• Skip to main content
Body Kindness by Rebecca Scritchfield, RDN

Close x

  • home
  • what is body kindness?
  • why we need body kindness
  • what you can do here
  • why I gave up on dieting
  • book praise
  • body kindness kudos
  • media and press
  • freelance writing
  • contact
  • membership dashboard
  • About
    • Official Bio
    • Testimonials
    • Work With Me
    • FAQs
    • Selected Freelance Writing
    • Interviews with Rebecca
    • My Team
  • Shop
    • Online Courses
    • Body Kindness Support Groups
    • Professional Supervision
    • Order Books
    • Audiobook
    • Foreign Languages
    • Membership Login
  • Podcast
    • Got a question?
    • Books mentioned on the podcast
    • Anti-Racism
    • BIPOC Voices
    • Body Positivity & Fat Activism
    • COVID-19
    • Diet Culture
    • Eating Disorder Recovery
    • Election 2020
    • For Parents
    • Girls Health & Well-Being
    • Healing Trauma
    • Intuitive Eating
    • Learn & Grow Series
    • LGBTQ+ voices
    • Listener Q&A
    • MeToo
    • Movement
    • Pregnancy & Postpartum
    • Reader Stories
    • Sexual Health
    • Stress & Anxiety
    • Weight Stigma
  • Blog
  • Get Started
  • Login
  • Log Out
  • Search
  • Contact
  • More

Episode 51: Why Diets are Bad for Your Brain with Neuroscientist and TED Talk Superstar, Sandra Aamodt, PhD

By Rebecca Scritchfield Leave a Comment

TwitterFacebookPinterestLinkedInEmail

Anybody who wants to tell me diets are the correct solution needs to grapple with the research findings. You are prescribing an intervention that has been shown over and again to make health worse - Sanda AamodtNeuroscientist Sandra Aamodt’s TED Talk “Why dieting usually doesn’t work” has been viewed over 4 million times. She really didn’t want to do a TED Talk, but she was so driven to put a science-based, anti-diet book out into the world that she marched her introverted self onto the TED stage, stood on the big red dot, said what we needed to hear, and eventually landed her book “Why Diets Make Us Fat: The Unintended Consequences of Our Obsession with Weight Loss”.

Tune in and listen to Sandra and I discuss why dieting and the brain are NOT friends and why dieting will never support a human’s healthy brain function. Sandra explains how and why body weight is regulated by the brain (thank goodness!) and that may mean (gasp) that fat people will be fat no matter what they do! And people who diet are likely to end up regaining the weight they lost (and then some).

We get into genetic factors that impact our weight and have a laugh at the idea of canceling our “memberships” to the BS-measurement, otherwise known as the BMI. You’ll hear us talk about stress, the pros and cons of cortisol, the value of sleep, and why mindful eating is such an essential part of self-care. By the time you’re done listening to this show, you will either feel super pumped about your commitment to never diet again — OR you’ll realize that dieting is a losing game, you’ll probably get angry, (I did!) and then you’ll get to work at creating your better life with Body Kindness.

Listen here to Episode 51 here:

Links mentioned

  • Sandra’s TED Talk
  • Why Diets Don’t Work – Sandra’s presentation from Aspen Ideas Festival
  • A selection of Sandra’s articles:
    • You can’t “willpower” your way to lasting weight loss.
    • The human brain attack on weight loss
    • Why you can’t lose weight on a diet

Why Diets Make Us Fat: The Unintended Consequences of Our Obsession With Weight LossAbout Sandra

Sandra is the author of Why Diets Make Us Fat: The Unintended Consequences of Our Obsession with Weight Loss (2016). She also coauthored two popular neuroscience books with Sam Wang. Welcome to Your Brain (2008) was named Young Adult Science Book of the Year by the American Association for the Advancement of Science and has been translated into twenty languages. Welcome to Your Child's Brain (2011) was published in twelve languages. She received a degree in biophysics from Johns Hopkins University and a doctorate in neuroscience from the University of Rochester. After four years of research at Yale University, she joined Nature Neuroscience, a leading scientific journal in the field of brain research, at its founding in 1998 and was editor in chief from 2003-2008. She lives in Northern California.

Follow Sandra

Website | Twitter | Sandra’s book

TwitterFacebookPinterestLinkedInEmail

Make peace with food, body, and mind--once and for all! - Evelyn Tribole, MS, RD, coauthor of Intuitive Eating and The Intuitive Eating WorkbookGet the Body Kindness book

It’s available wherever good books and audiobooks are sold. Order signed copies and bulk discounts here.

Get started with Body Kindness for free!

Sign up here to get started and stay up to date on the latest offerings. In addition to my free program, I’m sending out free weekly emails of support and resources for body kindness practices and resilience during the COVID-19 pandemic. These will be created directly in response to requests from Body Kindness readers and podcast listeners. Sign up as a Body Kindness Insider to get access.

Donate to support the Body Kindness podcast

Thanks to our generous podcast supporters! We’re working toward our goal to fund the full season. Can you donate? Please visit our Go Fund Me page.

Become a client

Check out BodyKindnessBook.com/breakthrough for the latest groups and individual support sessions.

Join the Facebook group

Continue the conversation and chat to fellow podcast listeners on the Body Kindness Facebook group. See you there!

Subscribe to the Body Kindness podcast

We’re on iTunes, Stitcher and iHeartRadio, or follow us on Spotify. Enjoy the show? Please rate it on iTunes!

Subscribe to Body Kindness on iTunes          Subscribe on Stitcher         Follow on Spotify         Follow on Spotify

Nothing in on the Body Kindness blog or podcast is meant to provide medical diagnosis, treatment, cure, or prevent any disease or condition. Individuals should consult a qualified healthcare provider for medical advice and answers to personal health questions.

Categories: Body Kindness podcast, Dieting, Eating Disorders Tags: body kindness, body kindness podcast, Body Kindness show notes, Diet, diet and nutrition, Dieting

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Terms of Use    Privacy Policy    Copyright 2017 RS Media, All rights reserved.

Did you get my free BODY KINDNESS® training?  I Want It

Welcome to Body Kindness®!

I’m so glad you’re here. You can now get Body Kindness® wherever books and audiobooks are sold! Grab my free web-based program, Start Body Kindness, here.

Sign me up! No Thanks

Body Kindness Audiobook

https://www.bodykindnessbook.com/wp-content/themes/bkfull/videos/body-kindness.mp4

Get free BODY KINDNESS training

Get my free digital training and start treating your body with more kindness today!