Welcome back to Rebuilding Trust With Your Body, it’s Katy here. This episode is going to be a fun twist on our usual format. I love shaking things up from time to time, and in this episode it’s going to be like one of those radio shows where listeners would call or write in. 

I’ve got a scenario that someone shared about where she’s at with her IE journey, and how she’s struggling to get her partner on board, and he feels like her increased food freedom is causing problems for him. It’s a tricky scenario that I hear from clients all the time – so I’m going to answer her question as if she were my client sitting in a session with me, or as if I was a radio host of one of those shows where listeners call in for advice. 

One quick thing before we do our Wellness Woo – if you’re listening to this the week it came out, I am hosting a free virtual holiday party this upcoming Saturday, December 13! It’s at 10am CT on Zoom, and we’re going to do some fun IE themed activities, I’ve got a guest speaker coming, we’ll be doing a holiday food freedom recipe swap, AND there will be some juicy prizes. I’m going BIG for you for the holidays. I’m giving away an Amazon Kindle, a Kitchen Aid mixer, and some other fun prizes. It’s a wear your PJs or ugly Christmas sweater theme, and you can bring your favorite beverage or snack to eat during the party. It’s totally free as a way to connect and celebrate food freedom together, and to have some fun this holiday season – without even having to change out of your PJs. You can RSVP at nondietacademy.com/party. I can’t wait!! I’ve got my ugly sweater ready to go and it’s going to be so much to hang out with all of you!

Before we dive into our main topic for today, you know what time it is…We’ve got some Wellness Woo to talk about. 

Wellness Woo is the stuff that diet and wellness culture tells us we should do in the name of health, but it’s really based on pseudoscience, exaggerated claims, or just nonsense. 

Today’s Wellness Woo is: Vibration plates

These contraptions that you stand on that vibrate are all over social media, Amazon, and probably shopping networks like QVC and HSN. 

And honestly this concept isn’t new…Back in the 1940’s vibration belts were all the rage.

So is there any science behind these things?

A little bit…and this is another example of where wellness culture takes something with a grain of truth for certain specific circumstances, and then extrapolates it to make money off the public at large.

The claims:

• Burns calories
• Lymphatic drainage
• Circulation
• Bone density
• Immunity
• Hormones
• Gut microbiome
• Weight loss

According to the limited research that exists, it appears that these vibration plates don’t really do anything for people who are already reasonably active.

There is some evidence for using it in situations where people can’t walk to help prevent muscle atrophy.

There are mixed results on whether it helps with bone density or lymphatic drainage. Lymphatic drainage is another wellness woo term that’s getting throw around a lot – I’ll probably do a segment on that at some point. I read an article where a doctor was explaining that the vibration plates do appear to help with fluid removal from the legs, but it’s unclear whether that’s happening via veins or the lymphatic system. 

I’ve seen a lot of stuff on TikTok lately about lymphedema and lipedema (and influencers trying to lead every woman to believe she has it). And claims that these vibration plates will get rid of the fat deposits that are part of lipedema that can be really painful, and research doesn’t support this. It might help improve their symptoms based on some of the studies, and if someone can’t really do any exercise or movement because their lymphedema or lipedema is so severe, a vibration plate might be helpful, but for the general public and people with these conditions who can move otherwise, you’re better off doing other types of movement to improve your health. 

The studies are also unclear on what frequency and amplitude is helpful for which scenario. So even if it might be helpful for certain things, we don’t have good data on what’s the right type of vibration protocol for what a person is trying to accomplish. 

The next question we should be asking is – IS IT SAFE? Wellness culture perpetually fails to ask this question. They throw around all of these sciency sounding terms, and alleged benefits of wellness products, acting like all of it is not only effective but safe for everyone. 

And this is a good example of where that’s simply not true. Just because you can buy something off TT or QVC or Amazon doesn’t mean it’s safe (and as you can tell from this show, it certainly doesn’t mean it works). 

• It’s well known that people who are exposed to vibration for long periods of time have increased back issues – such as heavy machinery operators and truck or bus drivers
  • Now the vibration plates are only recommended for short periods of time so it may not pose risks like this…but one thing I’ve seen over and over in my career as an eating disorders specialist is that people will take things to the extreme. It wouldn’t surprise me if there were people desperate to lose weight who have their vibration plate going under them all day long while they’re working because they think it will burn more calories. 
• It can also be a risk for people with clotting disorders and kidney stones – can dislodge
• Could also be risky for people with certain bone or muscle injuries, so I would talk to a PT before doing this

There may be some therapeutic value to these devices for certain situations. But for the general public, these vibration plates are basically meaningless and it’s not going to magically make you lose weight…. because let’s be honest, that’s what most people are using them for.

Save your money this holiday season and don’t buy yourself or anyone else a vibration plate, no matter how good of a deal you’re getting on it.

If you have an example of Wellness Woo that you want to share, DM it to me!

Ok, that’s enough of that. Moving on to today’s main topic…What to Do If Your Family Doesn’t Understand or Support Intuitive Eating

As I mentioned earlier, this episode was inspired by conversations I have been having with my clients inside Non-Diet Academy right now, as well as inside my free FB group IEME…

And I had a member of our group who gave me permission to use her situation as a case example that we can walk through here together on th podcast, because these things are often easier to understand with real life stories and examples that we can all relate to.

Basically, I’ve been having so much fun baking cookies this holiday season and am currently working on putting together some cookie platters for family gatherings. This is the first holiday season where I’ve been practicing intuitive eating, and it’s been so much fun and super freeing. HOWEVER, my boyfriend who has generally stuck to fasting /cutting carbs for his health goals because he feels out of control around sugar. I feel like I’m sabotaging him by baking so many sweets, so I told him I’d cut back on making baked goods after the holidays were over.

He’s slowly working through a book on intuitive eating, but he still seems very skeptical/doubtful that IE will work for him.

I guess I’m just curious if anyone else has dealt with something similar and what they ended up doing. 

Normalize Her Experience

• Celebrate that this is her first intuitive eating holiday and she’s experiencing freedom, fun, and connection with food again — that’s huge.
  
• Acknowledge that it’s totally normal to feel conflicted when your own healing intersects with someone else’s dieting mindset or food fears.
  

Normalize His Experience

• People who’ve been stuck in restriction, fasting, and carb-cutting often feel out of control around sugar — that’s a deprivation backlash, not a personal flaw.
  
• His reaction is about his relationship with food, not about her cookies.
  
• His skepticism toward IE is also normal — especially for people whose entire sense of “control” has come from dieting.
  

Clarify What Is (and Isn’t) Her Responsibility

• She is not responsible for managing his triggers by shrinking her own joy or freedom.
  
• Removing cookies doesn’t fix deprivation — it actually reinforces the cycle for him.
  
• Partners can coexist with different approaches to food; she doesn’t have to diet-by-proxy.
  

Reframe the Fear of “Sabotaging” Him

• She’s not sabotaging him — she’s modeling a healthier, more peaceful relationship with food, which may actually help him more than removing sweets.
  
• “Keeping sweets out of the house” often keeps people stuck in the illusion of control, not true peace.
  
• The presence of cookies isn’t the problem; the lack of permission is.
  

Practical Strategies for Navigating This Together

• Have a loving conversation where she says something like:
  “I want to support your journey, but I also don’t want to shrink mine. How can we both feel comfortable in the same space?”
  
• Offer to designate food boundaries that aren’t rooted in restriction (e.g., certain shelves, areas, containers).
  
• Keep communication open about what each person needs emotionally — not what they “should” do with food.
  
• DM me for some scripts for what exactly to say. Just DM me the word SCRIPTS.

How She Can Support Him Without Fixing Him

• Encourage him gently as he reads the IE book, without pushing.
  
• Share small wins from her own experience, not as persuasion, but as lived evidence that peace is possible.
  
• Validate that his fear of being “out of control” is learned — and can be unlearned.
  

Remind Her: She Doesn’t Need to Shrink Her Life

• Baking brings her joy, creativity, and connection — she is allowed to keep that.
  
• Her intuitive eating journey should not become another sacrifice.
  
• They can both grow without her dimming her own progress.
  

The Truth Is This…

Other people’s discomfort with food freedom does not mean you’re doing anything wrong.

You don’t heal by going back into restriction. And he won’t heal by you doing it on his behalf, either.

I hope that you enjoyed this episode. If you want the scripts for how to have conversations with people in your life about IE – I’ve broken it down into what to say to someone who is genuinely interested, someone who’s a skeptic, and whether it’s someone you’re close to vs an acquaintance. Just DM me SCRIPTS and I’ll send it to you! These scripts are going to be so handy for you throughout the holiday season and into the New Year.

And if you’re interested in working together in the New Year, definitely let me know! I recently revamped my NDA program in a way that allows us to work together for a longer period of time so that you can really solidify everything that we’re working on – so if you’ve been thinking about doing NDA at some point, and it’s been on your vision board, NOW is the time to jump inside! I have a special bonus for everyone who joins before the end of the year that’s worth more than an entire month in the program, so reach out to me if you want details on this!

In case nobody has told you today – you are worthy just as you are. We’ll talk again soon.

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