Oh, absolutely, this was great. And I just want to say, like, what you are doing here is so important to have a space for these discussions and I know people who are trying to be gluten free. I mean, there's it's. It can be very overwhelming, it can be very lonely, and so to to be able to realize, okay, I'm not alone and there's a place to just have these conversations and to kind of process all of it and even getting new ideas and whatever. So I just, I want to, you know, kind of cheer you on, because I think you're doing incredible things. Thank you so much.

Carrie Saunders:

Katie. Wow, I hope you love that conversation with Katie as much as I did. She brings so much clarity and compassion to a topic that many of us struggle with, especially when you're navigating something like celiac disease or gluten intolerance. Here's a reminder You're allowed to enjoy food, you can be gluten-free without being stuck in food fear or diet rules, and you're worthy of feeling good in your body. If you want to hear more about Katie, be sure to check out her podcast Rebuilding Trust with your Body. It's full of practical advice and thoughtful encouragement for anyone looking to break free from diet culture and, as always, you can find more links to Katie and other resources at our website, theglutenfreeengineercom. And we will see you next week. The Gluten-Free Engineer podcast is for informational and entertainment purposes only. I share my personal experiences and stories about living with celiac disease and navigating a gluten-free lifestyle. This podcast does not provide medical advice. Always consult with a qualified healthcare professional for medical questions, concerns or advice specific to your health.

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