Body-image activist Connie Sobczak joins us to discuss recovering from diet culture and body dissatisfaction, her role in creating the concept of body positivity and how HAES and fat acceptance were integrated from the start, the pluses and minuses of the current body-positive movement, why calling it "body neutrality" might work better for some people, why BMI is BS, the beauty ideal and aging, and lots more!

Connie Sobczak is a mentor, writer, educator, and award-winning video producer. Her experience with an eating disorder in her teen years and the death of her sister Stephanie inspired her life’s work to create a world where all people are free to love their bodies. In 1996, Connie brought her vision to life when she created The Body Positive with Elizabeth Scott, LCSW.

Connie is the author of Embody: Learning to Love Your Unique Body (and quiet that critical voice!), a book in which she brings the Be Body Positive Model to life, and skillfully and lovingly reconnects readers to their authenticity and beauty. She is a leader of the movement to prevent eating problems and improve the self-image of youth and adults through her writing, workshops, videos, professional trainings, leadership programs, and speaking engagements.

A California native, Connie currently resides in the San Francisco Bay Area with her partner, Jim. Their daughter, Carmen, is her inspiration and her joy. Find Connie online at TheBodyPositive.org.

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We Discuss:

Connie’s relationship with food growing up, including the experience of being a picky eater at a young age
Diet culture and body dissatisfaction
Puberty and weight gain
The normalization of disordered eating behavior
Connie’s experience with bulimia
Intuitive eating
Determining cravings
Fear of pleasure
Doing body-positive work for the next generation
The power of anger in recovery
Touch and massage as a form of healing and emotional release
Her role in creating the concept of body positivity
Body positivity vs. body neutrality
Fat acceptance and Health at Every Size
Sitting with suffering
The beauty ideal and aging
Beauty vs prettiness
Appreciating mistakes
Meditation
Intuitive living
Embodiment
Finding balance through nutrition
The importance of cultural competency in health interventions
Debunking BMI
Bodily autonomy
Fatphobia from healthcare providers